Editor’s note: WRAL TechWire and the Council for Entrepreneurial development are partnering to present a series of profiles and Q&As featuring companies startups and emerging companies participating in the CED’s annual Life Science conference coming up Feb. 28-March 1 in Raleigh. The first in the series is Induction Food Systems from Asheville.

Induction Food Systems

  • Web site: www.proveitfoodtech.com
  • CEO: Francesco Aimone
  • Contact info: faimone@proveitllc.com
  • Sub-sector: AgBio or AgTech
  • HQ: Asheville, NC
  • Year Founded: 2017

COMPANY PROFILE

IFS makes equipment that lowers food manufacturers’ costs and helps them make higher quality food. We use scalable, hyper-efficient magnetic induction technology to heat fluid foods, achieving commercial-scale efficiencies without the commercial-scale footprint, waste, or operating costs. By combining two processing steps into one, our equipment makes expensive, inefficient, and complex steam systems redundant and preserves natural flavor, color, and texture by minimizing cooking time. Its plug & play design allows for easy integration with our customer’s existing assets. With its all-electric operation and high performance, IFS is the ‘Tesla of pasteurization.’

FOUNDERS/MANAGEMENT TEAM

  • Francesco Aimone, CEO
  • George Sadler PhD, CTO

KEY MILESTONES TO DATE

  • Funding: $7.2MM via USDA SBIR and other grants
  • Working pilot-scale prototype
  • Achieved aseptic processing temperatures in high-viscosity, thermally sensitive test product demonstrating temperature and product range.
  • Semi-finalist, FoodBytes! Pitch Competition

SUPPORTERS

The Collider, USDA, Illinois Sustainable Technology Center, Ambrell Corporation

Q&A

  • What is the primary pain point you are seeking to address?

Food manufacturers face pressure to lower production costs and increase output while meeting increasing consumer demand for higher quality, more natural, and environmentally responsible packaged foods.

  • What sets your company apart? What’s the “secret sauce”?

IFS uses scalable, hyper-efficient magnetic induction technology to heat fluid foods. This technology reduces manufacturers’ costs by combining two processing steps into one, making expensive, inefficient, and complex steam systems redundant. This innovative way of heating foods preserves   natural flavor, color, and texture by minimizing cooking time. Its plug & play design allows for easy integration with our customer’s existing assets.

  • Why should investors be interested in your company? What is the potential market size?

Our customers are food manufacturers in the dairy, juice/beverage, sauce, and soup segments ($150B of annual domestic production value). We make money by licensing our systems to food processors for a base fee plus a % of revenue, sales, or $/volume of product produced — depending on where they are in the food value chain. Impact investors concerned with climate change and the environment will be interested in how we can eliminate on-site emissions and reduce process heating energy by up to 50% in the food industry, the 5th most energy intensive manufacturing sector in the US.