- It will have an investment of 6 million euros in four years, and aims to reach an annual turnover of 10 million euros and a team of 50 workers in 2030.
- IKERLAN will provide the technology on which the new startup is based and LABORAL Kutxa will implement the AI technologies in its key processes.
- INNKIA will have the financial support of MONDRAGON by virtue of the agreement recently signed with IKERLAN for the creation of technology-based cooperative startups.
- The Basque Government supports the creation of INNKIA through the Basque Tek Ventures program.
Artificial intelligence has become a strategic pillar for companies: it enables the automation of processes, the optimization of resources, the analysis of large amounts of data, the improvement of customer experience or the reduction of errors, among other advantages. But its integration presents significant challenges. Beyond generalist tools such as ChatGPT or DeepSeek, companies need solutions adapted to their particular needs, which guarantee the privacy of their data, are reliable and ethical, and comply with European and international regulations.
INNKIA is born to respond to these needs and does so through a joint venture between LABORAL Kutxa and IKERLAN. INNKIA will be equipped with IKERLAN's artificial intelligence technological assets and will be able to benefit from the use of the digitalization laboratories and computing infrastructures available at the technology centre. IKERLAN will also collaborate with INNKIA to keep its products and services permanently at the technological forefront, a key aspect in the current context of rapid technological development.
LABORAL Kutxa, in addition to financially supporting the project, provides INNKIA with various use cases in which to implement its technological solutions. Banking is one of the sectors most impacted by artificial intelligence technologies, and LABORAL Kutxa, in addition to having its own strategy in this area and differentiating technological capabilities, is committed to sharing its experience in the sector and its skills to promote this new business initiative within MONDRAGON.
The new startup also has the support of MONDRAGON, through the collaboration agreement recently signed with IKERLAN, which aims to mobilize more than 10 M€ for the creation of cooperative startups. For its part, the Basque Government is backing INNKIA's initiative through the Basque Tek Ventures program, providing support for the creation of new technology-based companies.
INNKIA is born after the success of ORBIK CYBERSECURITY, a startup created in 2023 by IKERLAN and recently transformed into a mixed cooperative. Its purpose is to follow the example of its predecessor, building a socio-entrepreneurial project, guaranteeing local roots and measuring its success not only by its profitability, but also by the jobs it generates in its environment. Established in Arrasate-Mondragón, the startup will be led by Gorka Artola Beobide, its CEO, who has a wide experience in technology and entrepreneurship, having been commercial manager at IKERLAN in recent years. The new startup will have an investment of 6 million euros over the next four years, with the aim of reaching a staff of 50 people and an annual turnover of close to 10 million euros by 2030.
This was explained today at a press conference by IKERLAN CEO Ion Etxeberria; LABORAL Kutxa CEO Xabier Egibar; INKKIA CEO Gorka Artola; MONDRAGON President Pello Rodríguez, and Basque Government Deputy Minister of Technology, Innovation and Digital Transformation Jaione Ganzarain, from IKERLAN's headquarters in Arrasate- Mondragón.
An innovative, differential and high-value offer for companies
INNKIA will have two lines of business. The first focuses on the automatic updating and development of secure and robust software by means of generative artificial intelligence.
INNKIA's generative artificial intelligence technology will allow these companies to automatically, quickly and reliably update the software of their processes and products, automatically translating it into more modern and robust languages, and verifying its correct operation through a detailed and exhaustive automatic testing and validation process, based on IKERLAN's experience in the development and validation of reliable software for critical applications.
The second line of business focuses on products and services to optimize internal business processes. Although AI offers many opportunities, its use must be secure and aligned with the governance of AI in companies. In this area, INNKIA will develop AI agents to automate processes and systems that ensure the proper handling of confidential information, complying with the most demanding regulatory standards, such as the EU AI Act.
“INNKIA is a strategic commitment to position the Basque Country as a benchmark in artificial intelligence applied to the specific needs of companies, which is where one of the biggest challenges of this technology lies,” said Ion Etxeberria, CEO of IKERLAN. At a time when Europe is seeking to consolidate its technological autonomy and reduce its dependence on external players in the field of AI, projects such as INNKIA can play a key role in promoting advanced and secure business solutions, aligned with the continent's digital strategy. Etxeberria also referred to the coexistence between the cooperative model and new technology-based companies: “With this new startup, we reinforce the model of entrepreneurship based on technological assets that we launched with ORBIK CYBERSECURITY and that demonstrates that it is possible to combine cutting-edge technology with a sustainable economic model rooted in the territory”.
