AEF hungry for the frozen food industry

Technology company Acoustic Extra Freezing (AEF) is on a mission to bring the frozen food industry to a whole new level with their unique technology focusing on superior taste and quality. With Helsinki Business Hub smoothing the path, AEF has chosen Helsinki as its base in Europe. The company is also exploring possibilities in life science.

Dimitry Balabolin

AEF is the first company in the world to focus on freezing food, instead of just producing cold. There’s a big difference, claim Andrey Pechurin and Dmitry Balabolin, the founders of AEF. “Think about the cooking process. You choose the right technique according to the product. However, for freezing there has been only one technology until now – “close door of a freezer”. Acoustic freezing enables using different algorithms for different types of food”, explains Dmitry Balabolin, member of the board of directors at AEF.

The innovative freezing technology is based on acoustic waves that prevent growth of ice crystals, the damage of the cells and deterioration of the product. “You can tell the difference just by tasting. With our technology, the frozen food tastes just like the fresh product. Before this was impossible.”, explains Andrey Pechurin, managing director at AEF.

Fresh taste is not the only benefit, though. The frozen products can now be stored without any loss of quality longer than before, and drip loss is also reduced. The part of AEF technology, AEF-AIRCONTROL system, allows to increase the productivity of conventional air-blast tunnel freezers up to three times.

Finland is an interesting base for heading to these markets. Our technology is based on software and Finland has lots of experience and competence in software exports.

Dmitry Balabolin, member of the board of directors, Acoustic Extra Freezing

Towards a new standard in vast international market

The export potential for AEF’s technology is enormous. “The freezing systems all over Europe are outdated and lack quality. We are now focused on marketing but later we aim to have our system widely adopted and make it the standard in this industry. Finland is an interesting base for heading to these markets. Our technology is based on software and Finland has lots of experience and competence in software exports. We have already landed our first export projects in Italy and Latvia.”, says Balabolin.

Andrey Pechurin

AEF’s technology could also boost the exports of the entire Finnish food industry. “Our technology expands the harvest season, which in Finland has been very short. This will guarantee the supply of quality products and enable exporting them all year round. China, for example, has a huge market potential for high-quality frozen food.”, tells Pechurin.

Helsinki Business Hub opening doors in Finland

AEF has already set its European headquarters in Helsinki and plans to employ about 10 people here within the next 2 years. Helsinki was not the only location they considered. Geographic location near Russia and availability of Russian-speaking professionals gave Finland some advantage. However, it was the business environment and local support that really made the difference.

“The business environment in Finland is very open to innovations. Business Finland and Helsinki Business Hub (HBH) have been extremely supportive. HBH provided market analytics and insights for us and introduced us to Finnish freezing system manufacturers and potential customers – key manufacturers of frozen food. HBH opened a lot of important doors and arranged meetings for us”, says Balabolin.

The business environment in Finland is very open to innovations

Dmitry Balabolin, member of the board of directors, Acoustic Extra Freezing

“AEF’s technology is ground breaking and it has been truly rewarding to work with AEF’s founders’ team, which combines strong engineering and commercial expertise. It’s technology with an impact and I’m very happy that AEF has chosen Finland to further develop technology, pilot and expand its operations globally”, says Maria Hartikainen from Helsinki Business Hub.

“When Business Finland people at the Global Network first meet with international innovative companies, the main task is to explain all options that Finnish innovative ecosystem can provide them on their way to international markets and connect them with relevant partners in Finland who will help to establish their international presence smoothly and effectively. AEF is a bright example of an innovative company who launched their operations with the support of Business Finland and Helsinki Business Hub” tells Karen Grigoryan from Business Finland.

The intensive work is already bearing fruit: AEF has three pilot projects going on in Finland. First one is a cooperation with local food producers in Kitee region, with the aim to develop a freezing solution and optimal algorithms for berries, fish and ready meal products. Another one is about building a new freezing chamber in cooperation with Tukkutori and Teurastamo, to be used by local restaurants and food processing companies. Finally, the third project has to do with sustainable food chain with focus on reducing food waste.

Exploring opportunities in life science

Besides the frozen food industry, acoustic freezing technology could have various uses in the health sector. It could be used for conserving natural bacteria, which is often affected due to use of antibiotics. Another application could be freezing blood: in future, each person could have his own blood bank to be used in case of an injury. Freezing tissues or even organs offer yet another example of the possibilities in life science.

“These applications are in the development stage and we are now experimenting in this field. We see a huge potential here, but we need to find partners to take this further. That is one of the reasons why we are settled in Helsinki and more specifically in the Terkko Health Hub.”, explains Balabolin.