€10 million investment for inverted greenhouse automation model

SAIA Agrobotics, developer of robotics for greenhouse growing, has completed a new financing round led by Check24, in collaboration with the EIC Fund and existing investors Navus Ventures and Oost NL.

© Saia Agrobotics BV

SAIA Agrobotics advocates a systemic change; unique to her technology is that the robot does not enter the greenhouse, but the plant comes to the robot instead. "This way the robot has full visibility and access around the plant to enable fast harvests and plant maintenance, while allowing the plant to grow in an optimal environment for plants", the team explains. "This paradigm creates a highly automated 'Food Factory of the Future' in which a data-driven autonomous greenhouse with the help of artificial intelligence is getting closer to realization." With this concept, they want to answer the growing demand for healthy foods, and the limited available of labour. "Labour costs are skyrocketing and the need for automation is now urgent."

"At SAIA we recently completed the world's first automated greenhouse, where plants go to the robot once a week for scanning and harvesting." says Dr. Ruud Barth, CEO and Founder of SAIA. "We aim for a 20 percent increase in yields with a 50 percent total greenhouse labor reduction. This is a huge step forward in providing a local, resilient and sustainable food supply." Ruud Barth notes that earlier this year the first customer, Growers United, has deployed the first parts of the system at their facilities and is extensively using SAIA technology on-site.

© Saia Agrobotics BV

SAIA's successful financing round follows a six year period of technological development, which has led to multiple international patents. After an initial pre-seed investment by impact and deep tech investors SHIFT Invest, Innovation Industries, and Oost NL and thereafter a seed round led by Navus Ventures and Oost NL, the new financing round brings the total funds raised to over €20 million, allows SAIA to enter the market as early as next year.

Georg Heusgen, director at Check24, says, "The SAIA growing systems allows harvesting 52 weeks a year, guaranteeing therefore higher annual yields per square meter. The SAIA harvesting system applies what we all know from industry to the greenhouse sector. The product comes to the robot and not vice versa. There, under a standardized environment, robots can deleaf and harvest with an accuracy of over 99%, guaranteeing better product quality and the promised labor cost savings."

© Saia Agrobotics BV

To this Jaap Zijlstra, director at Navus Ventures, adds, "SAIA Agrobotics has developed innovative concepts and technology in the field of plants, automation, and logistics, creating a new approach to greenhouse growing, with the potential to take a major step in efficient and sustainable food production. This investment, therefore, fits perfectly with Navus' strategy, and we look forward to helping the team further on its way with our background, experience, and network."

© Saia Agrobotics BV

Also Wout Morrenhof, investment manager at Oost NL, agrees and states: "SAIA is a good example of a startup that has developed from Wageningen University & Research and has an innovative solution for a major social challenge. Digitization and robotization are needed to produce sufficient healthy and sustainable food now and in the future. SAIA has developed strongly over the past two years and is ready for the further commercialization of their product, which is why we, as Oost NL, are investing again in the company."

Svetoslava Georgieva, Chair of the EIC Fund Board, added: "The EIC Fund is happy to back SAIA's potential to revolutionize sustainable food production through digitization and automation, aligning with their strategies to support innovative agrotechnology. They aim to reduce total greenhouse labour by 50% while increasing yields by 20%."