After the first successful joint projects, CLAAS is intensifying further cooperation with Dutch startup AgXeed for the development and commercialization of autonomous agricultural machines. To this end, CLAAS, through its investment company Seed Green Innovations GmbH, has participated in the company's Series A financing round together with the venture capital investor Amathaon Capital from Munich and a company from the AMAZONE Group based at Hasbergen-Gaste, Germany. As an investment company within the CLAAS Group, Seed Green Innovations GmbH supports innovative companies that want to play a key role in shaping the future of agriculture and gives them access to CLAAS.
The cooperation between CLAAS and AgXeed was established after the first investment in Spring 2021 and has been continuously expanded since then. With the follow-up investment, CLAAS secures further access to innovative technologies for autonomous agricultural machines. At the same time, AgXeed benefits from the international network and the expertise of the CLAAS Group in many areas, from development to sales and service. For example, CLAAS Vertriebsgesellschaft mbH (CVG) signed a distribution agreement with AgXeed in May. Following this, from Summer 2022 selected CLAAS dealers in Germany and Switzerland will become distribution and service partners of AgXeed. In addition to the sale of AgBots, rental models will also be available which should make it easier for customers to get started with autonomous agricultural technology and enable extensive testing in their own operating structures. For this purpose, CVG has already included two AgBots in the FIRST CLAAS RENTAL portfolio.