Agri & food in the Dutch startup scene: 39 players, three clear trends

The Netherlands has traditionally held a strong position in food production and horticulture, and that foundation attracts startups bringing AI, sensors and robotics to the sector. In 2026, the Dutch agri & food scene counts at least 39 startups, collectively backed by tens of millions in venture capital. Amounts raised vary widely: from a few million in seed funding to more than one hundred million for specialised biotech companies.

The companies focus on three recognisable directions: optimising greenhouse cultivation through data and autonomous control, reducing food waste across the supply chain, and broader applications of AI in food and market analysis. Each of these directions has its own frontrunners, its own capital requirements and its own barriers to entry.

The Dutch greenhouse as an AI test market

The Netherlands is one of the world's largest exporters of horticultural products, and greenhouse horticulture is both highly productive and data-intensive. That combination makes greenhouses attractive to companies looking to develop and refine growth software and sensor platforms.

Source.ag, based in Amsterdam, raised a Series B of €54.5 million in January 2025, the largest individual funding round in this overview for a purely agri-focused company. The company builds data software that enables growers to optimise their greenhouse yields. Blue Radix, also based in Rotterdam, is developing autonomous climate and irrigation control for greenhouses worldwide and closed a seed round of €5 million in 2024. Rotterdam-based 30MHz, founded in 2014, offers a sensor platform that allows growers to continuously monitor growth processes. The company raised €12.8 million in a Series B in 2021.

Several of these companies also serve international greenhouse markets, reflecting the export orientation of the Dutch horticultural sector. The technology is developed here, but the addressable market extends well beyond the domestic region.

Food waste as an investment theme

A second cluster focuses on measuring and reducing food waste, both in professional kitchens and across the supply chain. Regulations around food waste are tightening in Europe, giving these companies a clear market argument.

Orbisk, based in Utrecht, installs camera systems in professional kitchens that automatically track what is being thrown away. The company raised €5.2 million in a Series A in 2023. OneThird, based in Enschede, developed an AI scanner that predicts the shelf life of fresh food, aimed at supermarkets and distributors. The amount raised stands at €9.3 million, also via a Series A. Both companies address a similar problem, but at different points in the chain: Orbisk at the end consumer, OneThird earlier in the process.

Market demand for these types of systems is growing, but adoption depends heavily on the willingness of retailers and caterers to invest in measurement infrastructure. These are typically sectors with thin margins, which makes sales conversations complex.

Robotics and regenerative agriculture in the open field

Outside the greenhouse, startups are targeting arable farming and soil health. Odd.Bot, based in Rotterdam, builds autonomous weeding robots for chemical-free weed control and raised €12 million in a Series A in 2024. The premise is that mechanical robotics can replace herbicides, aligning with European policy aimed at reducing the use of crop protection products.

Antonie, based in Giesbeek, combines soil and crop monitoring with nematodes and AI, targeting regenerative agriculture. The company raised €18.4 million. Regenerative agriculture is gaining traction among policymakers and investors, but practical implementation among farmers is slow. The transition requires changes in farm management and know-how, and that takes time.

Larger rounds, broader ambitions

Two companies in the overview stand out for the scale of their funding and the breadth of their application. Cradle, based in Amsterdam and founded in 2021, combines machine learning with wet-laboratory research to accelerate protein design. In 2024, the company raised €100 million in a Series B. Although Cradle operates beyond food alone, protein design has direct applications in food ingredients and alternative proteins.

Genzai, based in Venlo, is listed in the database with funding of €333 million and focuses on AI implementation and venture capital for mid-sized companies. Its categorisation under agri & food is partial, and its business model differs from that of the other players: it functions more as an investment and implementation partner than as a product developer.

Dashmote, based in Amsterdam and founded in 2014, provides food and beverage brands with market insights via AI and has raised €4.2 million. Culios, based in Ermelo, builds AI search and recommendation systems for online supermarkets and raised €32.2 million in a growth financing round in 2025.

Challenges facing the sector

The Dutch agri & food scene presents a varied picture, but also shares common bottlenecks. First, adoption among end users, farmers, growers and supply chain partners, is a recurring challenge. Technology that works in the lab or pilot phase can sometimes require years of support before it is embedded in day-to-day operations.

Second, heavier funding is concentrated in a small portion of companies. Source.ag, Cradle and Genzai pull the average sharply upward; most other players operate with relatively modest Series A amounts. This makes scaling challenging, particularly for companies with hardware components, such as Odd.Bot and 30MHz, where the cost per deployed unit is high.

Third, European regulation is a double-edged sword. Rules around crop protection products and food waste create market demand, but European approval processes for new technologies, especially in biotech, are lengthy and costly.

For investors and policymakers tracking the Dutch agri & food sector, the overview shows that activity is broadly distributed, from Venlo to Enschede and from Amsterdam to Giesbeek, but that capital intensity varies considerably by stage. The question for the coming years is which companies will manage to embed the step from data collection to data-driven decision-making in everyday practice, and which will find the financing and the scale to do so.