SAIA Agrobotics, a spin-off of Wageningen University & Research (WUR) and StartLife alumnus, has raised €10 million in Series A funding to scale its robotics platform for high-tech greenhouses. The round lifts total funding to over €20 million and accelerates commercialization with leading growers.
The round was led by Check24 Impact, with participation from the EIC Fund, Navus Ventures, and Oost NL. The investment backs SAIA’s vision to solve the sector’s labor bottleneck and standardize high-precision operations in controlled horticulture.
Built For Autonomous Greenhouses
Global demand for healthy, fresh, and sustainably produced food is rising fast, while skilled labor is in short supply. SAIA’s approach flips the greenhouse paradigm: plants move to the robot, not the other way around. With full visibility and access, robots can harvest and maintain plants quickly, while crops grow in optimal conditions. The result is a data-driven, highly automated system that brings the food factory of the future closer to reality.
“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.” ~ Dr. Ruud Barth
Closing the Greenhouse Labor Gap with Smart Automation
Dutch greenhouse technology already leads the world, yet new projects face a bottleneck in labor and know-how. SAIA’s platform centralizes data, standardizes tasks, and uses artificial intelligence to automate operations across crops such as tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers. Earlier this year, Growers United began deploying parts of the system on-site, marking the start of commercial adoption.
Georg Heusgen, director at Check24, says, “The SAIA growing system 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.”
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.”
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%.”
From Pilot to Market
The Series A follows six years of R&D, multiple international patents, and earlier backing from SHIFT Invest, Innovation Industries, Navus Ventures, and Oost NL.
With Series A funding, SAIA Agrobotics will accelerate market entry, scale deployments with growers, and continue product development. The company’s goal is clear: deliver a standardized, autonomous greenhouse system that improves yields, lowers labor dependency, and increases operational certainty year-round.
StartLife’s Early Support
SAIA grew within the Wageningen ecosystem, joining StartLife Accelerate in 2019 and receiving StartLife Pre-seed Funding that same year to further advance its R&D. Through our Accelerate support and founder community, startups get tailored sprints with leading venture builders, access to WUR expertise and facilities, and targeted introductions to investors and pilot partners, so they can validate faster, raise smarter, and scale with confidence.
