Our Entrepreneurs

Company Snapshot

From a garage workshop in the Argentine countryside, Jose and Martin developed the biggest, most efficient, and most innovative mechanical harvesting machine to hit the olive production market in years. Their machine, “the Colossus,” increases productivity ten-fold from traditional harvesting methods and reduces harvesting costs by an average of 33% after machine payback. Backed by a creative R&D department in Sante Fe, Argentina, MaqTec now operates in three countries and sells in six, supplying the growing global contingent of modern olive producers with state-of-the-art Argentine-made machinery.

After receiving a demonstration of the Colossus during Endeavor’s International Selection Panel, TechCrunch journalist Sarah Lacy featured MaqTec in a December 2009 article: “The Colossus is attacking…a small farming niche: High-density olive groves. But that’s exactly how most successful Silicon Valley startups skip around the plodding feet of tech giants: They find a market opportunity big enough to be a business, but small enough the big guys won’t see it or care about it. (Yet.)”

Jose was invited to be a panelist at the MIT Global Start-up Workshop in Iceland in March 2010.

Endeavor and MaqTec

In addition to receiving publicity support, the Entrepreneurs have benefited from a local needs assessment, audit readiness program with PwC, and local Padrino program on key strategy areas.