Welcome to our X-Europe startup interview series. We have virtually sat down with a number of our founders from past cohorts to hear all about their solutions, vision for the future, and what made them tick during our X Europe programme. So whether you are a deep tech founder looking for startup support, an eagle-eyed investor, or simply interested in the possibilities that technology can bring to society, then we welcome you to take a read. Please meet FIWOO/Secmotic, a No-code platform that aims to become the WordPress for Smart Domains solutions.
Can you briefly explain what your solution is all about? What’s unique about it?
FIWOO is a No-code platform that aims to become the WordPress for Smart Domains solutions. With FIWOO, everyone, without technical knowledge, can create her own Smart solution, avoiding the vendor lock-in effect and with the possibility to customize the platform as she wants. It is based on FIWARE technology, the Open Source de-facto standard for the development of Smart solutions, which allows interoperability with other solutions in the market. FIWOO is a no-code platform, developed with the end-user in mind, and is the first IoT Editor in the market.
What led you to start or join your company? What is the key motivation and mission behind the startup?
Since the beginning of Secmotic, our aim has been to create Smart Solutions which help people improve their quality of life. After some years of innovation, we decided to start FIWOO, the platform to rule them all, with the aim of becoming the Smart platform that allows anyone to create their own solutions without needing to know how to code. As I said before, we want to be the WordPress for Smart solutions and that’s the main motivation for all of us.
Who are the key target audiences? How does the technology make a positive impact?
Right now the target audience are public and private entities that want to go through their digital transformation process. This includes not only installing sensors and retrieving data from them but also connecting to services and platforms that these entities already have and whose data can be used to obtain information analysing it and connecting data from different silos of information. The positive impact is indeed thanks to FIWOO they can manage all this data which was in those different silos in just one place, increasing their performance and being able to automate processes, and creating KPIs that can be followed in terms of strategy and operations.
What’s the biggest milestone your startup has achieved so far, and what has surprised you most on this journey?
We finally were able to win a couple of big public tenders in our home country, Spain. Until now we had been mostly working with the private sector, and in the public sector, we worked in small contracts and pilots. Now, we are sure we can win big contracts also in the public sector, where we are competing with the most important companies in Europe. The most surprising thing for me was being able to beat this kind of company in these tenders, using our own resources for funding the development of FIWOO (we didn’t receive any investment yet).
How has X-Europe helped you during the past few months? Being selected for the X-Europe accelerator has been a really good opportunity for us. On the one hand, we have been able to know other startups in our sector, which are potential partners because we can work together on different projects. On the other hand, the mentorship received in terms of strategy is quite interesting and we are learning a lot thanks to the international experience of our mentor.
What are your goals over the next 3, 6, and 12 months? During the next 12 months, we want to keep increasing FIWOO’s presence in the Spanish public sector. Once we are established in our home country with several references, we will have a bigger chance to reach the international market, with Europe and South America in mind as the next regions to reach.
What advice would you give to an entrepreneur trying to pave his/her way in the Smart Cities & Sustainability landscape? Right now this market is one of the most interesting ones to work on. New technologies appear every day and big things can be done in this field for research and innovation. Don’t hesitate and work hard, pivot if you need it, and talk with people already working in this market, they are willing to help.
What’s unique about the X-Europe programme? The opportunity to reach the European market and learn about what other companies all around Europe are doing, providing the opportunity to find partnerships and also investors interested in your sector.
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