Its sales in 2024 amounted to €1.2 million. In two years the company has sold 6,000 QR payment devices on vending machines. The workforce will grow from 12 to 20 professionals.
How many times has a person stood in front of a vending machine for coffee or other products —the so-called vending machines, referring to their automatic sale— only for the chosen item to get stuck, the user to be charged incorrectly, or to decide not to buy a drink or food because they cannot read the ingredients before purchasing.
“Europe has four million unattended machines —vending— that act as product containers and leave the factory with the traditional coin-and-note payment system. However, after the pandemic digital payment has spread. We can’t go against the tide”, explains Antonio Torres López, CEO and founder of Muxunav.
This born entrepreneur, who studied agricultural and forestry engineering and computer science, created Muxunav, whose foundations were laid a decade ago.
In its early days it focused on giving intelligence to unattended machines so that they would send information to operators —possible faults, the need to restock product, etc.—. However, the coronavirus pandemic arrived and with it the semiconductor crisis. “The company was at a standstill, and we decided to focus on innovating in digital payment systems with QR codes for this type of machine that could be used from mobile devices”, says Antonio, aged 51.
Five years ago, the QR code was barely used, but the health measures to prevent coronavirus infections favoured the adoption of new habits in social relations, such as avoiding contact with surfaces, objects and metal money. In this scenario, the use of the QR code —the evolution of the barcode, which when scanned on a phone allows the information it contains to be consulted— and payment by Bizum proliferated. “We are a pure R&D company that imagines devices which we then roll out to the market”, he stresses.
That is how Telmarkt came about, hardware and software installed inside the machine without needing to alter its chassis. It requires minimal investment and makes it possible to modify how it operates to give it advanced features such as contactless payment via QR code: credit card, Bizum, Google Pay and Apple Pay.
In addition, Telmarkt connects the machine to the internet and has a built-in multi-operator SIM card, which allows it to connect to the network with full coverage. “The software connects the machine with the buyer, the vending operator, Muxunav’s servers and the payment gateway. That is one of the great virtues of this device. The buyer operates the machine by reading a QR code located on the outside”, Torres specifies.
Track record
In two years they have sold 6,000 Telmarkt devices, mainly on vending machines, and also in shared laundries and video-game gaming. This represents 2% of the 300,000 machines of this type used in Spain. With this entry into the market, the company has grown its sales by 2,000%, reaching €1.2 million.
It now wants to break into the unattended petrol-station sector. In 2025, it forecasts a turnover of €2.3 million, practically doubling. Last year Muxunav signed an agreement with the Mondragon Group cooperative Onnera Group —formerly Fagor Industrial— under which they will distribute, in 56 countries, the laundry payment system developed jointly. To this are added contracts with other multinationals. “We are going to have major growth”, he insists.
THE LOGO
Ladybird. Torres explains that the ladybird is presented as nature’s greatest predator relative to its tiny size, because it can “wipe out plagues and pests”. It also symbolises effort and good luck. “We like to compare ourselves to the ladybird because we are small but we are making our way”, says this businessman. In the offices, a world map hangs on one of the walls, and in those countries where they already operate a ladybird is pinned. A metaphorical way of showing their international expansion.
Strategic plan
Muxunav will base its expansion on three pillars: the international leap through which it plans to reach the whole of Europe in 2026; autonomy across all payment processes; and product diversification with the adoption of artificial intelligence to manage data and enhance the customer experience —that is, so the machine can interact with the consumer—. “We maintain strong collaborations with innovation and artificial intelligence centres”, he stresses.
This outlook will create eight jobs to fill profiles related to engineering, payment-system development or regulatory compliance. This year it will reach around twenty professionals at its offices in the Portal de Navarra Building.
CORPORATE CULTURE
Talent. Torres is committed to work-life balance and workforce stability. “Talent is retained with good working conditions and decent pay”, he concludes.
Support for sport. Muxunav wants to sponsor sporting disciplines in the region.
Sodena’s role
In 2018, Sodena placed its trust in Muxunav by approving guarantees. “We are a Sodena success story; without it we would not have been born. Those guarantees are going to turn into 20 jobs”, Torres stresses. For this businessman, the Government of Navarre —regardless of political colour— has done “a powerful job to foster R&D&i and boost technology companies”, he repeats. He also cites the importance of mutual guarantee societies, such as Elkargi and Sonagar.
