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Dutch agtech Source.ag secures $10M for its efficient, sustainable AI-powered indoor farms

Source.ag
Image credits: Source.ag

In the face of the existing climate crisis, indoor farms provide higher food security under increasingly challenging weather conditions. These indoor farms protect crops against extreme heat, cold, rainfall and pests.

Furthermore, the indoor farms eliminate fertilizer run-off as excess fertilizer is recycled and reused. It limits the use of pesticides whereas in the traditional agricultural fields, about 50% of the nitrogen from fertilizers lands in the waterways, causing various environmental problems.

The Amsterdam-based agtech startup Source.ag installs AI-powered hi-tech indoor farms. Source.ag wants to rethink the global food system as almost 45% of people worldwide do not have access to enough fruits and vegetables. It works with the mission to provide more fruits and vegetables to more people using fewer resources.

$10M investment

The Dutch agtech startup Source.ag has announced a seed funding round of $10 million. The round was led by Acre Venture Partners alongside participation from MIT-affiliated E14 Fund, Astanor Ventures, and leading growers such as Agro Care, Rainbow Growers and Harvest House Cooperative.

Source.ag will use the investment to accelerate product development and expand commercial collaborations.

“Climate change is driving substantial scarcity and strains in our global food supply. As this accelerates in the coming years, we must find ways to scale efficient growing solutions that lighten the footprint of agriculture” said Lucas Mann, Managing Partner at Acre. “Greenhouse agriculture is a proven and viable solution, but without innovation, demand will be impossible to meet. We believe Source.ag can play a vital role in driving its global scalability.”

“By combining plant models with machine learning techniques, we can simulate crop development in any environment. Our technology provides growers with advice on the optimal cultivation strategy and support to realise it. This is an important first step in our mission to deliver more healthy food to more people without breaking our planetary boundaries.” said Rien Kamman, CEO and co-founder.

Partners with Dutch growers

It has partnered with the world’s leading growers to build the sector’s most advanced artificial intelligence.

Source.ag has partnered with leading Dutch growers including Agro Care, one of the world’s largest tomato growers, to roll out the first version of the product.

“Source has built an intelligent platform that provides unprecedented insights and instantly shows us crucial information that can make or break a season. The A.I. that they are developing has the potential to optimise for key factors that can help us get to more consistent results at scale.” said Kees van Veen, CEO of Agro Care.

AI-powered indoor farms

Founded in November 2020 by Rien Kamman and Ernst van Bruggen in Amsterdam, Source.ag is developing technology to democratise access to sufficient fruit and vegetables through AI-powered greenhouses.

As per the company, greenhouse agriculture is an answer to safer, more reliable and climate-resilient food production. These fruits and vegetables that grow indoors require up to 20 times less water as compared to traditional farming, thereby reducing water waste. Besides this, these farms can produce up to 15 times more yield per farm, thereby bringing scarce arable land back to nature.

It has a team of experienced engineers and plant scientists. Its proprietary algorithms simulate plant behavior to define and execute optimal cultivation strategies, taking into account millions of data points on climate, biology, and resources.

By enabling more growers to operate more facilities more efficiently with its pioneering tech, Source.ag is making greenhouse agriculture accessible, profitable and globally scalable.

With decades of growing experience and knowledge into algorithms, Source.ag enables more greenhouse growers to operate more farms more efficiently.

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