Candam Technologies, a Barcelona-based company founded in 2017 and specializing in smart waste-management systems, has entered a new growth phase supported by impact investing through Goparity. Its goal is to scale production, accelerate ongoing deployments, and bring its technology—capable of turning any urban container into a Smart Bin— to more cities.
Candam has developed RecySmart, a platform that combines proprietary hardware, sensor fusion, and artificial intelligence to identify recyclable materials in real time. The technology, patented, enables recognizing containers, preventing waste contamination, tracing their journey, and offering incentives to citizens who recycle correctly.
Technology “Made in Catalonia”
The company already operates in 11 countries and has deployed thousands of devices across Europe, placing it among the Spanish circular economy solutions with the strongest international reach. Its hardware is assembled in Catalonia and the software is developed entirely in Barcelona, a notable detail in a sector where local production and data governance are increasingly valued.
Alessandra Marsaglia, Candam Technologies’ CEO: “Spain has the opportunity to lead the digitization of recycling in Europe, and with Goparity, we want to accelerate the adoption of our technology in more cities and demonstrate that the circular economy can be efficient, traceable, and beneficial for everyone.”
The European Union requires member states to achieve 55% recycling by 2025 and 65% by 2035, targets that many Spanish municipalities still view as distant. Candam’s technology presents a tool to speed up that path, with demonstrated improvements of about 20% in recycling rates and a 97.7% accuracy in waste identification, in addition to data that enable route optimization and improved efficiency of public services.
“Candam represents exactly the kind of innovation we want to drive: Spanish technology, direct environmental impact, and a scalable model that improves life in cities,”
— says Nuno Brito Jorge, CEO and cofounder of Goparity.
The Spanish cleantech sector is experiencing momentum, especially in Catalonia, where startups focus on recycling, energy efficiency, and sustainable mobility. Candam aims to become one of the success stories of this new wave thanks to its combination of proprietary hardware, AI, and the ability to deploy at scale.
