Door 02 · An idea
Your idea deserves the market, not a drawer.
The reasonable fear is telling it and losing it. That is why the first thing settled is that the intellectual property stays yours, under licence; the second, that a recognised idea is worth 5 to 10% of the project that develops it.
Who it is for
Is this you?
Inventors, engineers, researchers and companies with an idea that has genuine novelty (that solves a real problem and has a market) and who do not want to give it away or watch it grow old unused.
Step by step
How it works
- You present it to us
Under agreed confidentiality. We do not ask for transfers up front: first it is assessed, then it is negotiated. If you want an additional guarantee before sending it to us, you can timestamp it yourself with an independent service such as OriginStamp: you will have proof of a certain date, external to us, that the idea was yours before you shared it.
- We assess it
Technical feasibility, novelty against the state of the art and market applicability, with the engine and with human reviewers.
- You become a shareholder
A stake in the startup and your IP under licence: it stays yours.
The result
What you get
Shareholder stakes, and a licence that keeps your intellectual property in your hands.
And besides
What you gain, from day one- The IP, protected at the structure's expense. Patents and protection are paid for before you risk a euro.
- Recognised royalties. Your contribution is recorded and remunerated fairly, like that of any contributor to the network.
- An honest valuation, and the last word is yours. The relative weight of each invention is measured by an internal committee of Volcano, a kind of council of elders: intellectually honest and oriented towards maximum collaboration. If you do not agree with the valuation, you do not transfer the intellectual property of that idea to the startup: without your agreement, there is no transfer.
Is yours an already developed technology? That is a different door: A technology →
Play with the numbers
How much your idea could be worth
A recognised idea is worth 5 to 10 % of the project that develops it (indicative, depending on stage and contribution). Choose the type of startup and move the two sliders: your stake and the years of the journey.
Indicative median valuation for that type in that year:
Indicative value of your stake:
Illustrative and non-binding simulation. The time curve derives from US medians by stage (Carta, more than 40,000 startups) adjusted to Spanish reality with a factor of ≈ 0.25, calibrated on two independent anchors from the Spanish market (seed ≈ €2.5-3.5 M pre-money; Series A with usual pre-money ≈ €12-15 M) that converge on the same interval. The multipliers by type are indicative, with the AI premium documented. Sources: Carta 2025, Spain Tech Ecosystem Report (Dealroom · Enisa), Spanish market data on seed and Series A rounds. Each specific operation is valued by Volcano's internal committee and the last word is always yours. Conversion rule: if the project gives rise to a new startup with no other projects, the share of the project equals the stake in the startup; if an existing startup acquires the project, the stake follows from comparing the startup's pre-existing value with the project's value.
Before you tell us
How to protect yourself before writing to us.
It is the first question of anyone who has spent years with an idea in their head, so we answer it before you ask. Everything that arrives through our forms is covered by a commitment of confidentiality, without you signing anything; the confidentiality agreement is something we send you later on, when the conversation moves into technical detail.
And if you want proof of your own, independent of us, timestamp it before writing to us: a blockchain record or a notarial deposit proves that on that date the idea was already yours. Register the hash of a closed document, not the content, because publishing it would destroy your own novelty. That timestamp does not stop someone else filing an application, but it gives you grounds to claim ownership if that happens. It is explained in the frequently asked questions.
Your idea already has somewhere to become a company.
John F. Kennedy, 1962