Amsterdam-based Source.ag has raised $17.5 million in Series B funding to accelerate the global rollout of its applied AI platform for Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA). The round – led by agrifood impact investor Astanor Ventures with participation from seed breeder Enza Zaden and grower cooperative Harvest House – brings the company’s total funding to over $60 million since its founding in 2020.
The investment underscores the appetite among investors and industry players for AI that delivers tangible, day-to-day value to growers, rather than abstract or experimental solutions.
“Capital is flowing to applied AI that solves daily grower problems,” Source.ag CEO and co-founder Rien Kamman told AgTechNavigator. “The participation of Enza Zaden and Harvest House shows that established players want AI that integrates with seed genetics, crop strategy, and commercial planning. They are not looking to replace growers. They want systems that make expert decisions repeatable at scale.
“Growers are the protagonists. Our role is to turn their hard-won expertise into reliable, data-driven outcomes across sites, seasons, and teams.”
Codifying grower expertise into scalable software
Source.ag’s AI platform acts as a digital co-pilot for greenhouse operators, helping them manage complexity, reduce reliance on scarce expert labour, and optimize yields. The software is already deployed in over 300 greenhouses across 18 countries, covering 2,500 hectares and contributing to the daily production of fresh produce for more than 40 million people.
Kamman explained how the company is translating grower intuition into software:
- Visibility: Connecting to greenhouse data systems to surface high-insight KPIs rooted in plant science.
- Focus: Highlighting off-track metrics and turning raw data into actionable insights like expected harvests.
- Simulation: Enabling growers to test decisions in-silico using plant models that mimic biological behavior across seasons and geographies.
“Those 3 steps are rooted in biology and data science: we build models which quantify plants’ behavior in the greenhouse based on the environmental conditions, building our own “green fingers”, which work across seasons and geographies. They become the engines of the products Source provides to growers.”
From forecasting to full operational support
The funding will support Source.ag’s expansion into new crops and deeper integration with grower systems. Upcoming product updates include:
- Expanding its yield forecasting engine to crops like peppers.
- Introducing data-driven plant metrics such as plant balance for new varieties.
- Enhancing integration with third-party data platforms, reducing the need for growers to juggle multiple IT systems.
“We are integrating with more data platforms and providers such that growers don’t have to spend time between IT solutions anymore,” Kamman said. “Expect many more advancements soon.”
Investor confidence
For investors, Source.ag represents a combination of scalable AI, proven impact, and alignment with sustainability goals.
“Controlled Environment Agriculture is a necessary technology to achieve a more sustainable food chain,” said Hendrik Van Asbroeck, managing partner at Astanor. “Source.ag has transformed AI from a promising theory into an indispensable operational platform for the world’s largest fresh produce growers.”
Enza Zaden CEO Jaap Mazereeuw added: “By collaborating with Source.ag, we integrate a crucial data layer into our seed breeding. Their AI strategies minimize risk and help growers unlock the full potential of our varieties.”
AI as a grower’s strategic partner
Looking ahead, Kamman sees AI not as a replacement for human expertise, but as a force multiplier.
Growers only get one shot per year to make decisions, he said. Source can simulate thousands of scenarios to “steer operations towards the most beneficial path”, allowing growers to focus on strategy, while the AI handles the complexity.
“Growers get to spend more time in the greenhouse to create growing strategies, and less time implementing those solutions due to having to interact with many IT solutions and excel files.”
