Future Food Fund, Graduate Entrepreneur, Horticoop and Innovation Industries are supporting VitalFluid in a €5M seed funding round. The investment enables VitalFluid to speed up further market introduction.
To secure global food production, chemical pesticides play a crucial role, and at the same time impose an enormous threat to human health, biodiversity and the environment. Governments and industry have set strong targets and recognize that the transition can only be successful when alternatives become available. It is clear that there is an urgent need for sustainable solutions.
In a thunderstorm, lightning causes the natural transformation of water into Plasma Activated Water (PAW). By copying this natural process, VitalFluid creates 'lightning in a box'. This on-site PAW production provides a natural and sustainable alternative to the pesticides that are currently needed to enhance plant health. VitalFluid PAW has demonstrated to be a safe, effective and scalable solution to safeguard vegetable cultivation without negative side effects.
A wide range of scientific and commercial cultivation trials in greenhouse vegetables, ornamentals and orchards confirm the huge potential of VitalFluid PAW to play a crucial role in a sustainable food production system. The plasma systems developed by VitalFluid allow farmers to produce VitalFluid PAW on site and can be seamlessly integrated in existing greenhouse and orchard infrastructure. Multiple plasma systems are now running 24/7 in greenhouses around the globe, supporting leading growers like world's largest fresh tomato grower Azura, Europe largest organic tomato grower BioSabor in Spain, US biggest leafy greens growers, leading rose grower PortaNova, and several other vegetable growers from the Netherlands.
Future Food Fund, Graduate Entrepreneur Fund, Horticoop and Innovation Industries, in combination with incumbent investors have committed the funds that allow VitalFluid to transition into the next stage of growth. The €5M in funding will enable VitalFluid to expand its greenhouse PAW program, further optimize its plasma systems for plant health application, and accelerate commercial activity.
Erik Hertel, CEO VitalFluid: "We are proud to team up with these strong investors that recognize the potential of plasma technology in agriculture. Their long term vision, extensive knowledge in both deep tech and agriculture and strong network perfectly fit our ambition to make PAW a gamechanger in food production."
Jeroen Kimmels, managing partner at Future Food Fund: "We have been following VitalFluid for seven years and decided now is the right time to invest. VitalFluid has proven to be the first company able to transfer PAW from an experimental environment to large scale commercial applications. It fits perfectly in our portfolio of food&agri companies with an ambition to have a significant impact on climate change."
Auke van den Hout, Managing Partner at Graduate Entrepreneur Fund: "We firmly belief in VitalFluid's pivotal role in expediting the imperative shift towards secure and eco-friendly vegetable cultivation. We are excited to support the team as they continue on this promising journey."
Wilco Schoonderbeek, Investments Director at Horticoop: "On behalf of some 300 horticultural businesses, Horticoop invests actively in companies that are making a positive contribution to the future of the horticultural industry, and VitalFluid's innovation dovetails seamlessly with that aim. Thanks to the innovative technology of VitalFluid, growers will have access to more environmentally-friendly fertilizers and crop protection products, so we are delighted to add this company to our portfolio."
Vincent Kamphorst, director at Innovation Industries: "VitalFluid's plasma solution is unique in its applicability across a large variety of crops and its robust and predictable performance. We are thrilled to support VitalFluid in the upcoming commercial phase and to tackle the ever-increasing challenge of supplying the growing world population with sufficient, sustainably-sourced food."
For more information:
VitalFluid
[email protected]
www.vitalfluid.nl