Inventions to Start-Ups: Coffee Flour is off to the Races

CF Global is the brainchild of Dan Belliveau, one of more than 4,000 inventors in Intellectual Ventures’ global inventor network. Dan approached us with the idea for Coffee Flour more than two years ago and the Seattle-area company is based on a collection of inventions we developed with him and his team.

When we first saw Dan's inventions for turning discarded coffee cherries into a nutritious flour, suitable for making baked goods, pastas, energy drinks, and granola bars, we loved the idea. We also quickly realized commercializing the inventions – for what has now become a product called Coffee Flour – would be best served by forming an entirely new company around them.

So how exactly did it all come together? In addition to working with Dan and his team to develop an IP strategy, we helped them access a supply of coffee cherries, recruit global partners in the coffee industry, and introduced the Coffee Flour concept to some of the world’s largest food and beverage companies. 

Coffee Flour is a great example of how the group I run here at IV, the Invention Development Fund (IDF), works with inventors to bring new ideas to life. Among other things, our assistance with developing, patenting, and licensing these ideas allows inventors to focus on the art of inventing and helps to make sure they are rewarded for their creativity and hard work.

We have a long history of investing in invention and we’re proud to team with a company like CF Global. This is a big milestone for the IDF team and I expect the launch of this new company is the first of many to come.