CE-line – a young Heerenveen-based startup – is the first to receive funding from the NEW fund (Netherlands Enabling Watertechnologie). “The NEW investment is the crucial fuel to drive our measuring system to the market,“ exclaims CTO Wilco Dijkstra.
The company earned its aid for their development of a horticulture-based water quality monitoring system. Dijkstra: “Whereas growers used to be dependent on testing their irrigation waters at external labs – weekly or biweekly – now they can evaluate the waterborne nutrients themselves with our measurement system.” The continuous flow of current data allows the cultivators to quickly adjust the required nutrient concentrations. An attractive option for precision products like tomato, cucumber, bell pepper, and courgettes.
And with a great sustainable product, that has breakthrough potential, the company was soon spotted by the NEW institutes. “We underwent a valuable process,” the CTO explains, “the content-related discussions have helped us to further improve the product. Next, we pitched it to the investment committee of NEW. That too was a precious lesson to be learned, because you really have to talk differently about propositions to financial people over technicians. Moreover, good questions are as valuable as good answers – as a startup you will discover where you are at in such critical conversations. CE-line is right on track, and we are happy that the NEW funding has allowed us a chance to storm the market.
This article is a rewritten piece from NEW-fonds investeert in meetsysteem voor de waterkwaliteit in glastuinbouw. Check nom.nl for more detailed information (Dutch only)
