During incMTY Summit 2024, three winners were selected for the challenge promoted by HEINEKEN Mexico and incMTY.
Using waste such as coconut fiber, coffee grounds, barley, and orange peel to produce bioplastics, startup Biointellectus has won first place in HEINEKEN Green Challenge 2024.
The startup aims to be a model of circular economy and is led by Tec graduate Victor Flores, who had the opportunity to present his pitch during incMTY Summit 2024.
“Our mission is to stop the pollution caused by microplastics waste,” highlighted the CEO of Biointellectus.
HEINEKEN Mexico and incMTY promoted this challenge for the seventh time. This year’s theme aimed to contribute solutions to decarbonizing HEINEKEN Mexico’s value chain.
had evolved since its launch in 2018, highlighting the community’s talent in creating transformative solutions for the country’s development.
“Today, we celebrate innovative projects that aim to accelerate decarbonization and foster a culture of entrepreneurship based on collaboration and strengthening skills for greater impact,” said the CEO.
“This time, we have the opportunity to select a project to be part of a pilot model with us that can provide solutions in our value chain to achieve zero emissions by 2040,” he added.
Biointellectus: Aiming to revolutionize the creation of bioplastics
The startup that won first place in the challenge develops bioplastics and bioproducts to reduce dependence on traditional plastics.
“At Biointellectus, we aim to decarbonize and reduce waste to zero through what we call a new generation of 100% compostable bioplastics from agricultural waste and innovative industrial techniques,” said Flores.
“Participating in the HEINEKEN Green Challenge meant tackling a challenge that was entirely focused on the sustainability of a corporation using open innovation, something we are seeing more and more of and which I’m very happy about,” he told CONECTA.
According to the Tec graduate, Biointellectus uses natural materials to create functional packaging products while still maintaining a focus on sustainability.
In his pitch, the bioplastics in this initiative use mainly starch and cellulose extracted from a variety of wastes such as coconut fiber, coffee grounds, barley, and orange peel, among others.
As the winner of HEINEKEN Green Challenge 2024, the startup was awarded 600,000 pesos as seed capital for this venture.
Syntropia’s vision of transforming agriculture
Second place went to Syntropia, the startup led by Tec graduate Alejandro Landín that is working on a technological process capable of transforming the organic waste management system in cities.
“At Syntropia, we develop technology to decarbonize the treatment of organic waste and make high-quality biofertilizers for regenerative agriculture with this,” Landín told CONECTA.
“Let’s make the decarbonization of agriculture inevitable,” Landín said during his final pitch.
Syntropia’s products focus on organic fertilizers and biofertilizers capable of reducing carbon emissions from 30 days (with industrial compost) to approximately 10 hours.
“Per kilogram (of biofertilizers), we prevent approximately 8.5 kilograms of waste,” the CEO said during his presentation.
According to its website, one of its organic fertilizers is a biotrufa (biotruffle) made from vegetable biomass with calcium and biochar, as well as a liquid biofertilizer created from vegetable inputs.
For winning second place, the team was awarded 300,000 pesos as seed capital for this venture.
Sustainable materials from fungi
Radial Biomateriales, a Jalisco initiative led by Ricardo Muttio, won third place by proposing using organic waste such as that from beer to extract the fungi used to create sustainable biomaterials.
“In our startup, we use fungi to develop sustainable materials, transforming plant waste such as barley bagasse,” Muttio told CONECTA.
“I think it’s very interesting and important to have this type of space to share what we are doing in biotechnology,” he added.
According to Muttio’s pitch, the biomaterials created by Radial can replace polystyrene (Styrofoam), wood, and even leather.
process is 100% safe, since it uses the roots of the mother fungus to extract the bagasse and glue.
For winning third place, the team was awarded 100,000 pesos as seed capital for this venture.
About HEINEKEN Green Challenge 2024
HEINEKEN Mexico and incMTY is an initiative that promotes the development of a sustainable innovation ecosystem. Since 2018, they have been rewarding the efforts of entrepreneurs who address socio-environmental challenges.
Highlights of the seven editions:
- 13,250 participants.
- A total of 4,320 projects submitted.
- Supporting more than 120 projects with a sustainable approach.
In the 2024 HEINEKEN Green Challenge, 50 projects were chosen to participate in a bootcamp where they received face-to-face mentoring, listened to lectures, and participated in workshops on sustainability, innovation, business, and pitch development.
Following the bootcamp, the three projects that won 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place were selected after their pitches at incMTY Summit.
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