Amsterdam-based Source.ag has acquired London startup Optimal, combining its artificial intelligence (AI) technology for controlling greenhouse environments with Source’s existing crop monitoring, harvest forecasting and irrigation software.

Financial terms were not disclosed. Optimal founder and CEO Dave Hunter will join Source.ag as vice-president of autonomous control, along with Optimal’s engineering team.

The acquisition aims to help greenhouse operators increase production and manage energy use while addressing a shortage of skilled growers. Source.ag says the combined technology will allow AI to monitor crops, predict their development and automatically adjust growing conditions.

Optimal’s system controls greenhouse heating, ventilation, screens, lighting, carbon dioxide levels and irrigation through existing equipment. Using physics-based and machine-learning models of crops and greenhouse environments, it plans growing conditions several days ahead and adjusts them as weather changes.

In a commercial-scale greenhouse in the Netherlands, Optimal’s technology delivered 13 percent higher yields while using 27 percent less energy than the Dutch grower benchmark, according to the companies. The system has also operated in commercial greenhouses in Canada.

“Everyone is talking about physical AI. With this deal we are putting our money where our mouth is,” said Rien Kamman, Source.ag co-founder and CEO.

He said Optimal’s technology has already demonstrated improvements in yield and energy efficiency under commercial growing conditions. Integrating it into Source’s established software platform is intended to help more greenhouse operators adopt autonomous control.

Source.ag’s software currently operates in more than 500 greenhouses across 25 countries. It supports tomato, pepper and cucumber production valued at €2.5 billion annually and works with 13 of the world’s 25 largest high-tech greenhouse growers.

Optimal adds direct control of the greenhouse environment to Source’s existing crop-focused tools, creating a system designed to monitor growing conditions, forecast production and automatically manage operations.

“A global shortage of skilled growers prevents new greenhouses from being built and leaves our food system exposed to extreme climate and energy events,” said Hunter. “We have proven that applied AI can overcome this scarcity by running greenhouses autonomously, enabling growers to increase productivity and expand.”

He said joining Source.ag would accelerate the deployment of Optimal’s technology internationally, helping growers increase productivity and strengthen food supply resilience.

Commercial rollout planned

The companies plan to launch the first autonomous-control deployments at Source.ag customer operations in Europe and North America during the winter of 2026–27. Source.ag then intends to expand its AI offering to additional crops, growing methods and regions.

Founded in Amsterdam in 2020, Source.ag develops software to simulate crop growth, forecast harvests and guide greenhouse operations. Optimal was founded in London in 2016 by Hunter, whose background includes quantitative trading at Deutsche Bank and research with the University of Oxford’s machine-learning group.