Veridi: AI-Powered Soil Biodiversity Analysis and Monitoring

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Soil health and biodiversity are essential for ecosystem functionality and food system resilience, as soil acts as the primary agricultural medium and hosts over 25% of the world's biological diversity. Yet, more than 60% of European soils are degraded due to unsustainable practices, causing significant biodiversity threats and ecosystem service losses, costing Europe over €50B annually. Strategic initiatives like the UN Biodiversity Conference agreement and the EU's Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 support the global importance of soil biodiversity, with substantial investments aimed at combating biodiversity loss. The EU Soil Health Law marks a major advancement toward sustainable soil management. Nematodes, with their diverse ecological roles, serve as excellent bioindicators of soil health. The current market trends in soil research, driven by increasing global awareness and stringent regulatory requirements, present significant growth opportunities, particularly in biodiversity metrics that can enhance agricultural practices and sustainability. Yet, nematodes pose identification challenges with traditional manual methods being labor-intensive and prone to errors. Innovations like DNA sequencing and big data analytics introduce new assessment methods, yet they contend with challenges such as high costs and extended processing times. At Veridi, the development of the Automated Soil Biodiversity Identification system merges nematology with AI, providing a transformative solution for accurately measuring soil biodiversity. This innovation will advance soil research and support sustainable farming and environmental management, driving market growth and opening investment opportunities in the growing field of soil biodiversity. With EIC support, we plan to optimize the hardware and software, expand the database, thoroughly test and validate the system, deploy it end-to-end, conduct customer pilots, and scale up the platform to include fungi and insect analysis.