Grupo Bimbo has started the second edition of its incubator programme to discover and develop innovative start-ups from around the world.
Called the Eleva Food Technology Accelerator, the programme is run by Bimbo Ventures and BlueBox Ventures, a network of corporate incubators in Latin America.
The 2018 competition is now open to receive proposals, and companies in the start-up or scale-up phase are able to register.
Applicants must display potential in one of the following: innovative ingredients, new products, new packaging, technologies that contribute to optimisation of the supply and waste chain, automation for manufacturing lines, renewable energy, payment methods and financial transactions, retail and sales.
The initiative will choose the ten projects which promise the greatest potential to work with Grupo Bimbo. During the acceleration process, those selected will have the opportunity of developing and working on their innovation projects for 16 weeks.
They will receive mentoring from Grupo Bimbo’s directors and managers, access to the company’s global infrastructure to develop a pilot, and participation in demo day, the closing phase where they will present the results of their work before a forum of top Grupo Bimbo executives for the purpose of exploring possible collaboration.
Bimbo Ventures director José Manuel Ramírez said: “The first edition of Eleva Food Technology Accelerator by Bimbo met with huge success. We received more than 200 proposals for creative and sustainable projects.
“This year we have increased the number of categories from six to nine, and will continue to offer the necessary tools for start-ups and scale-ups, offering finalists the chance to generate synergy with Grupo Bimbo.”
Bimbo is the latest multinational to develop an incubator scheme to explore innovations in the food and beverage industry. Last month, Tyson revealed plans to work with two business development initiatives in the US.
In December of last year, UK start-up Erbology received a €100 million grant as part of PepsiCo’s Nutrition Greenhouse incubator.
Chobani also announced the second round of start-ups to take part in its incubator programme, which was created as a means of encouraging new brands to “challenge big food companies”.
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