DENSO acquires Axia Vegetable Seeds to realise sustainable agriculture
In recent years, food shortages caused by climate change and population growth have become global challenges, and the companies have recognised the growing need to develop stable agricultural production capable of reliably producing and supplying food to meet demand. The acquisition therefore, marks a step forward in DENSO’s strategic expansion into the AgriTech sector.
By integrating its industrial technologies developed for automobiles with the specialised cultivation expertise of various partners, DENSO is accelerating the development of innovative cultivation methods, such as data-driven cultivation.
Founded in the heart of the Dutch greenhouse industry, Axia Vegetable Seeds develops a wide range of high performing tomato seeds known for their high disease resistance, good taste, quality and high yield, distributing them on a global scale.
Moving forward, DENSO and Axia Vegetable Seeds will collaborate to combine industrial technology, with seed development, to create high quality seeds suitable for automated farming approaches and climate adaptation. Additionally, by leveraging DENSO's image recognition and AI technologies, the two companies aim to shorten the development period of new seeds and bring value added seeds to market more quickly.
Through these initiatives, the companies will build cultivation solutions that enable stable and planned production from seed to harvest, as well as meet producers’ diverse needs, help workforces to prioritise high value work, and aim to achieve sustainable agriculture worldwide.
"We are delighted to welcome Axia Vegetable Seeds, with its outstanding development capabilities and know how in the seed industry, as a member of the DENSO Group,” said DENSO’s Food Value Chain Business Development Division Executive Officer, Yasushi Mukai. “By integrating the technologies and expertise of both the DENSO Group and Axia, we will create new value and realise our vision of providing safe and delicious food anytime, anywhere, and for everyone.”
Responding for Axia, CEO & COO Alois van Vliet & Sandor van Vliet, added: “Joining DENSO allows us to accelerate our mission of delivering the best quality tomato seeds globally, boosted by exciting opportunities with controlled environment automation and AI technologies. Together with our talented employees and partners, we continue to bring transformative innovations to growers worldwide – making agriculture smarter, more sustainable, and more productive. Our mission is to become the world leader in tomato seeds for the greenhouse industry. We are grateful for shareholders such as Temasek, Kleiner Perkins, WP Global Partners and others.”