CFIN awards $386K to four foodtech startups

The Canadian Food Innovation Network (CFIN) is awarding $386,078 to four foodtech projects through the organization’s Innovation Booster Program. Industry will match these funds to create projects valued at $772,154.

The Innovation Booster funding recipients are:

Project Lead: ThisFish (British Columbia)
Project Title: TallyVision: Automating Seafood Inspection with Computer Vision Technology
Funding: $99,256

TallyVision is a new product by ThisFish that uses smart cameras and computer vision to automatically inspect seafood in processing plants. The Innovation Booster project aims to integrate TallyVision into sorting and grading equipment and to develop new computer vision models to estimate fish or fillet weights from images, classify salmon fillet colours, and identify new species. The end goal is to use advanced computer vision to improve inspection accuracy and consistency, while automating sorting to reduce labour costs in seafood factories.

Project Lead: Knead Technologies (Alberta)
Project Title: Scaling & Quantifying Food Rescue
Funding: $96,628

Knead Technologies will launch six-month pilots with nine food sustainability agencies to validate and test their food rescue life-cycle management platform. They aim to refine the product based on pilot feedback, optimize its performance, and build a scalable infrastructure that can handle the demands of the commercial market. The goal is to transform the platform from a promising idea into a community-focused impact driver that can be commercialized worldwide.

Project Lead: Skygauge Robotics (Ontario)
Project Title: Drones for Large Food Processing Tank Inspections
Funding: $95,237

Skygauge Robotics is using drone technology for ultrasonic inspection of food processing assets. Food processors regularly inspect assets like storage tanks and process piping for integrity. Skygauge’s drones replace the need for manual inspections done by teams on ropes, cranes, or scaffolding, which will significantly reduce time, carbon emissions, and costs by up to 90 per cent. The funding will help develop a 360-degree inspection capability based on direct customer feedback from early adopters in the food processing industry.

Project Lead: Local Line (Ontario)
Project Title: Local Food Sourcing Network (The Network)
Funding: $94,957

The Local Food Sourcing Network is a platform that connects national wholesale buyers to local food vendors to enhance the agility and adaptability of the food supply chain. The platform integrates digital procurement solutions for seamless coordination of wholesale sourcing, purchasing, verification, invoicing, payment, monitoring, and reporting from various local suppliers. These innovations enable wholesale buyers to scale their local sourcing, diversify suppliers, validate ESG commitments, and meet growing consumer demand for locally sourced food. By addressing the logistical challenges faced by large businesses like Chipotle and Roche Bros, who are beta users of the platform, the technology can be adapted for different procurement volumes, increasing the availability of local food in Canada and beyond.

CFIN’s Innovation Booster provides funding and support to SMEs to help them accelerate product development, overcome innovation hurdles, and validate market fit. During this ninth round of Innovation Booster funding, CFIN received 30 applications from across the country. In total, 45 Canadian foodtech companies have received $3,800,784 from this program since 2021. Across all programs, CFIN has awarded more than $19.5M to 69 Canadian foodtech projects.

“These projects represent CFIN’s commitment to driving innovation in the food industry. Canadian foodtech companies are leveraging transformative technologies and strategic partnerships to revolutionize how food is sourced, inspected, and managed, ultimately leading to a more sustainable and efficient food supply chain,” said Dana McCauley CEO, Canadian Food Innovation Network.