When Alberto Aguilar stepped off the PITCH stage at Web Summit Qatar 2026 as the competition’s winner, he wasn’t just holding a trophy. He cradled proof that a space-age idea — one NASA once toyed with for orbiting stations — could now take root in desert kitchens.Plantaform, the Ottawa-based agtech venture Aguilar co-founded, had just swayed judges at an event that drew 30,000-plus attendees, more than 1,600 startups, and nearly a thousand investors from 127 countries. The win came with more than bragging rights: an open door to capital, visibility, and credibility. Since last year’s edition of Web Summit Qatar, participating startups have collectively raised $205 million — a figure founders now eye as a measure of post-Summit acceleration.But Plantaform’s pitch wasn’t wrapped in market metrics or glossy buzzwords. It was wrapped in mist — literally.The company’s smart indoor gardens use fogponics, a soil-free system that bathes plant roots in a fine ultrasonic fog of water and nutrients. The result: year-round harvests of herbs and greens with 50% less water than hydroponics — and a staggering 95% less than soil-based systems. For a region defined by arid conditions and import dependence, the appeal was instant and visceral.“In a year, we see Plantaform's smart indoor gardens becoming a common household appliance across the GCC, whilst also scaling our fogponics technology into commercial greenhouses designed to grow food efficiently in desert environments,” Aguilar said after the win.The Nespresso of gardeningAguilar, a confident storyteller, credits a single analogy for clinching victory:“I believe the moment that really clicked was when we explained fogponics — how delivering nutrients through mist allows plants to grow faster whilst using dramatically less water — and then framed Plantaform as the ‘Nespresso of gardening.’ That analogy made the solution immediately tangible: a powerful technology packaged into something simple, accessible, and scalable. You could feel the shift in the room when that connection landed.”Like the coffee capsule that democratised espresso, Plantaform’s compact, automated gardens promise to make cultivation effortless — even for the plant-challenged. They’re clean, smart, and plug-and-grow.But the Doha crowd wasn’t dazzled by novelty alone.“The Qatar audience was incredibly engaged and pragmatic, with questions focused on real-world application rather than theory, which made the experience especially rewarding,” Aguilar noted.That pragmatism shaped Plantaform’s Middle East playbook. After dazzling at CES 2025 with NASA-style futurism, Aguilar’s team recalibrated for Doha, emphasising water efficiency, local production, and resilience.“Here, we focused less on novelty and more on relevance,” he explained. “Instead of positioning fogponics as a futuristic technology, we framed it as a practical solution to water scarcity and food imports.”From Ottawa to Riyadh — with Doha on the mapWinning in Qatar has had ripple effects. “We met many investors throughout Web Summit, but winning PITCH definitely brought the most attention,” Aguilar said. “It’s still early, but the quality of conversations has been very strong, particularly with strategic and regional investors.”What took him in wasn’t the volume of funding interest — it was its acuity.“What surprised me most was how informed and proactive local investors are when it comes to agtech and sustainability. There’s a clear understanding that food security is not a future issue; it’s a current one.”That insight prompted a decisive move.“Middle East expansion is absolutely a priority for us, particularly in the GCC, where the need and the willingness to deploy solutions are aligned,” Aguilar revealed. “We’ve been studying the market for many years, and finally took the leap to relocate to Riyadh in Q4 2025 to focus on serving all the region.”The relocation is part of a two-pronged strategy: retail partnerships to make fogponic gardens as common as microwaves, and state collaborations to scale greenhouse systems across the Gulf’s harshest terrains. “It allows us to address food security from both ends of the system: from large-scale local production all the way to the household,” Aguilar said.When mist becomes infrastructureFogponics is more than a tech buzzword. It’s physics in service of sustainability.“The key difference is fogponics itself — it allows plants to absorb nutrients more efficiently whilst using 50% less water than hydroponics or 95% compared to soil-based systems,” Aguilar explained. “From a user perspective, the system is fully automated, compact, and clean, designed for people with no gardening experience. From an agricultural standpoint, it delivers faster growth, healthier roots, and consistent yields, which is why the same technology scales from homes to commercial greenhouses.”That scalability may be its most radical feature. In a Gulf climate where summer heat hovers above 45°C, the ability to grow indoors, sustainably, and with negligible water waste could rewire how households — and cities — feed themselves.The PITCH trophy might just be the beginning. Whether Plantaform can convert acclaim into investment remains to be seen, but its relocation and regional partnerships hint at a long game built on grounded ambition.“Conversations with investors and operators have been very hands-on and focused on real deployment and impact, which has been incredibly energising,” Aguilar said.In a region where talk often outpaces action, this focus on doing — not just promising — may well be Plantaform’s sharpest edge.
