As part of the EIT Food RisingFoodStars programme, Deep Planet has partnered with EIT Food and Bernard Magrez to demonstrate the impacts of its AI climate adaptation solution for vineyards, VineSignal.
July 22nd – Oxford-based startup Deep Planet has partnered with EIT Food, the world’s largest and most dynamic food innovation community, and Bordeaux wine grower Bernard Magrez (BM) to demonstrate the benefits of VineSignal – a satellite and AI based solution that reduces vineyard variability, monitors yield and improves crop quality. EIT Food is supported by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), a body of the European Union.
VineSignal aims to help winegrowers in France and across the world adapt to the increasing impacts of climate change, embed more sustainable and efficient management practices to improve grape and wine quality, and increase harvest efficiency.
VineSignal is currently being used by more than 60 customers worldwide including global winemakers such as Pernod Ricard and small and premium producers in Bordeaux. Having monitored over 50,000 hectares of vineyards and more than 100 varieties of grapes, the AI system has been developed and optimised to predict the nuances of grape production.
Deep Planet has been part of the EIT Food RisingFoodStars network since 2020, a programme designed to help startups grow and scale faster through market testing new ideas, providing support from experts, connecting with leading corporate partners in the food industry and facilitating access to investors. As part of the programme, Deep Planet received financing to help scale its solutions by accelerating the commercialisation of its technology.
Sushma Shankar, Co-Founder of Deep Planet, said:
“Deep Planet’s vision to help farmers build resiliency against the impact of climate change. The wine industry is our first market. Our product VineSignal is helping growers and winemakers to improve productivity, quality and sustainability in their vineyards through monitoring maturity, yield, vigour, evapotranspiration, soil nutrients and soil carbon. We’ve worked with premium producers, small and large growers and corporates globally but mainly in France, Australia and US with strong case studies. We’re excited to have partnered with EIT Food and Bernard Magrez as we prepare for the next chapter of our mission to help more growers to adapt to changing weather conditions and to benefit from the technology.”
Narjis Chakir, EIT Food RisingFoodStars Manager, said:
“Deep Planet has been a fantastic contributor to the RisingFoodStars community. The success of their solution to increase vineyard efficiency and sustainability management is a testament to their dedication and innovation efforts. I am looking forward to continuing our support for Deep Planet and following the next stage of their journey.”
Deep Planet is also part of Bernard Magrez Start-Up Win, the first startup incubator entirely dedicated to the wine, vines, wine tourism and digitisation sectors. As part of the incubator, Deep Planet has benefited from dedicated support to expand its market presence in France and to better understand regional production challenges.
Sébastien Labat, Director of Bernard Magrez Start-Up Win Incubator, said:
“We are glad to be a partner of Deep Planet’s incredible VineSignal project. We created an R&D department a few years ago and a startup incubator two years ago, in order to work on and support such game-changing projects.
Today, we hope that our partnership with Deep Planet helps us and other winegrowers adapt to increasingly difficult natural conditions that we have to tackle!”
About RisingFoodStars Association
RisingFoodStars is a programme aimed at early scaleups that already have paying customers or a paid pilot project and are ready to expand globally on a significant scale. The RisingFoodStars Association aims to help the scaleups grow even faster by testing new ideas in the marketplace, providing expert support, connecting the scaleups with leading corporate partners in the food industry and facilitating access to investors.
About EIT Food
EIT Food is the world’s largest and most dynamic food innovation community. We accelerate innovation to build a future-fit food system that produces healthy and sustainable food for all.
Supported by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), a body of the European Union, we invest in projects, organisations and individuals that share our goals for a healthy and sustainable food system. We unlock innovation potential in businesses and universities, and create and scale agrifood startups to bring new technologies and products to market. We equip entrepreneurs and professionals with the skills needed to transform the food system and put consumers at the heart of our work, helping build trust by reconnecting them to the origins of their food.
We are one of nine innovation communities established by the European Institute for Innovation & Technology (EIT), an independent EU body set up in 2008 to drive innovation and entrepreneurship across Europe.
Find out more at www.eitfood.eu or follow us via social media: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube and Instagram.
