#1: Two high-potential, early-stage, impact startups in Biotech/Agtech from Spain
One lets packaged foods communicate state of freshness. The other makes sure the packaging is fossil-free. Both early-stage, biotech, impact startups based in Spain, are likely to be NEW to you.
You are reading the launch newsletter!
Deeply researched, handcrafted from content in English and Spanish to paint a detailed picture in numbers, words and images.
If you are getting this 1st edition directly to your inbox you have previously subscribed to and actively read my free newsletter.
One of the most read insights was Fundraising, early-stage impact startups in Spain, which has led to this premium newsletter.
Wishing you a beautiful summer from Stockholm,
Caroline Lagergren, founder of Expand To Spain
What you can expect every week, covering 2 startups:
Company name with links
Sector
Launch date and HQ
Challenge
Product/solution
Business model
Market potential
Growth Signal
Competitive edge
Mission statement
Financing
Investors
Employee count
Founder profiles with links
Team dynamics incl. video
Future
Other useful info (e.g. key supplier/key competitor)
Sources online
Company name: Oscillum
Sector: Agtech/Biotech
Launch date and HQ
Oscillum was launched in 2019 in Elche, the Valencia region.
Challenge: Food waste
Over 59 million tonnes of food is discarded annually, in the EU alone. What if a piece of meat or fruit easily could communicate it's current state? That way huge amounts of perfectly edible food, wasted due to uncertainty about its freshness, can be avoided.
Product/solution: smart food labels
Oscillum offers biodegradable smart labels to monitor food freshness in real-time. By detecting bacterial growth, their unique labels provide a practical solution to help prevent food poisoning and reduce unnecessary food waste in regular households and also across whole supply chains.
Currently, they work with fresh meat, fish and tropical fruit like mango. In the near future, they are planning to adapt the technology to other fresh products such as dairy products, fruits and vegetables, as well as for processed or even pre-cooked products.
In addition to reducing waste, their solution helps the food industry with over-all quality control leading to cost reductions and increase of sales.
Business model: B2B
Market potential: EUR 132 billion in the EU
“In the EU alone, over 59 million tonnes of food is discarded annually, amounting to 132 kg per inhabitant and a market loss of approximately *EUR 132 billion. Globally, nearly one-fifth of all food available to consumers is discarded mainly due to safety concerns, with food-borne diseases affecting over 200 000 people each year in the EU”.
- Facts by the European Patent Office.
Growth Signal
On May 6th, 2025, the founders received The Young Inventors Prize from The European Patent Office (EPO), recognising innovators under 30 who are “tackling Global Challenges through groundbreaking science and technology.” From over 450 candidates, only 10 innovators were chosen by an independent jury.
Competitive edge
Oscillum’s technology uses intelligent indicators (molecules) inside the label. As bacteria multiply, they generate compounds that interact with the indicator on the label, causing it to gradually change colour. This colour transition also indicates the freshness of packaged foods after they have been opened.
For example, the team discovered that chicken generally produces a strong smell because of the molecular compound generated once the package is unsealed. However, the meat is still edible and safe to eat.
They use the science of metabolomics* to measure the biochemical changes in the product and report in real time if a steak or chicken breast is ready to be eaten, or not.
*The systematic study of the unique chemical fingerprints that specific cellular processes leave behind, according to Wikipedia.
Competitors in the space use different technologies to achieve similar results, such as time-response technology and radio-frequency identification (RFID) that are expensive to deploy on a large scale.
“Our technology is very cost-efficient and viable to implement in the agrifood system, capable of managing a very high volume of products”, states the CEO in an interview.
Mission statement
Making the food value chain more sustainable.
Financing
After their graduation from university, the co-founders officially launched Oscillum Biotechnology in 2019 with bootstrapped capital of €6,000. They continued to win more awards with prizes worth €100,000, including the Business Market 2019 in October.
While building and staying afloat, Oscillum provided consultancy services for research to detect common food parasites harmful to humans, such as Toxoplasma gondii found in meat and Anisakis in fish. They have also advised clients on compliance with safety standards and helped them to achieve better control of all internal processes and logistics to track each product throughout its food chain.
In May, 2023, Oscillum secured €1.5 million in public funding from the European Union. Its latest funding round was a grant on Sep 11, 2024 for $55.2K.
“Thanks to the Park (referring to their university) and the amount of aid available to national and European entrepreneurship, we have managed to develop a very expensive product in terms of infrastructure and materials. We have managed to raise almost 75 thousand euros in financing without equity, without the need to deliver anything from the company”, the CEO says in an interview back in December, 2020, showing great financial resilience and resourcefulness.
