BFFood selects the 13 innovative projects that will participate in its 4th Edition

• Of the selected projects, 6 will enter the consolidation program and 7 will enter the Business Factory Food acceleration program.
• All of them will gain access to a specialized environment with mentors, training, coaching, technical services, infrastructure, and resources specifically designed for their area of development, as well as funding provided by the Xunta de Galicia.
• BFFood, the accelerator promoted by the Xunta de Galicia and driven by the Galician Food Cluster, has selected these initiatives from a total of 42 applications submitted with the aim of solving from Galicia some of the major challenges facing the food and beverage industry.

Business Factory Food (BFFood), the vertical accelerator for the Galician food sector promoted by the Xunta de Galicia and driven by the Galician Food Cluster (Clusaga) and leading companies in the Galician food industry, has selected the 13 projects that will participate in its fourth edition.

Of those selected, 6 will enter the consolidation program and 7 will enter the acceleration program. The vast majority of them come from Galician startups, but there are also initiatives from the Basque Country, Madrid, and Catalonia.

All of them will receive comprehensive and specialized support for nine months in the case of the acceleration program and twelve months in the consolidation program, with access to mentoring, training, coaching, technical services, infrastructure, and resources specifically designed for their area of development with the aim of driving their innovative idea to address the sector’s challenges.

In addition, each startup will have the opportunity to receive financial support through a participating loan from the Xunta through XesGalicia, which could include a capitalization option of up to a maximum of €250,000 in the consolidation program. In the acceleration program, they will also be able to access funding from the Galician Government through the Galician Innovation Agency (Gain), €25,000 as a non-refundable grant, and from XesGalicia, through a participating loan that could include a capitalization option of up to €50,000.

This fourth edition has received a total of 42 applications both nationally and internationally and has had the support of 22 leading companies in the Galician food sector, which were seeking innovative solutions aligned with the resolution of the challenges posed among the proposals received, to support them in their market entry, thus generating business opportunities for both.

Of these companies, those responsible for the mentoring process of the selected projects in the 4th Edition of BFFood will be Kiwi Atlántico, Casa Grande de Xanceda, Galacteum, Hijos de Rivera, Gadisa, Nueva Pescanova, ALS Laber, Innolact, Torre de Núñez, Viña Costeira, Larsa-Capsa Food, Ceamsa, and Lence-Leche Río.

Selected projects for the Acceleration program

LEAN 4.0: This project from A Coruña pursues the digitalization of cultivation processes, from data capture through robust low cost devices to data management through AI and Big Data technologies, enabling the generation of predictive scenarios that allow the use of best practices to increase farm profitability.

Néboda Smart Factory 4.0: This project based in Pontevedra and framed within the field of indoor vertical agriculture has the mission of producing vegetables of the highest quality, locally grown near points of sale and consumers, in a sustainable manner and minimizing the ecological footprint as much as possible.

BLUEMARINEOIL: Project based in Vigo that, with its own oil ozonation base technology already tested, awarded, and on the market, will provide customized solutions for generators and managers of marine oil waste, developing animal feed formulations with new bioactive molecules and validating new solutions for multidrug-resistant bacteria under the premise of sustainability.

ENZICAS: This project from Teo will enable the generation of a new food additive from the cultivation of the fungus Aspergillus oryzae on chestnut starch, from which a new biotechnological solution will be generated that will allow the reduction by one-third of the maturation times of dairy and meat products, reducing production costs in an innovative and sustainable way.

CODE CONTRACT: This project from the Basque Country enables fishing companies to automate their processes with traceability based on Blockchain technology, automating their management processes and guaranteeing in an unalterable way the certification of information both to the end customer and to the entire supplier-customer chain.

PROPLANTAE: Project from Nigrán that offers phytopathological diagnostic services associated with fungal species and prescription of treatments for diagnosed pathogens with sustainable products, avoiding the use of phytosanitary products and the development of new products from microorganisms, plant extracts, or waste valorization.

Selected projects for the Consolidation program

ODS PROTEIN: Project from Vigo originating from USC, accelerated in the 3rd Edition, that produces mycoprotein of high nutritional value in a sustainable manner, with an ideal formulation and texture to be incorporated as an ingredient in various food industry products. The production process is based on precision fermentation, revalorizing industry by-products as a source of raw materials, reducing the use of natural resources and thus achieving greater profitability and control in the process.

JELLYS Unexpected Drinks: Project from Barcelona that markets spherified cocktails wrapped in gelatin, with 19% alcohol. The combination of gelatin and spherification allows reproducing, in one bite, the same organoleptic sensations as a traditional cocktail, bringing the experience of a cocktail bar home through online sales.

ENTRII: Project from Madrid that has developed a platform that, through Big Data and Machine Learning, enables companies in the food and beverage sector to automate their entry and growth strategies in the Chinese market (and now also in South Korea). This is possible through all the data processed on the platform, which comes from first-hand sources from the online channel and the retail channel on the ground in these countries.

KEYFRUIT: Project from Vigo that, using proprietary technology in the patent phase, pursues the obtaining of new molecules of interest and natural food preservatives from the utilization of oily fruit waste, freeze-dried or dehydrated.

AONIR: Project from the Basque Country, accelerated in the 3rd Edition of BFFOOD, that has a platform based on NIR spectroscopy for in-line measurement of multiple parameters that enables, through non-destructive measurements, product characterization in-line and in real time, ensuring its quality from the entry of raw materials to the final product, achieving more efficient, productive, and sustainable production.

TOTALGAC FOOD: Project based in Vigo and accelerated in the 3rd Edition of BFFOOD, which presents a comprehensive automated cybersecurity management solution, scalable and adaptable. It integrates hardware and software, as well as support services in a single solution, data capture and processing through Big Data and other technologies such as AI to offer companies information to improve their security levels and be cyber-resilient in situations of cyberattacks that could put business continuity at risk.

The BFFood Executive Committee grants an honorable mention

The BFFood Executive Committee decided during its meeting this morning to exceptionally expand the number of places for the acceleration category. In this way, this modality will have 7 projects, and not the 6 that were initially planned. The beneficiary of this place, in honorable mention modality, was the NANO CELL FARMS project, from Colombia, which proposes the production of Bacterial Nano Cellulose (BNC) from different sources and substrates or agro-industrial waste.

The main innovation of this project is being able to transform a by-product, which is currently discarded, into a nanomaterial, and from this develop high-impact applications in foods as nutraceutical ingredients and in phytotherapeutics in the form of dressings and cosmetics.