Lilibeth Bustos Linares, Founder Soma AI & our WICT Barcelona Chapter Lead
Who is Lilibeth Bustos?
I'm an entrepreneur, product designer, educator and community builder, and co-founder of SOMA AI, a climate tech startup based in Barcelona. I'm Colombian, and I've spent the last eleven-plus years building across San Francisco, New York, Sweden and now Barcelona. That path shaped how I work, right at the intersection of design, technology and human connection.
At SOMA we build AI agents that help companies see and report their emissions. I'm a founder at heart, always making something. Whether that's a company, a workshop, or a community, I love turning an idea into something real that brings people together.
What are you proud of about yourself?
I'm proud that I kept reinventing myself without losing myself. Four countries, new languages, new industries, starting from zero more than once. And I never split creativity from impact. I still doodle, I still teach, and I still get to build serious technology for the planet. Staying curious and staying kind through all of it is the thing I'm proudest of.
Can you explain your solution to an 8-year-old child?
Imagine every company leaves an invisible trail of pollution behind it, like footprints you can't see. Nobody can clean up a mess they can't see. So we built tiny robot helpers. We call them "los somitos." They follow the trail and count all the footprints. Once a company can finally see its mess, it can start cleaning it up.
In which stage are you right now with the company? What are you looking for?
We're early stage and in go-to-market mode. SOMA started from a hackathon win at AI Summit Barcelona and grew through the ESADE eWorks incubator. Right now we're building partnerships with sustainability consultancies and talking to Chief Sustainability Officers who feel the pain of Scope 3 and CSRD reporting. We also try to walk the talk.
We've partnered with GreenPT to run our AI on a sustainable data center in the Netherlands, so the very technology we use to measure emissions isn't quietly creating its own. If we're asking companies to clean up their footprint, we have to hold ourselves to the same standard first. We're looking for partner consultancies to co-deliver with, early customers to pilot with, and the right investors and advisors who understand both climate and enterprise software.
If you had the superpower to change something in the world, what would it be?
I would make impact visible. So much harm happens simply because we can't see it. Emissions, inequality, the slow damage we do to the planet and to each other. If everyone could instantly see the real consequences of their choices, I believe most people would choose better. In a way, that's the small version of what we do at SOMA.
Why did you decide to join WICT and open our Barcelona chapter?
Because I've spent most of my career as one of the few women in the room, and I got tired of it staying that way. Women opened doors for me along the way, and Barcelona is full of brilliant women in tech who deserve a network that has their back.
As a founder, I know how much a strong network changes what's possible. Opening the chapter was my way of building the room I wish I'd walked into years ago. I believe the more we connect around the same mission, the more impact we can leave in this world. I hope I can keep being a light and an inspiration for millions more.
Follow SOMA AI here to learn more about their story and connect with Lilibeth via Linkedin.
