For its 2023 programme, Baking the Future has welcomed the four – selected from submissions from 11 countries around the world – which have demonstrated to have revolutionary solutions that address a number of challenges in the bakery sector; namely, sustainability; health; enhancing the consumer experience; and tech aimed at improving production without losing quality.
DouxMatok (Israel) works on nutrition improvements through sugar reduction solutions. It creates solutions that respond to consumers' dual preference for a tasteful experience and healthier food.
Ajinomatrix (Belgium) has digitised the measurement of the senses of taste and smell through artificial intelligence (AI). Today, AI is an essential tool to obtain data that allows food companies to take accurate and fast decisions.
AgroSingularity (Spain) develops vegetal-origin sustainable fibres that prolong the useful life of bread. Additionally, its tech allows the preservation of the nutrients and functional attributes of the original plant of the ingredients.
Lastly, Sacha Inchi (Columbia) focuses on creating superfood products using innovative crops and ancient grains found in Latin America.
Open innovation model
The objective of Baking the Future is to build an open innovation model for Europastry.
“We continue to bet on open innovation, a fundamental tool for collaboration with entrepreneurs and our R&D teams to design and escalate the future of the bakery industry,” said Ana Thielen, international marketing manager for Europastry
The second cohort of Europastry’s Baking the Future programme will receive six months of tutoring, advice and business development.
They will also have access to Europastry’s resources, including workspace and the R&D&I department to develop and test the viability of a product in the market, along with mentoring sessions with the teams of Cereal, Google and Eatable Adventures.
Generating great impact
Barcelona-based Cereal is Europastry's main R&D centre, founded in 2016 with teams of bakers, confectioners, engineers, chemists and nutritionists working to respond to the demands and new trends that arise in the market. Europastry's R&D team launches 400 new products a year and develops more than 1,000 projects annually, thanks to an R&D investment of more than €90m.
Eatable Adventures is highly-regarded FoodTech accelerator in Europe and Latam, having launched over 25 corporate programmes and mentored more than 2,200 startups on four continents each year.
In 2021, Eatable launched a €50m fund for investing in early-stage disruptive startups across Europe and Latin America that promise a relevant impact on the agri-food value chain.
“Thanks to Baking the Future, we brought entrepreneurs from all over the world to Cereal, to respond to the current challenges of the bakery sector,” said José Luis Cabañero, founder and CEO of Eatable Adventures.
“We are sure that, thanks to the collaboration of Europasty and its I&D team, these startups will be able to develop innovative solutions, capable of generating great impact in the sector and reach a global scale.”
Following the six-month Baking the Future programme, the four startups will be given the opportunity to present their projects to a network of private investors.
Family-owned Europastry specialises in frozen bakery, while respecting and honouring the tradition of artisan baking. Today, the bakery manufacturer is present in more than 80 countries, through a workforce of over 5,000 bakers, and a network of 22 production plants and 33 sales offices.