The Business Factory Aero (BFAero) the incubation, acceleration and consolidation programme for companies in the aerospace sector promoted by the Xunta de Galicia and managed by the CEL Foundation, once again occupies first place in the national ranking of accelerators prepared by the Fundación de las Cajas de Ahorro (Funcas) and the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos in 2025.
A total of 57 accelerators from all over Spain participated in the analysis that places BFAero as number one in the category of Advanced Accelerators as well as in the global ranking of acceleration programmes for the period 2025/2026. This is a new recognition of the commitment to innovation, talent and qualified employment within the framework of the Aerospace Pole of Galicia, and consolidates BFAero as a state reference in supporting technological entrepreneurship.
According to the general director of IGAPE, Covadonga Toca, this recognition is a ‘further endorsement of the Xunta’s model’ in its efforts to ‘strengthen the Galician aerospace ecosystem, attract talent and generate skilled employment in our community’. In this sense, Covadonga highlighted the driving role played by the BFAero to position Galicia as a pole of technological innovation and ‘promote the transfer of knowledge between companies, research centres and the Administration’.
A benchmark ecosystem in the aerospace sector
For its sixth call, which closed the registration period at the end of March and is starting these days, the BFAero managed to attract the interest of 110 projects: 57% of them came from national and international entrepreneurs, including countries such as Germany, Holland or the United Kingdom, while the remaining 43% corresponded to Galician proposals.
The applications were distributed among the three itineraries of the programme: 48% of the registered projects opted for the Incubation phase, 37% for the Acceleration phase and 15% for the Consolidation phase. Each phase is designed to accompany the startups from the initial idea to internationalisation, with technical support, specialised mentoring and access to public and private funding. Thus, through the Igape and Xesgalicia, and depending on the itinerary, the projects are eligible for direct aid of up to 60,000 euros and participation in investment rounds of up to 250,000 euros.
Since its launch in 2018, the Business Factory Aero already supported 46 business projects that mobilised nearly €7.8 million in investment and achieved a combined turnover of €9.2 million in the last year. The impact of the programme is also reflected in the creation of a dynamic industrial ecosystem, with more than 55 collaborating entities and international success stories such as Aeromedia, Kreios, FuVex or Fly-Fut as well as the creation of more than 220 jobs of which more than 73% are qualified (PhD/Masters).