The Netherlands
October 7, 2024
Blue Radix has secured another investment from Navus Ventures and Horticoop. The €5 million investment will be used to accelerate the company’s commercial growth. Blue Radix’s Crop Controller, currently in use at nearly 100 greenhouses globally, has proven its ability to increase yields and energy savings for growers, resulting in strong yearly returns on investment for growers of up to 10 times the invested amount. Blue Radix’s proven added value for its growers creates momentum to scale up its commercial activities significantly.
Horticoop actively invests on behalf of 300 greenhouse companies that have a positive contribution to the horticultural sector. Blue Radix’s autonomous growing solution enables growers to increase yield and energy savings and is therefore fully in line with Horticoop’s ambition. Patrick Groeneveld, CEO of Horticoop: “Blue Radix is a proven leader in the field of applied artificial intelligence in the horticultural sector. As the world’s population grows, so does the demand for healthy and safe food.
However, the greenhouse horticulture industry faces challenges due to the rising cost of energy and fertilizers, the need for yield improvement and the increasing shortage of crop expertise. Blue Radix addresses this complexity and these global challenges by empowering growers with algorithm-based solutions that are running like it’s tailor-made. We are therefore delighted with this second investment that characterizes the essence of our cooperative: investing in the future of the horticultural sector.”
Changing the game
“We see greenhouse technology as a key driver of efficient and sustainable food production,” says Eduard Meijer, director of Navus Ventures. From the very beginning, almost 5 years ago, the philosophy of Blue Radix has been to go beyond insights, graphs and tables. With their Autonomous Climate & Irrigation Control, Blue Radix is changing the game, with the grower in full control. With their proven track record, we’re pleased to provide financial support to the company once again and help them with our knowledge and network, to make a global impact on sustainable food production and energy management.”
Award winning solution
Blue Radix’s award winning Crop Controller offers Autonomous Climate and Irrigation Control for Mid- and Hightech greenhouses in every climate. Additionally, the integrated Strategy Optimizer module helps growers to improve their crop strategy with scenarios that enable the realization of a more predictable yield.
AI with a human touch
Crop Controller offers a combination of AI-technology and personal service to the market in which AI is doing most of the the repetitive and complex work. Growers can rely on extensive support by human Autonomous Greenhouse Managers who know the art of growing and offer that extra pair of eyes to assure optimal results and more peace of mind for growers.
Growing for the benefit of the industry
Ronald Hoek, CEO of Blue Radix, concludes: “We are very pleased with these additional investments by our partners Navus and Horticoop who support us in realizing our mission. The investments underline their trust in our progress, impact and value. As from now we’ll speed up the growth of the team further and we invite anyone who matches our job vacancies and wants to contribute to our mission and become part of our international team, to get in touch.”
About Blue Radix
Blue Radix is the independent specialist and market leader in Autonomous Growing. Blue Radix creates AI-solutions for almost all daily decisions and actions in greenhouses to solve the scarcity of experienced growers and to feed the growing world population in a sustainable way. With Integrated Autonomous Climate & Irrigation Control by Crop Controller growers can optimize and realize their unique crop strategy with AI and reduce their climate computer work by 80%. www.blue-radix.com
About Horticoop
Horticoop invests actively in businesses that contribute to the horticultural industry. In this way, the cooperative supports a sector that is meeting the needs of a growing population while at the same time ensuring that the environmental burden is reduced to the minimum. www.horticoop.com
About Navus Ventures
Navus Ventures is a venture capital firm, part of a family office linked to Lely (Farming Innovators), aimed at high-tech start-ups and scale-ups driving the ongoing sustainable transitions in food and energy. Navus is not subject to entry or exit pressure, invests both in typical VC setup as well as for longer holding periods, and draws from the knowledge and network of the Lely family business, with a longstanding history in high-tech product development and successful market entry of innovations. Our approach is hands-on and pragmatic, acting quickly and supporting management on strategic and operational matters. www.navusventures.com
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