Halifax, Nova Scotia — Natural Products Canada (NPC) today announced a boost to Canada’s bioeconomy with Halifax-based company RFINE, through its Commercialization Programs. RFINE uses innovative processing technologies that enable coffee shops to upcycle their waste coffee to produce value-added ingredients. This nature-based solution addresses food waste and directly benefits the bioeconomy.

NPC’s Commercialization Programs focus on three gaps common to highly innovative companies: product validation, talent, and competitive strategy. The Proof of Concept, Access to Talent, and Fast Track to Financing programs address each of these gaps and provide up to $350,000 in support. Acting truly as “strategic angels” NPC works with applicants before, during and after the official application process, providing in-depth advice, guidance and connections to resources from across the country.

“Natural Products Canada is proud to support the vast array of natural products that stimulate sustainable economic development and benefits all Canadians,” said Shelley King, CEO, Natural Products Canada. “NPC’s investment in Nova Scotia-based RFINE is an example of our commitment to companies harnessing the power of nature to create competitive sustainable products that contribute to Canada’s economy and the planet as a whole.”

The investment into RFINE will support Proof of Concept activities to trial the technology that turns used coffee grounds into valuable ingredients, using advanced technology that is both efficient and cost-effective for coffee shops. NPC is investing $221,856, enabling a total budget of $554,640.

“Receiving the NPC capital to conduct these pilot trials with real customers is an important next step in our ability to bring our sustainable solution to the world,” said Quinn Kavanaugh, founder, RFINE.

NPC’s work to advance natural products is supported by the Government of Canada. Since 2016, NPC has provided advice and promotional support to over 1600 Canadian start-ups and has curated thousands of strategic introductions through its extensive network of investors, industry leaders, business and technical consultants, and others that help advance sustainable innovation.

“Our government will always support global decarbonization efforts, and it is important to invest in industries that can lead the way sustainably. By approaching it in this way, we can achieve our environmental goals synergistically with supporting the growth of Canadian businesses and expertise.”

-The Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry

For more information about these clients and their technologies, or to explore opportunities to collaborate with Natural Products Canada, please contact Sue Coueslan at [email protected].

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About Natural Products Canada (NPC) – NPC is the driving force behind Canada’s Natural Product Innovation Cluster–a strategic and diverse community focused on the development and commercialization of naturally-derived products and technologies in health and life sciences, natural resources, agriculture and agri-food, and sustainable bioproducts. As part of its role in the Cluster, NPC offers in-depth advice and a suite of commercialization programs to Canadian early-stage companies and research institutes; provides connections and innovation scouting services to corporations and investors; and leverages an investment fund (Nàdarra Ventures) to help develop and de-risk promising Canadian opportunities. NPC has received financial support from the Government of Canada’s Strategic Innovation Fund, administered by the department of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, and the Centre of Excellence in Commercialization and Research (CECR) program, administered by the Networks of Centres of Excellence.