SAIA Agrobotics, a Wageningen-based developer of automation solutions for greenhouse horticulture, has completed a new round of financing led by Check24 Impact, in collaboration with the EIC and existing investors Navus Ventures and Oost NL.Source: Oost NLGlobally, demand for healthy, fresh, and sustainably produced food is expected to increase by 30 to 50 percent over the coming decades. This is also driving growth in demand for high-tech greenhouses, with more than 5,000 hectares of new construction worldwide each year. According to Rabobank, the availability of labor and expertise to keep these greenhouses operational is the biggest bottleneck. Labor costs are skyrocketing, and the need for automation is becoming increasingly urgent.<h1>Innovative Solution for Harvesting and Plant Maintenance</h1>SAIA Agrobotics, a leader in greenhouse automation, is developing a disruptive solution in which the robot no longer enters the greenhouse; instead, the plant moves toward the robot. This gives the robot a full view of the fruit and makes the plant highly accessible, enabling fast, automated harvesting and plant maintenance. This new approach makes it possible to automate a greenhouse almost entirely. And thanks to this innovation, a data-driven, autonomous greenhouse powered by artificial intelligence is one step closer to reality.“At SAIA, we recently installed the world’s first automated greenhouse, where plants move toward the robot once a week to be scanned and harvested,” says Dr. Ruud Barth, CEO and founder of SAIA. “We aim for a 20 percent increase in yield and a 50 percent reduction in total labor in the greenhouse.” Ruud Barth notes that the first customer, Growers United, installed the initial components of the system at one of its locations earlier this year and is now working extensively with SAIA technology there.<h1>New Funding Round for Further Commercialization </h1>SAIA’s new funding round follows a six-year period of technological development. Through various funding rounds from impact and deep-tech investors SHIFT Invest, Innovation Industries, Navus Ventures, Check24 Impact, and Oost NL, SAIA raised a total of more than €20 million.Wout Morrenhof, Food Investment Manager at Oost NL: “SAIA is a great example of a startup that emerged from Wageningen University &amp; Research and offers an innovative solution to a major societal challenge. Digitalization and automation are necessary to produce sufficient healthy and sustainable food, both now and in the future. SAIA has developed significantly over the past two years and is ready for the further commercialization of its product. That is why we at Oost NL are investing in the company once again.”Check24 Impact is joining this funding round as a new investor. Georg Heusgen, Director at Check24 Impact, says: “With the SAIA cultivation system, crops can be harvested 52 weeks a year, which guarantees a higher annual yield per square meter. SAIA applies what we all know from the industry to greenhouse horticulture. ​​The product comes to the robot, not the other way around. In an efficient environment, robots can harvest and maintain crops with over 99% accuracy, which can lead to better product quality and the promised savings on labor costs.”Jaap Zijlstra, director at Navus Ventures, adds: “SAIA Agrobotics has developed innovative concepts and technologies in the fields of plants, automation, and logistics. In doing so, it has created an entirely new approach to greenhouse horticulture, with the potential to take a major step forward in efficient and sustainable food production. This investment therefore aligns perfectly with Navus’s strategy, and we look forward to helping the team move forward with our background, experience, and network.”Source: <a href="https://oostnl.nl/nieuws-overzicht/saia-agrobotics-haalt-e-10-miljoen-op-om-automatisering-in-glastuinbouw-verder-te-versnellen" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">SAIA Agrobotics Raises €10 Million | Oost NL</a>

SAIA Agrobotics Raises €10 Million to Accelerate Automation in Greenhouse Horticulture