When it comes to creating new agricultural products and services, copying age-old natural processes is often a good starting point. For Netherlands-based VitalFluid, the tech company looked to the skies for inspiration for its plasma-activated water (PAW) technology.
Founded in 2014 by Eindhoven University alumni Paul Leenders and Polo van Ooij, VitalFluid created a process that recreates a thunderstorm, which “lightly charges water with reactive oxygen and nitrogen,” explained the company’s CEO Erik Hertel. VitalFluid delivers PAW through its patented Vidar technology, which can produce the water around the clock.
Initially, VitalFluid envisioned entering the fertilizer market, since the byproduct of the process is nitrate, Hertel noted. However, the company moved away from fertilizers to focus on crop protection applications, given the scale up challenges of disrupting the fertilizer market, he added.
“At the end of the day to compete with the global fertilizer business, the technology would still need to improve [by] miles,” Hertel said. “Funny enough, the development of the fertilizer machine allowed us also to produce the antimicrobial plasma water on a large scale, and that’s why we pivoted in 2023.”
Backed by over 30 field trials, VitalFluid is targeting fungicidal applications, including treating mildew, fusarium and venturia, with PAW, for use in greenhouses, orchards, and open fields. VitalFluid is launching the product first in strawberries but is also running tests on tomatoes, cucumbers, and sweet peppers and has plans to expand into apple and grape orchards.
However, VitalFluid does not see PAW as a silver bullet crop protection product and more as one tool in the farmers’ toolbox, Hertel pointed out. “Anyone that claims to solve all farmer issues related to crop protection is a liar or future billionaire,” he joked.
“Comparing our solution to UV robots, UV robots do a great job in controlling mildew, but they’re a standalone solution that only runs during the night hours. Whereas I think the benefit for us will be that we can be applied using existing spraying equipment, can be combined with other products that that have the right characteristics, so that’s very convenient for a grower to integrate VitalFluid into the full [integrated pest management] program,” he added.
VitalFluid targets profitability in 2028/29 following Series A closure
Late last month, VitalFluid announced that the company raised €17.2 million in Series A funding, including lead investments from Invest-NL and participation from Alder Tree Investments, Brabantse Ontwikkelings Maatschappij (BOM), Future Food Fund, Goeie Grutten Impact Fonds, Graduate Ventures, Horticoop, Innovation Industries and VDL Groep and a €2.7 million innovation credit from the Netherlands Enterprise Agency.
VitalFluid has obtained U.S. EPA registration for its technology as a pesticidal device, since the machines produce no hazardous residue, Hertel said.
The company is working on EU approval, but regulations are much different in the region because the “government says any product that impacts a fungal disease or pathogen is considered a pesticide [or] a fungicide,” he noted. However, the company secured an early submission spot and is planning to submit its dossier to Dutch regulators early next year, he added.
Looking ahead, VitalFluid is targeted profitability for 2028/29 and is learning from previous agtech companies to ensure that they have the right unit economics, Hertel explained.
“Based on the learnings of the past years, where we’ve seen a lot of agtech companies that raised big rounds at crazy valuations and didn’t make it, we want to take a more sensible approach where [we] search for positive unit economics, which we currently already achieved in the UK,” he elaborated.