Abel Van Steenweghen

Abel Van Steenweghen is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Macadamia, an artificial intelligence software startup based in Ghent, Belgium. He established the enterprise in 2025 alongside co-founder Brecht Pierreux to develop specialized AI agents tailored for complex engineering, industrial construction, and manufacturing projects. Under his executive leadership, the two-person company was selected to participate in the highly competitive Y Combinator W25 batch. Van Steenweghen directs the firm's technical strategy to automate intricate business processes within the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) sectors by integrating AI solutions directly with existing enterprise resource planning (ERP) software. The early-stage startup is currently expanding its operations and actively recruiting a founding go-to-market lead to scale its commercial reach. His current professional focus centers on leveraging artificial intelligence to streamline industrial workflows and modernize legacy engineering systems.