BC Business
Freshline and Spoitz Enterprises are two of the 11 companies CFIN is investing in
The Canadian Food Innovation Network often swoops in to stir foodtech innovation in the province. It did so earlier this year by announcing $2 million in funding for companies like CanDry Technologies, Maia Farms and Renaissance Bioscience, and now it’s back with more.
Eleven foodtech projects are receiving $503,465 through CFIN’s Innovation Booster program, which helps SMEs overcome barriers and technical hurdles in the foodtech industry. Industry partners will match this amount, bringing total investment to over $1 million.
The B.C. companies on the list of recipients are Freshline and Spoitz Enterprises. Freshline is an e-commerce and operations platform that uses AI to improve food distribution. The company started in Vancouver and now has a presence in Toronto as well. Its co-founder Joseph Lee was named a 2023 30 Under 30 winner for his use of AI in digitizing traditional processes like food distribution.
Meanwhile, Spoitz Enterprises is transforming the seaweed processing industry with its solutions. The company is using AI to improve the functional applications of seaweed, and was recently acquired by French company Marine Biologics.
The other companies receiving investment from CFIN in this round include CBS Bio Platforms (Alberta), Enhanced Medical Nutrition (Ontario), Farmery Estate Brewery (Manitoba), Haskalife (Alberta), Innodal (Quebec), Jitto (Ontario), Material Futures (Ontario), Nfinite Nanotech (Ontario) and Relocalize (Quebec).
Since 2021, CFIN has invested over $20 million in 91 Canadian foodtech projects across the country, and $4.7 million in 61 companies through its Booster Innovation program. It received 58 applications for this round of funding.