Gardin raises $12M Series A for photosynthesis-sensing AI platform in greenhouses

Gardin Agritech has closed a $12M Series A led by Navus Ventures, with participation from Oxford Innovation Finance and Yield Lab Europe. The round follows a $4.5M seed in 2025 and will fund scaling its photosynthesis-sensing platform across 200 greenhouse operations in the UK and Netherlands. The core technology combines a proprietary chlorophyll-fluorescence sensor with a cloud-based AI model that correlates photosynthetic activity to stress signals — nutrient deficiency, pathogen onset, light saturation — up to 72 hours before visual symptoms appear. In peer-reviewed trials at Wageningen UR, tomato growers using the system achieved a 14% yield increase with 11% lower energy costs. The business model is SaaS: growers pay £0.08 per m² per month for sensor data and decision-support alerts. At 200 facilities averaging 4 hectares each, Gardin's ARR runway sits at £7.7M, making the $12M raise roughly 1.5× forward revenue — attractive by current AgTech standards. Gardin's competitive moat is the sensor itself: most greenhouse AI platforms rely on off-the-shelf environmental sensors (temperature, humidity, CO₂) as proxies for plant health. By measuring photosynthesis directly, Gardin captures a physiological signal that is both earlier and more specific. The round also funds a new R&D line for vertical farms, where LED spectrum tuning based on real-time photosynthetic feedback could cut electricity spend by 18–22%, per internal estimates. Pilot agreements with Infarm and Plenty are expected in Q4 2026.