Grupo Bimbo launches the largest food business accelerator in Latin America

Intending to build the future of food and open the doors to new alliances, Grupo Bimbo, the world's leading bakery company, launched Bimbo Open Door, the largest food business accelerator in Latin America. Bimbo Open Door focuses on seeking, developing, and investing in startups and scale-ups in the bakery and snacks sector, whose projects stand out for their innovative value propositions, sustainable practices, and business model, among others.

The call to participate in Bimbo Open Door is available to startups and scale-ups dedicated to the baking and production of snacks with a presence in Latin America or with a plan that contemplates their expansion to that market, which will be able to register their projects until next August 22nd.

Those interested in participating must have a validated product, annual sales above USD 300,000, and availability to participate in the program. In addition, as part of Grupo Bimbo's sustainability strategy, the startups must be aligned with at least one of the following pillars:

• Nutritional Diversity: baking or snack projects, either sweet or salty, made with clean label recipes (using few ingredients, natural and easily identified by the consumer) or with inputs of vegetable origin, such as plants, whole grains or similar.

• Environmental Care: baking or snack projects, either sweet or salty, whose elaboration considers a sustainable supply of raw materials, such as regenerative agriculture, among others; or those projects that stand out for having waste control programs, reduction of carbon emissions and post-consumption actions, such as recycling or circular economy.

• Impact on the Community: baking or snack projects, either sweet or savory, whose portfolios have a brand with purpose or a social benefit program for foundations, and communities, among others.

"We are a global company born in Mexico more than 76 years ago as a small company. This time has allowed us to learn and capitalize on many lessons we are excited to share with the youngest. With Bimbo Open Door, we want to become an engine for the entrepreneurial ecosystem, where we put into practice models of shared success that promote new talents and their great ideas. We are sure they will revolutionize the food industry," said Raúl Obregón, Global Director of Information and Transformation of Grupo Bimbo.

To accelerate Bimbo Open Door projects, those startups and scale-ups selected as finalists will be part of a hybrid program (face-to-face/digital) of 16 weeks. There, they will receive mentoring from executives and managers from several areas of Grupo Bimbo, as well as the opportunity to know the bakeries and innovation centers of the company to enrich their projects.

All this, to prepare their project proposal for the Demo Day, the final stage of the program, where they will present to a forum of company executives the results of their work, looking to collaborate with the company through the development of a pilot, an investment, or a commercial alliance.

Bimbo Open Door will reach more than 20 countries in the Latin America region, including Mexico, Colombia, Chile, and Argentina. Grupo Bimbo leads this initiative through Bimbo Ventures, the company’s business area that, since 2017, has managed four acceleration cycles through its BIMBO ELEVA and BIMBO BAKELAB platforms. Within these acceleration cycles, the company received more than a thousand project proposals, of which Grupo Bimbo has collaborated with more than twenty -through alliances of various types- and invested in seven.

Throughout the Bimbo Open Door program, Bimbo Ventures will partner with Blue Box, the largest network of incubators, accelerators, and corporate investment funds in Latin America.

For more information and project log in visit: https://www.bimbo-opendoor.com/