Belgian food quality AI startup Backbone raises €4 million pre-Seed round

Brussels-based AI startup Backbone, specializing in quality and compliance for the food industry, has secured €4 million in a pre-Seed funding round. The investment round, led by Pitchdrive, saw participation from PROfunders Capital, Passion Capital, 100IN, and a consortium of Belgian food families, including Agristo and Darta. Louis Opsomer, co-founder of Backbone, explains that "a food company today has all the data it needs to make better quality decisions, but the different data points aren't talking to each other."

Backbone's technology acts as an intelligence layer that connects these disparate data points, providing context and actionable insights. The company's pre-Seed round can be seen as part of a broader trend of food-industry investments in AI, automation, and data infrastructure. Recently, five relevant or adjacent rounds totaling €69.1 million were reported, including €2 million for Mafer AI's AI OS for formulation and regulatory workflows.

Backbone's co-founders, Louis Opsomer, Siska Lannoo, and Julien Steel, all former Henchman managers, aim to expand their platform across 250 production sites by the end of 2028. The AI-driven platform automates daily quality operations, from supplier tracking and document control to incident management and compliance analysis. By unifying quality-related data from various sources, Backbone enables food producers to identify risks earlier and make informed decisions, ultimately reducing costs associated with poor quality, which can amount to up to 15% of revenue.