Biobest Group
Ilse Velden 18, Westerlo, 2260, Belgium
Overview
Biobest N.V. develops and supplies natural crop care systems. It specializes in bumblebee pollination and sustainable crop management. The company offers biological pollination products, such as bumblebees; biological control products, which include beneficial insects and mites, beneficial nematodes, and biopesticides; and monitoring and scouting products, including sticky traps and rolls, pheromone traps, and pheromone lures and attractants to growers.
- Total investments
- 1
- Lead investments
- 0
- Investments · 12mo
- 0
- Active investors
- 1
Sector focus
- Agriculture
- Biotechnology
- Food Processing
- Health Care
- Manufacturing
Investment portfolio
- Arugga AI Farming
Participated · Series A · Jun 2021
Arugga builds autonomous robots that monitor individual plants in indoor settings and perform non-contact pollination using cameras, AI flower detection and an air-nozzle ‘buzz’ pulse. The robots run on a pipe-rail cart and can operate under artificial lighting and extreme temperatures. The company offers its technology on a leasing model, charging growers a monthly fee per hectare plus tech support. Pilot trials in Israel, Australia and the US have shown yields 1%–5% higher than bee-based pollination and up to 15% higher than manual pollination. Arugga has a distribution agreement with investor Biobest to serve the US and Canada and is developing a second “beyond pollination” module. The startup plans additional trials in North America and will use its recent funding to hire R&D, marketing and customer-support staff.
Team
Roland De Jonghe
Founder