From California to Broomfield, meals security tech firm shifting its headquarters | Enterprise

SnapDNA, a company that has developed technology to improve food safety, has selected Broomfield as its new headquarters, state officials announced Wednesday, joining a growing number of foodtech companies establishing or growing in Colorado.

Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, the company plans to hire up to 144 employees at an average salary of $124,573 over the coming years. Colorado sweetened the pot by adding up to $1.45 million in job-creation tax credits over the next eight years.

“SnapDNA is excited to be part of Colorado’s burgeoning centers of excellence in life sciences, technology development and product manufacturing,” said CEO David Medin in a press release. “Colorado is ideally located and central to the nation’s largest and most influential food companies; we already work with some of them… and our employees love the can-do culture and world-class outdoor activities that Colorado has to offer.”

SnapDNA “creates a food safety molecular recognition technology that enables rapid on-site detection of foodborne pathogens,” according to filings submitted to the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade.

Austin, Texas, or a California location with a combined headquarters and development facility was also sought. When the Colorado Economic Development Commission discussed the project in September, the company had just four employees and contractors. However, the company agreed to “raise significant amounts of capital” as part of its deal with the state.

A portion of this funding came from the Rocky Mountain Venture Club, as well as the Office of Economic Development’s Global Business Development Advanced Industries grant program, which provided a $250,000 Early Stage Accelerator grant. The commissioners said the company will help with the “growth and diversification of Colorado’s food and agriculture industries, and particularly the foodtech sector.”

“Colorado is a hub for innovative technologies, including those in the life sciences and food technology sectors,” Gov. Jared Polis said in the release. “We welcome the opportunity to partner with SnapDNA to support our vital food and agriculture industries while creating more than 140 high-paying jobs for Coloradans.”

These jobs include microbiologists, production and test engineers, sales and marketing staff, and managers.

SnapDNA “invented the first self-contained, rapid, on-site analysis intended to replace laboratory testing for food pathogens. Results are available in less than an hour and hundreds of samples can be analyzed per day.” According to the press release, the technology promises “to enable predictive analysis that reduces the occurrence, risk and severity of large-scale outbreaks, reduces production costs and provide consumers with fresher, safer food”.

The state reported that 15 Colorado food technology startups received $244 million in venture capital funding last year, the sixth-highest sum in the United States

“Snap DNA joins a rapidly growing national center for life sciences and food technology in Colorado, where companies like Evolutionary Genomics, Growcentia and Myco Technology are pioneering revolutionary solutions for the future of food and agriculture,” the press release reads.