Key Takeaways
- BlueRedGold raises €2.73 million (~$2.94 million USD) in a round led by PINC, the venture arm of Paulig.
- The company plans to build a scalable indoor saffron cultivation blueprint using AI and robotics.
- Paulig sees strategic alignment with its sustainability and spice portfolio goals.
- Demand for saffron from food, cosmetics, and nutraceutical sectors cited as a key growth driver.
- Former Airbus and Huawei executive joins as CTO to lead automation and production scale-up.
BlueRedGold Develops Indoor Saffron Farming System with Support from Paulig’s PINC
BlueRedGold, a Swedish AgriTech company, has secured €2.73 million (~$2.94 million USD) in funding to scale the development of what it describes as the world’s first scalable indoor saffron cultivation system. The investment round was led by PINC, the venture capital arm of food company Paulig, and joined by The Food Tech Lab and PolarVentures.
The new funding will support the construction of a modular production facility that replicates optimal saffron-growing conditions indoors and automates the harvesting and processing of saffron flowers. The facility is designed for commercial-scale cultivation and aims to address challenges related to the spice’s traditional production, which is often labor-intensive and susceptible to environmental variability.
BlueRedGold to Build Global Blueprint for High-Tech Saffron Farming
According to Erika Hombert, Senior Investment Manager at PINC, “BlueRedGold’s approach brings automation, predictability, and quality to a supply chain we know well—offering a complementary path forward for future production.”
The company’s cultivation platform is designed to deliver multiple saffron cycles per year, using controlled environment agriculture (CEA) techniques alongside AI-driven automation. CEO Nastaran Baleng-Soultani stated: “This investment enables us to scale production and start fulfilling the unmet demand we see worldwide—with quality and reliability at the core.”
BlueRedGold has already received inquiries for several tonnes of saffron from food, cosmetics, and nutraceutical companies, indicating industry interest in domestically controlled, high-quality supply sources.
BlueRedGold Strengthens Leadership for Next Phase of Growth
To support its scaling efforts, BlueRedGold has appointed Andrei Boulescu as Chief Technology Officer and Head of Automation & Production. Boulescu brings experience in automation and AI systems from companies including Airbus, Huawei, and Innotek.
The current leadership team includes CEO Baleng-Soultani and Mikael Öhman, Chief Innovation Officer and founder. Together, they aim to establish a replicable model for high-value crop cultivation using indoor agriculture technologies.
