Freya Cultivation Systems, a Lithuania-based #AgTech developer, has secured a €500,000 investment. The company will use the funds to build a demonstration greenhouse near Kaunas, where Freya will showcase its three-dimensional Aeroframe greenhouse crop production system. Venture capital funds Coinvest Capital and BSV Ventures, along with companies Sofigama and Zunami Oy, managed by private investors and business angels Paulius Vilemas and Marko Lehtovaara, participated in this seed round.
CEO Lukas Bartusevicius said that the funds raised will be utilized to launch new pilot projects aimed at validating the Aeroframe system. This initiative will enable the company to expand its target market and increase sales up to EUR 3 million. The Aeroframe - Freya’s flagship product - is an innovative plant-growing system designed for commercial greenhouses. By leveraging three-dimensional growing surfaces, it doubles the usable cultivation area over available floor area and allows growers to triple their profits by significantly reducing per-plant costs.
According to the developers, the Aeroframe can deliver up to double the yield for various crops—such as strawberries, lettuce, herbs, and tomatoes—compared to existing systems.
“As the global demand for fresh vegetables is set outpacing the supply capacity of field agriculture, the need for greenhouse-grown vegetables is steadily rising. Currently, a quarter of the fresh vegetables available on retail floor are produced in greenhouses. Consequently, the greenhouse sector is expanding rapidly. Freya will help growers achieve groundbreaking yield improvements, and will cement its spot as a leading AgTech start-up. Our ambition is to become a unicorn and establish a bottom-up innovation ecosystem for Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) in Lithuania. We are deeply grateful to Coinvest Capital for its leadership in the Lithuanian startup ecosystem, to BSV Ventures for their long-term support and collaboration, and to all the business angels for believing in our team's vision,” says L. Bartusevicius.
“This project combines elements rarely funded by generalist investors – deep technology, hardware, and agricultural production – yet the Freya team has successfully integrated them into a highly effective solution. I am confident that our investment will serve as a catalyst, opening doors to both regional and global markets, and enabling Lithuanian agri-tech innovators to claim their rightful position in this rapidly growing and promising sector,” said Viktorija Trimbel, Managing Director of Coinvest Capital.
Coinvest Capital's contribution in this investment phase amounted to EUR 250,000.
Freya plans to showcase and validate the benefits of the Aeroframe system to smart farm owners and operators from Central and Western Europe, the USA, Canada, and Japan in a newly planned greenhouse. Simultaneously, the system will undergo further development and automation, incorporating advanced seeding and harvesting technologies.
Freya has successfully completed several pilot projects using its titanium ultrasonic irrigators, which convert nutrient solutions into a fine mist with optimally sized droplets. The start-up's technology is currently being employed to cultivate tomatoes in a World Bank-funded project in Djibouti, East Africa, and is also utilized by a biotech company in South Africa. Additionally, Freya's innovative solutions are being tested by one of the world's leading space agencies.
“Growing plants in fog is one of the most effective and efficient methods of cultivation. While this has been known for a long time, widespread adoption has been hindered by the limitations of existing technology. I am thrilled to unlock the biological potential of plants in a fog environment using our patented cultivation technology,” says Gediminas Kudirka, PhD in Agronomy and founder of Freya.
During this investment round, Freya Cultivation Systems was represented by Prevence Legal, a corporate law firm, Coinvest Capital was represented by TGS Baltic.
About Freya Cultivation Systems
Freya Cultivation Systems (Baltic Freya UAB) is a deep agri-tech start-up founded in 2018 by Gediminas Kudirka, PhD in agronomy. In the same year, he began growing plants in fog and became one of the world's leading experts in this specialized cultivation method. Today, Freya’s core team comprises four specialists from various fields. The company is led by Lukas Bartusevicius, who brings experience in startup management and focuses on strengthening the company’s business development and production capabilities. Vilmantas Rastutis, co-founder and engineer, has developed an innovative ultrasonic technology for low-cost, industrially efficient misting of plant roots. Ignas Andrulevicius, Head of Operations, manages communications with suppliers, partners, and customers, ensuring Freya’s partners are supplied with the equipment, services and training they require. The company's flagship product is the three-dimensional Aeroframe plant-growing system for greenhouses.
About Coinvest Capital:
Coinvest Capital is an early-stage venture capital fund established by the national development bank ILTE. The fund invests EU and Republic of Lithuania public funds entrusted to it, alongside contributions from business angels and other venture capital funds, in promising start-ups that create value for Lithuania. The fund's portfolio now includes 37 start-ups, with €35.5 million invested. It offers a unique profit-sharing programme, limiting its return on investment to between 4% and 8% per year. In the event of a successful sale of an investment, the fund distributes profits exceeding this limit to accredited private co-investors. Of the €44.3 million of committed capital held in trust for the fund, the available capital for new investments, following this transaction, amounts to €21.4 million.
For more information: Lukas Bartusevicius, CEO lukas@freyacultivation.com
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