Chinova Bioworks has been accepted into the first cohort of a Silicon Valley food and agtech accelerator, during which it plans to prove it can produce its chitosan-based preservative at a large scale.

The Fredericton company, which was spun out of another Fredericton startup, Mycodev Group, has just begun the first cohort of the Terra in San Francisco. The accelerator is being organized by Rocketspace, a tech accelerator that has produced 18 companies valued at more than US$1 billion each, and RaboBank, the Dutch bank known for its financing of agriculture.

Chinova is using chitosan — Mycodev’s main product —as the foundation for an anti-microbial agent, which it employs as a natural preservative in such foods as juices. Chitosan is a compound traditionally sourced from the shells of crustaceans with a range of uses, most often associated with pharmaceutical or biotech industries.

“With Terra we will focus on piloting our natural preservative chitosan technology with the help of a major food ingredient producer, an exceptional opportunity to validate our chitosan preservative at a large scale,” CEO Natasha Dhayagude said in a statement.

Pfera Wins $375K First Prize at Breakthru

Through this accelerator, Chinova hopes to gain brand exposure and be able to validate its product in collaboration with several industry corporations. The accelerator model is structured to allow participants to progress beyond a proof of concept to a commercially viable product.

After an initiation period, Chinova will begin an eight-week tailored curriculum led by industry experts, followed by an eight-week product validation period.

The Terra accelerator aims to bring together the most disruptive food and agtech startups and progressive corporations to fuel innovation and set a new standard for food and agriculture. Last year, Chinova attended IndieBio, an accelerator for life sciences startups in Ireland.

Chinova Bioworks has been known to be raising capital, but COO David Brown declined in an email to give details of the fundraising effort. He said acceptance into Terra does not include funding, and Chinova  hopes its industry pilot through Terra could result in a formal partnership leading to sales.

Chinova is one of several Atlantic Canadian companies now going through accelerators in foreign countries. Fredericton-based WellTrack is now going through the 500 Startups accelerator in Silicon Valley, while Halifax’s SkySquirrel is in the Alltech Accelerator in Dublin and Covina Biomedical is attending the Canadian Technology Accelerator in Boston.

“While Canada is quickly becoming the Silicon Valley for natural products, we’re excited to be able to work in the original Silicon Valley for this program,” said Dhayagude.