Mafer AI Raises $2.1M for AI R&D Operating System

Jan de Vries · 2026-05-29

Barcelona-based startup Mafer AI has secured $2.1 million in pre-Seed funding to build an AI operating system for R&D teams in formulation industries. The round was backed by Kfund, 4Founders Capital, Masia, and Lavanda Ventures, the investment arm of the Puig family. It also attracted leading business angels like Adrian Mato (Andreessen Horowitz scout and GitHub Copilot executive), Manuel Roca (founder of Atrápalo and investor in Wikiloc), Didac Lee, Fernando Castineiras (managing partner at Athos Capital), and Juanjo Mostazo. Additional support came from investors in cosmetics and fragrance, plus professionals from MIT, Google, Samaipata, Bain, BCG, Shakers, and Happy Robot. ### The Problem Mafer AI Solves Formulation industries—think specialty chemicals, food, beverages, cosmetics, personal care, and fragrances—have a hidden problem. They've spent decades building up technical R&D history, but it's locked away in lab notebooks, spreadsheets, regulatory PDFs, and the minds of senior experts. When those experts retire, companies can lose up to two years of institutional knowledge. This creates a bottleneck. The innovation cycle runs five to ten times slower than market pace. Product launches get delayed, margins shrink, and teams still manually recalculate regulatory compliance across dozens of jurisdictions. It's like trying to win a race while carrying a century of paperwork. ### How MaferOS Works MaferOS is the company's answer. It's an AI-native operating system that trains proprietary models on each company's historical data while keeping everything secure and isolated. No data leaks, no shared secrets. The platform breaks down into specialized modules that automate tasks currently done by hand: - Laboratory analysis and data structuring - Regulatory compliance checks - Formula recommendations based on past successes and failures Each module uses AI agents orchestrated on top of structured data layers. And a team of Forward Deployed Engineers works directly with clients to get products into production within weeks. ### What Sets Mafer Apart CEO Fernando Oliver Jane put it plainly: "Formulation industries have spent decades accumulating a silent asset, their technical R&D history, without having any way to exploit it at scale. The current generation of AI changes that equation completely." He added, "Today, using the data of a single customer, we can train proprietary models that radically accelerate the pace at which that company brings formulas to market." The approach isn't just about applying AI to chemistry. It's about bringing the full-stack enterprise software model that's reshaping other industries. Think proprietary models per customer, AI agents on structured data, and embedded engineers who make things happen fast. ### The Bigger Picture Mafer AI was founded in Barcelona in late 2025 by Fernando Oliver Jane (CEO) and Marc Montalbo Burges (CTO). They're targeting what they call a "silent but structural bottleneck" affecting formulation-based industries across flavors, fragrances, pharma, and nutraceuticals. The company believes there's a three-year window to build this category from Europe. "With $2.1 million, an extraordinary team, and the support of the Barcelona Supercomputing Centre behind us, we intend to build it ourselves," Jane said. For R&D teams tired of slow innovation cycles and lost knowledge, MaferOS could be the tool that finally unlocks decades of hidden potential.