Key Takeaways
- Aardaia has raised €5 million to develop new crops from wild plant species, in a round led by Point Nine with participation from FoodLabs, Astanor, and Grey Silo Ventures.
- The company's first crop is aardaker (Lathyrus tuberosus), a native European legume that fixes its own nitrogen and produces a protein-rich, chestnut-flavored tuber.
- Aardaia was founded by CEO Padraic Flood, who planted his first aardaker seeds six years ago, and COO Mike Henske, with the pair closing a pre-seed round in February 2025.
- The company now has close to a million aardaker plants growing in its fields, with thousands more in greenhouses, following early seasons it says validated the crop's potential.
- The new funding will support continued domestication of aardaker and build out Aardaia's capability to bring additional wild plant species into agriculture.
Aardaia Raises €5 Million to Develop Crops From Wild Plants
Aardaia has raised €5 million to build a new generation of crops from wild plant species. The company said most of what people eat today comes from a small number of species domesticated thousands of years ago, while the wider plant kingdom holds species with traits that agriculture has never picked up. Aardaia's approach takes promising wild plants and works to turn them into crops that farmers can grow and the food industry can use.
Aardaker: A Legume With Deep European Roots
Aardaia's first crop is aardaker (Lathyrus tuberosus), a native European legume that fixes its own nitrogen and grows a protein-rich tuber. The plant has been eaten in Europe for hundreds of years and is known for a nutty, chestnut-like flavor.
From First Seeds to Near a Million Plants
The project began six years ago, when co-founder and CEO Padraic Flood planted his first aardaker seeds. He and co-founder and COO Mike Henske closed a pre-seed round in February 2025. Since then, the company says it has scaled to close to a million unique aardaker plants growing in its fields, with thousands more in the greenhouse, and that results from its first growing seasons have supported the species' potential as a commercial crop.
Aardaia's Investors and Backers
The new round was led by Point Nine, with continued backing from FoodLabs and new participation from Astanor and Grey Silo Ventures. Aardaia also named several angel investors who took part in the round, including Alexander Sainty, Dominic Roth, Maex Ament, and Nanne Veldhuyzen van Zanten.
Building a Pipeline of New Crops
Aardaia describes aardaker as proof of concept for a broader goal: building a pipeline of new crops domesticated for future agricultural needs rather than relying solely on crops inherited from the past. The company said the new funding will let it accelerate aardaker's domestication and build the capability to repeat the process with other wild plant species. Aardaia said it is hiring and open to talking with future partners as it expands the effort.
