💡 Investment Notes - Why we invested in Veridi Technologies
Making soil biodiversity measurements faster and more accessible with AI
They’re microscopic, wriggly, and mostly invisible, but nematodes might be the most underrated influencers in agriculture. Not only do they play a vital role in maintaining healthy soils via nutrient cycling and controlling insect pests, they’re also great bioindicators of local soil conditions because of how quickly their population dynamics shift in response to environmental changes.
But the world of nematodes also presents an undeniable dark side: Depending on the species, nematodes can wreak havoc on crops. Plant parasitic-nematodes, for example, are estimated to cause economic losses more than of US$150B per year globally, such as the Root-knot and cyst nematodes for tomato and potato plants in the EU.
Monitoring and interpreting nematode populations is therefore a worthy endeavour in modern agriculture, but like so much in biodiversity, however, these processes have been highly manual, with highly trained microbiologists looking at and analysing samples to make their assessments. For obvious reasons, this proves both time-intensive and costly.
That’s where Veridi Technologies comes in. Veridi Technologies, class of the Biodiversity Accelerator+ cohort of 2024, has developed a novel solution for soil nematode biodiversity that is easy-to use, cost effective, and highly efficient. Its unique robotic microscope automates image collection and analysis from nematode samples with the help of AI and minimal human intervention.
Here’s why we invested:
1. A clear commercial strategy
Veridi Technologies has demonstrated a strong commercial foundation by measuring soil biodiversity on an industrial scale with 20% more accuracy, 50% more cheaply, and significantly shorter processing times (4-14 days for Veridi vs 60-120 days for other existing solutions).
They also go a step further by translating their measurements into clear, actionable recommendations for farmers — helping them maximize yields, reduce erosion and nutrient loss, and better understand the long-term impact of their management practices on soil health.
During their time with us at the Biodiversity Accelerator+, the team developed a focused go-to-market strategy to accessing farmers at scale, prioritizing laboratory service providers as their initial customer segment. They also advanced discussions with 10 significant clients, demonstrating not just market interest, but an ability to convert technical credibility into real business momentum.
2. A novel soil biodiversity technology with strong technical performance
Silverstrand’s focus has always been on biodiversity, and in our search for great companies, soil biology has always been one area we’ve found to be severely underserved since soils contain 25% of biodiversity on earth. Veridi’s approach and area of focus stood out to us, with potential to transform how we understand manage our agricultural soils, shifting from a chemical-based paradigm to a more biochemical one.
We liked that Veridi’s nematode-based models for soil health are backed by over 30 years of science and 672+ empirical studies. While this framework used to be reserved only to expert, Veridi will make it accessible to everyone.
3. Mission-aligned leadership team, with core functions covered
The leadership team of Veridi is strongly aligned with us in terms of long-term strategy and vision of the company. The core team has a good blend of experiences and expertise covering technical, strategy and key operational functions.
Ziad Matar, the company's CEO, has a background in industrial engineering and also worked in supply chain management at Nestlé, and project management at Danone. Joachim Schneider, CSO, similarly brings a significant amount of sector experience to the team as he worked 34 years in Bayer in 7 different countries, including as CEO of the vegetable division. And lastly, Dr. Richard Jannisen, who is their CTO, is an accomplished researcher, with two post-docs, one in Biophysics and another one in Microbiology from Universidade Estadual de Campinas and the TU Delft.
Pictured above: Ziad speaking at the BA+ event in COP16, in Colombia, Cali.
With the global soil testing market rapidly growing to be more than USD 10B, we’re excited to see what comes next for Veridi. After receiving an investment from Silverstrand and securing €2.5M as a grant from EIC Accelerator, they’re well positioned to transform agriculture for the better.
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