“INNKIA was created to offer adapted artificial intelligence solutions that do not exist in the market today and that the companies with which we have already tested our idea are eagerly awaiting,” said Gorka Artola, CEO of INNKIA. “Our technology will allow companies to update and validate their software with unprecedented agility and security, reducing operational risks and ensuring regulatory compliance. It will also make it possible to incorporate the advantages of multimodal AI into company processes, such as image recognition or text interpretation, and to have “local brains” trained to respond to all the particular issues of the company, with total security and privacy and in compliance with all legal and regulatory requirements”.
From LABORAL Kutxa, its CEO Xabier Egibar explained the relevance of the impact of AI in the financial sector, adding that “LABORAL Kutxa has an ambitious transformative agenda in the fields of technology, data and cybersecurity, in which AI will play a key role”, and that the entity “aspires to be a benchmark in its sector in the use of new technologies to provide maximum value to its customers, combining it with continuing to promote the creation of value and knowledge rooted in our territory”.
INNKIA is a project that represents and combines these two aspirations in a very clear way, and to which LABORAL Kutxa “will provide financial support and viability as a client in its first steps, but promoting openness to share knowledge and provide service to other companies. The ultimate goal is to deploy a powerful cooperative project in the field of AI, in which the professionals of our country can develop”.
About IKERLAN
IKERLAN is a leading centre in technology transfer and in providing competitive value to industry. It offers integral solutions combining different technological domains in three main areas: digital technologies and artificial intelligence, embedded electronic systems and cybersecurity, and mechatronics and energy technologies. It currently has a team of 420 people and offices in Arrasate-Mondragón, Donostialdea and Bilbao. As a cooperative member of the MONDRAGON Corporation and the Basque Research and Technology Alliance (BRTA), IKERLAN represents a sustainable, competitive business model in permanent transformation. Since 2023 IKERLAN has contributed to the launch of three new start-ups in the fields of cybersecurity, energy storage and AI applied to sport, which have raised more than € 3, 2 million euros in funding and created more than 20 jobs.
About LABORAL Kutxa
LABORAL Kutxa is a credit cooperative born more than 65 years ago in the MONDRAGON experience, until its consolidation as a benchmark of cooperative banking committed to its environment. LABORAL Kutxa and the people who form part of the cooperative are committed to offering a close, professional and honest financial and insurance service that helps its customers to achieve their goals and well-being, developing a bank with values, competitive, solvent and profitable in the long term, always with the aim of leaving an improved legacy for the following generations. The more than 2,000 people that make up LABORAL Kutxa, provide banking and insurance services to more than 1.2 million people, who maintain very high loyalty rates due to the quality of service recognized by studies such as Forbes or Stiga. In 2024, LABORAL Kutxa joined the Global Alliance for Banking on Values (GABV), the main international group of financial institutions that operate with social and ethical principles and values, advocating a different way of banking in which the profitability of finance is placed at the service of people and the planet.
About MONDRAGON
MONDRAGON is structured around four business areas: Finance, Industry, Distribution and Knowledge. It is heterogeneous project made up of 92 co-operatives, employing around 70 500 people and is recognised for its human dimension, its social impact and its competitiveness. MONDRAGON is a world reference for cooperative work, the largest employer in the Basque Autonomous Community and one of the largest in Spain. With a turnover of mor than 11 000 million euros in 2023 and investments of 369 million euros, its commitment to innovation is significant: it employs 2008 full-time R&D staff, the resources allocated to R&D in 2023 were 186 million euros and the total number of patent families in force was 387. Between technology centres (5) and R&D units (7), MONDRAGON comprises 12 entities which, together with the university and educational centres, make up an ecosystem of innovation and entrepreneurship aimed at creating new businesses.
- INNKIA was created to bring innovative Artificial Intelligence (AI) solutions to companies and contribute to improving their efficiency and profitability.