MEXICO CITY — Grupo Bimbo SAB de CV has launched the second edition of Bimbo Open Door, its open innovation platform for food businesses. As part of the second edition of the program, Grupo Bimbo said it will focus on startups in the cookie and bar categories that have demonstrated innovative projects in their respective sectors.

“Through Bimbo Open Door we seek to innovate and scale initiatives to continue surprising our consumers with products that can satisfy current and new consumer habits,” said Raúl Obregón, global director of information and transformation at Grupo Bimbo. “We are excited to be able to connect with innovative entrepreneurs who, like us, are seeking to feed a better world.”

Bimbo said it designed Bimbo Open Door to reach more than 20 countries in the Latin America region, including Mexico, Colombia, Chile and Argentina. The initiative operates through Bimbo Ventures, a business area of Grupo Bimbo dedicated to finding solutions through differentiated and unique products in the world’s innovation ecosystems.

Participation in Bimbo Open Door will require companies to have a product validated by Bimbo with operations or an expansion plan in the Americas, from Canada to Argentina and/or through the European continent. Companies also must have annual sales over $250,000 and availability to participate in the program in Mexico for 12 weeks.

In addition, Bimbo said applicants must be aligned with the company’s sustainability strategy. Nutritional diversity, simple and/or plant-based formulations, and a nature-friendly business model will be the primary areas of focus taken into account by Bimbo as part of the selection process, the company said.

Bimbo said interested companies may apply in three areas:

1. Cookies and/or bars for children: “Products that offer nutritious and delicious options for the little ones in the home using innovative ingredients and technologies.”
2. Innovative snacks: “Cookies and/or bars with natural and unconventional ingredients, considering avant-garde processes that help preserve their flavors.”
3. Artisan products and/or traditional recipes: “Cookies and/or bars with a unique touch that use new culinary techniques and creative presentations to keep the homemade essence and familiar flavor alive in every bite.”

Those businesses the company selects as finalists will receive mentoring from Bimbo executives and managers, as well as the opportunity to get to know the bakeries and innovation centers in the company while working on their projects. In the final stage of the program, finalists will present the results of their work to a forum of company executives as part of “Demo Day,” Bimbo said. The finalists will move on to the last stage of the program called “Behind the Door,” in which Bimbo will follow up on each of their projects and define the opportunity to carry out a collaboration.

“Bimbo Open Door was born with the dream of transmitting experiences and knowledge generated by Grupo Bimbo to companies with expansion potential through differentiated value propositions,” said Constantino Matouk, global director of Bimbo Ventures. “The first edition was a complete success. We received more than 250 applications from startups and scaleups from more than 20 countries, and in this new cycle we hope to connect with more entrepreneurs to generate shared knowledge and thus seek collaboration opportunities in the future.”