Specialist agritech investors have between them put forward more than £2.2 million to fund the commercial development of two brand new technologies into products that aim to improve yields while reducing energy use in greenhouse crops.
Glaia, a spin-out company from Bristol University, has secured £1m to commercialise the use of so-called ‘sugar-dot’ nano-particles to enhance yields in a range of crops – with the initial focus being on hydroponic tomato and strawberry.
Its technology is based on research that showed microscopic carbon particles, enhanced with glucose, can be applied to roots or leaves as a spray or via irrigation. Entering the leaf cells they interact with the photosynthetic pigments leading to higher rates of photosynthesis which the company claims results in up to a 40% increase in yield.
The new funding will be used to scale-up production and prepare the product for marketing, including trials with commercial growers in the UK and Europe – it would like to hear from any who might be interested. It will also start testing its first product for cucumbers shortly.
Meanwhile, Swiss company Infrascreen has raised £1.2m to fund trials of its ‘nano-photonic’ thermal screen material.
The company’s technology is based on research into how microscopic crystals or particles of materials such as carbon or metals interact with different wavelengths of light. Working with Swiss research institutes and Wageningen University Research in the Netherlands, it has developed a means of ‘printing’ ultra-thin layers of these materials onto clear plastic sheet.
Infrascreen aims to use the technology to produce a film which it says reduces heat loss by convection while simultaneously allowing solar radiation to filter through. It also reflects radiation in the middle infrared range back into the greenhouse to keep it warmer. The company says it has already received good support from the greenhouse industry in Europe.
Glaia’s new investment was raised through Green Angel Syndicate, a UK network for specialist investors, and Yield Lab Europe, an agritech venture capital fund. Infrascreen’s latest backers are led by Investbridge Capital and ACE&Co.