Spain’s female-led FoodTech startup Sensesbit raises €1 million to scale its AI-powered sensory intelligence platform
Sensesbit, a Lugo-based FoodTech startup specialising in advanced sensory analysis, has closed a €1 million funding round to accelerate its international expansion.
The round included participation from Clave Capital, Eoniq Fund, WindOne Consultores, and Paraíso Natural Ventures, the investment vehicle promoted by Grupo Central Lechera Asturiana.
Maruxa Quiroga, CEO and co-founder of Sensesbit, said, “For decades, the industry has focused on optimising costs, processes, and production. The next major competitive leap will be understanding, measuring, and anticipating what consumers feel. That is Sensesbit’s mission: to make Sensory Intelligence the new standard for strategic decision-making in the food industry.”
Sensesbit was founded by four scientists from a research group at the University of Santiago de Compostela. The company is a joint venture between USC and UNIRISCO. It is a SaaS platform designed to help the food industry develop products with a higher probability of success while reducing innovation risks. The company states that it combines statistics and artificial intelligence to transform sensory data into business decisions.
According to the startup, until now, sensory analysis has been a scientific discipline that was difficult to scale, slow, and highly dependent on experts. Sensesbit claims to have transformed that expertise into an AI-powered SaaS platform capable of digitising, standardising, and enhancing decision-making across the food industry.
“We do more than analyse perceptions; we translate science into decisions with financial impact. We have combined scientific expertise with artificial intelligence to enable companies to produce exactly what consumers are willing to buy again,” added Quiroga.
The company plans to use this capital to scale its AI capabilities applied to sensory analysis and strategic decision-making. In addition, the investment will strengthen the team in key areas such as product, data science, and business development.
This new phase will allow Sensesbit to strengthen its presence in Europe and Latin America and expand its team. Part of the funding will be used to expand Sensesbit’s sensory AI capabilities. From 2026, the platform will incorporate agentic AI to analyse large volumes of sensory data, identify patterns, generate recommendations, and help teams make faster, more accurate decisions.
Sensesbit notes that the primary objective of the investment is to consolidate its international growth in markets where food companies seek to reduce the risk associated with developing new products.
“Taste is the primary driver of repeat purchases. If consumers do not connect with a product on a sensory level, they will not buy it again,” concluded Quiroga.
