SAIA Agrobotics Raises €10 Million For Innovative Inverted Greenhouse Automation Model

The system is designed to increase crop yields and reduce labor needs in controlled-environment agriculture.

The funding round was led by Check24, with support from the EIC Fund and existing investors Navus Ventures and Oost NL, bringing the company’s total funding to over €20 million.

SAIA was also one of eight startups showcasing its technology at the 2025 EU-Startups Summit, joining a group of EIC-backed startups and reinforcing its position as an emerging leader in Europe’s AgTech sector.

“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% increase in yields with a 50% total greenhouse labour reduction. This is a huge step forward in providing a local, resilient and sustainable food supply.”

SAIA’s new Series A funding round arrives at a time when investment in European AgTech and automation startups is thriving.

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In August 2025, Saga Robotics from Norway secured €9.5 million to expand its autonomous farm-robot platform for greenhouse and soft-fruit operations in the UK and US. Similarly UK-based Wild Bioscience raised €51 million in October 2025 to advance its AI-driven precision-breeding technology, signaling increasing confidence in impactful AgTech innovations. Earlier in the year CroBio from Cheshire received approximately €805k in grant funding to develop enhanced agricultural microbes.

Together these 2025 milestones reflect a strong and sustained investor interest in digital and robotic solutions that boost yields and sustainability. In this context, SAIA’s automated greenhouse solution stands out as a notable example of Dutch expertise driving efficiency and labor-saving innovations in controlled-environment agriculture.

Georg Heusgen, Director at Check24, says, ”The SAIA growing systems 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 vi ce versa. There, under a standardised environment, robots can deleaf and harvest with an accuracy of over 99%, guaranteeing better product quality and the promised labor cost savings.“​

According to SAIA, global demand for healthy, fresh, and sustainably produced food is expected to increase by 30 to 50% in the coming decades.

Dutch greenhouse horticulture technology leads the market in the efficient production of crops like tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers. Rabobank predicts that the global demand for high-tech greenhouses will grow to 5,000 hectares of new projects annually.

However, the company points out that a major challenge is the availability of labor and expertise needed to operate these greenhouses. With labor costs soaring, the need for automation has become urgent.

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.”

Founded in 2017 SAIA Agrobotics promotes a revolutionary approach: instead of sending robots into the greenhouse, the plant is brought to the robot. This design provides the robot with full visibility and access around the plant, enabling efficient harvesting and plant maintenance while allowing the plant to thrive in its optimal environment.

CEO Barth highlights that earlier this year, the company's first customer, Growers United, deployed the initial components of the system at their facilities and is now extensively using SAIA technology on-site.

Wout Morrenhof, investment manager at Oost NL, adds: “SAIA is a good example of a startup that has developed from Wageningen University & Research and has an innovative solution for a major social challenge. Digitisation and robotisation are needed to produce sufficient healthy and sustainable food now and in the future. SAIA has developed strongly over the past two years and is ready for the further commercialisation of their product.”

SAIA’s latest financing round follows six years of intensive technological development, resulting in several international patents.

Following an initial pre-seed investment from impact and DeepTech investors SHIFT Invest, Innovation Industries, and Oost NL, and a subsequent seed round led by Navus Ventures and Oost NL, this new round brings SAIA’s total funding to over €20 million. The company plans to enter the market as early as next year.

Svetoslava Georgieva, Chair of the EIC Fund Board, added: “The EIC Fund is happy to back SAIA’s potential to revolutionise sustainable food production through digitisation and automation, aligning with their strategies to support innovative agrotechnology. They aim to reduce total greenhouse labour by 50% while increasing yields by 20%.”

About SAIA Agrobotics

SAIA Agrobotics focuses on autonomous indoor farming to ensure every community has access to fresh, high-quality produce. With global demand for healthy fruits and vegetables rising, SAIA addresses challenges like climate change and rural depopulation which negatively impact yields and food security by providing innovative farming solutions.