Investors
Oscillum has 3 institutional investors including:
- ClimateLaunchpad
- CDTI, a public entity, under the ministry of Science, innovation and Universities.
- RootCamp
Employee count: 5 team members
Currently, the team consists of the three founders and 2 employees.
Founder profiles
Pilar Granado, CTO and co-founder
“My career in the world of nanoscience and nanotechnology began in the field of biotechnology, when I specialized in the synthesis of new multifunctional nanoformulations based on conjugated polymers.
This has allowed me to develop the formulation of the technology we have today in Oscillum, where I am Co-founder and CTO”, she writes on LinkedIn. (translated from Spanish)
Pablo Sosa Domínguez, CEO and co-founder
Pablo Sosa Dominguez who is the CEO has a degree in Biotechnology. He later took courses in Finance as their solution showed great potential. He shares in an interview:
“(..) I want to encourage teams to train in other areas. It may seem that you to have to hire people from other branches, but you can train yourself and become good. I, for example, went on to learn numbers and Finance. Luis, meanwhile, is a very good speaker, has a gift for Marketing, knows how to make designs, etc. So it was a natural thing and we grew organically. And both Luis and I studied masters to be able to train.” (translated from Spanish)
Luis Chimeno, COO and co-founder
“During my career I learned from various disciplines of biotechnology. Of all of them, I specialised in the bioinformatics sector and experimentation "In silico" (done on a computer or via computer software).
In addition, professionally I have notions of marketing in Biotechnology and design marketing”, Luis Chimeno writes on LinkedIn. (translated from Spanish)
Team dynamics
How-they-met-story
The trio first met when they lived together while studying at the university Miguel Hernández in Elche in Alicante, the Valencia region. They lived together for four years, including during the infamous lockdown in Spain that lasted more than 3 months. Needless to say, they know each other very well.
Pablo Sosa Dominguez shares an example from the lockdown that further strengthens my belief in this team’s staying power: (Dec, 2020)
“When we were trapped during lockdown, unable to go to the lab, we came up with other ways of working. We designed a mental prototype and we would apply it when we could. That has been our success. But we always set deadlines from year to year. We (the team) decided to have an important annual meeting to decide whether or not to continue with the project.”
(translated from Spanish)
Said about the team
“Important topic and brilliant inventors! Both for addressing food waste and because their friendship shows how human connection can be a foundation for awareness and creativity. I also love the joy they share!”
- Tania Bendit, European Patent Academy, EPO on LinkedIn.
What sparked the idea
One evening, Pablo decided to cook a piece of meat he found in their fridge. Because it had a very strange appearance and an equally questionable smell to it, his two friends strongly advised him against it. Pablo chose to risk it and went ahead with cooking and eating the meat anyway. Despite the drama he was all fine afterwards and the experience led to the business idea that became Oscillum.
“That (experience) made us think about how often people, including ourselves, waste food based on appearance alone. That’s when we started imagining simple, intuitive ways to determine if a product is still good.”
- Luis Chimeno, comments in an interview.
The idea and later innovation proved its potential shortly later when it won them an entrepreneurship award in 2018 at their university in Elche, at a Miguel Hernández University Scientific Centre program.
Video featuring the founders
Watch the founder dynamics for yourself:
May 6, 2025 by European Patent Office (1: 26 min)
Future
The company continues to grow, collaborating with new partners to expand its range of smart labels.
“Oscillum now provides both intelligent and active packaging solutions. We don't just monitor what’s happening with the product—we can now also act on it," explains Chimeno.
The company very recently this year launched Addvibe® SOLAR biosensors, solar protection, leading to them being featured on Spanish television.
Other useful info: key supplier
Ferre Etiquetes, Printing Services Banyeres de Mariola, Alicante
Sources:
- EPO, European Patent office, 05.05.2025:
https://www.epo.org/en/news-events/press-centre/press-release/2025/1359875
- Interview by María Comín Mañogil, Dec, 2020: https://mariacomin.wixsite.com/parquecientificoumh/post/entrevista-pablo-sosa
- May 10, 2021, By Emanuela Ferraro:
https://www.compasslist.com/insights/oscillum-the-intelligent-label-to-reduce-food-waste
- May 13, 2025 by Tracxn: https://tracxn.com/d/companies/oscillum/__i3das6FH0aU38JqzCsMHyW9meux-n_vG1SYb3h8jab4
To read about the second high-potential impact startup, go premium! :-)
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Expand To Spain™️ to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.