Amsterdam-based AgriTech startup Source.ag uses AI to help farmers who grow greenhouse plants. The business announced on Wednesday, that it has secured $23M in a Series A round of funding.
Acre Ventures Partners and several significant greenhouse operators in the Netherlands are also investing in the round, which is being headed by Astanor Ventures.
The news comes roughly a year after the business raised €9M in a seed round headed by Acre Venture Partners, a US-based company. It takes the business’s total funding raised to $35M (roughly €32.9 million) in fewer than two years.
With the funds, Source.ag will use its AI technology to monitor and enhance cultivation to assist growers in operating profitably. The Dutch business plans to release Source Track, its first product, in 2022, followed by Source Cultivate and Source Control in 2023.
According to the manufacturer, growers will be able to simulate entire seasons of crop development, tailored to particular genes and crop varieties, to grow their crops as efficiently as possible.
Additionally, Source.ag’s AI will be able to support more crop varieties and farming techniques thanks to the additional funding.
Greenhouse agriculture, according to Source.ag, was founded in 2020 by Rien Kamman and Ernst van Bruggen as a solution for more secure, dependable, and climate-resilient food production.
Rien Kamman, CEO and co-founder of Source.ag, claims that “our technology gives growers real-time, highly tailored guidance on how to grow their crops, and we assist them in operating a successful growing operation.”
Through AI-powered greenhouses, the business is developing technology to democratize access to enough fruit and vegetables.
To define and carry out the best cultivation strategies, the business uses its algorithms that simulate plant behavior while accounting for millions of data points on resources, biology, and climate.
According to Source.ag, it can use up to 20 times less water and generate up to 15 times higher yields while lowering pollution and land use.
The Dutch business, which collaborates with the top vegetable growers worldwide to increase vegetable yields in the face of the escalating energy and climate crises, has seen a tenfold increase in the number of users of its goods in just the past year.
Astanor Ventures, an impact investor founded in 2017, supports entrepreneurs around the world with scalable solutions that will bring about structural change throughout the agrifood value chain, from soil to gut.
The VC has so far supported more than 40 impact-driven business owners in Australia, the US, and Europe.
We have been truly impressed with the team’s mission and accomplishments since our Seed investment last year,’ says Arnout Dijkhuizen, Investment Principal at Astanor Ventures.
“Focusing truly on the intersection of technology and nature, Source.ag has succeeded where many have said it was impossible: cracking standardization, data collection, and plant phenotyping with AI models that can mimic plant biology and aid in optimizing photosynthesis,” he continues.
Dijkhuizen adds, “More significantly, they are assisting growers all over the world to run their farms more successfully, making greenhouse farming internationally accessible and scalable, thereby democratizing access to fruit and veggies.
