Aardaia, a Wageningen-based agritech company, has raised €5 million in seed funding led by Point Nine. The firm is building a 'domestication on demand' platform that turns wild plants into new crops, beginning with the aardaker — a nitrogen-fixing tuber that delivers protein density comparable to legumes alongside tuber yields. The capital will accelerate genotype screening and platform development.
Narrow Crop Base Spurs New Breeding Bets
The round arrives as Europe confronts heavy reliance on imported soy and a dangerously narrow set of staple crops. Point Nine, a software-focused investor, led the round with participation from Astanor, Grey Silo Ventures, and returning backer FoodLabs. Aardaia's method searches plant evolution for species already adapted to desired traits rather than editing existing crops one gene at a time.
Dependence on Few Species Limits Resilience
Ninety-five percent of human calories come from just thirty plant species even though roughly 400,000 plant species exist on Earth. This concentration leaves food systems exposed to pests, climate shocks, and supply-chain disruptions. Current breeding programs focus on a handful of crops, leaving vast genetic diversity untapped.
Genomics and AI Compress Domestication Timeline
Aardaia sequences entire genomes, applies high-throughput phenotyping, and uses speed breeding plus AI to move wild species toward commercial viability in years instead of millennia. The aardaker fixes its own nitrogen, requires no synthetic fertilizer, and bypasses EU novel-food rules because it was consumed in Europe before 1997. No gene editing or GMO techniques are involved.
"For most of history, inventing a new crop took millennia… We can now design crops on demand, drawing on hundreds of millions of years of evolution to find plants that are already built to win." — Pádraic Flood, co-founder and CEO
SaaS Investor Signals Sector Conviction
Point Nine's lead investment marks a deliberate departure from its usual software and AI focus. Partner Christoph Janz said the team was "hooked" after the first call. The syndicate brings agrifood expertise through Astanor and Grey Silo Ventures alongside continued support from FoodLabs. The round closed oversubscribed six months after the company's pre-seed.
Platform Model Targets Repeat Crop Creation
Aardaia positions itself as a platform rather than a single-crop venture. After the aardaker, the company is already screening additional wild species for climate resilience and other traits. Field trials have scaled to nearly one million plants, and the team plans to evaluate 750,000 genotypes this year and two million next year. The approach addresses both nitrogen dependency in protein production and Europe's geopolitical exposure to imported feedstocks.