Plantaform, startup growing plants without soil, wins PITCH

Ottawa-based Plantaform took the stage as the winner of the PITCH startup competition at Web Summit Qatar 2026, an event that brought together over 30,274 attendees, 1,637 startups, and 931 investors from 127 countries – and one with a track record of turning participation into serious funding.

• Read more about Web Summit Qatar startups raised $205 million in funding since 2025 here;

Plantaform is an agtech startup building smart, connected indoor gardens that let people grow fresh, organic herbs, greens, and vegetables at home year-round. Its systems replace soil with fogponics, a mist-based method that delivers water and nutrients directly to plant roots as an ultrasonic fog. The technology uses significantly less water, speeds up plant growth, and makes it possible to produce nutrient-rich food indoors in any climate or season, with minimal effort.

“In a year, we see Plantaform’s smart indoor gardens becoming a common household appliance across the GCC, while also scaling our fogponics technology into commercial greenhouses designed to grow food efficiently in desert environments”, revealed PITCH winner Alberto Aguilar, co-founder and CEO of Plantaform.

“Conversations with investors and operators have been very hands-on and focused on real deployment and impact, which has been incredibly energising”, he added, talking about his experience at Web Summit Qatar.

Vancouver-based GlüxKind, a robotics startup reimagining the baby stroller with AI-powered safety, and Dubai-based &Again, a fashion tech startup building the region’s first social marketplace for pre-loved and slow fashion, finished as runners-up. It’s the second time GlüxKind presents its project on a Web Summit stage, after debuting in the Web Summit Vancouver PITCH competition.

PITCH as a launchpad for global attention

Past winners at Web Summit Qatar include Metalchemy (UK), on a mission to fight food waste by extending the shelf life of perishable food with a silver nanoparticle suspension, and US-based gaming company Breshna, whose mission is to empower users to create, share, and monetise their own video games without prior coding or game-design knowledge.

Thousands of startups enlisted in Web Summit’s startup programmes in Doha, Vancouver, Rio, and Lisbon to compete for the PITCH prize over the three-day event. Winners gain global media attention and credibility with investors. The numbers back it up. 

Since Web Summit Qatar 2025, close to 70 startups that attended the event through its Startup Programme have collectively raised $205 million in funding. The pattern is clear: startups that attend Web Summit Qatar go on to attract significant capital.

Web Summit Qatar’s PITCH winner announcement wraps up a four-day event that brought 427 speakers, 180 meetups, and 841 international media to Doha. Read all about Web Summit’s Qatar key figures here. 

Some of the most favourited talks at Web Summit Qatar 2026 include:

• Building the platform big tech wont
• Human first: Re-centering ethics in the age of artificial intelligence
• Investing in culture: Museums, creative industries and the knowledge economy
• Breaking the sound barrier: The voice agent era
• How tech can help Palestine
• What’s next for VC in MENA?
• The new age of content: Co-creating with AI
• The end of capitalism and what comes next

Top meetups at Web Summit Qatar 2026 include:

• Qatar meetup;
• Fintech professionals meetup with Phi Wallet;
• Meet and Greet: IBM Ventures;
•  Startups scaling from Qatar (hosted by @Qatar)
• First Timers at Web Summit Qatar;
• AI x Education: Shaping tomorrow’s leaders;
• Doha locals meetup;
• Women in tech: Founders & CEOs meetup.