Key Takeaways
- eternal.ag has appointed Roel Janssen as Chief Business Development Officer, tasking him with advancing the company's mission to fully automate greenhouses by 2040 and supporting growers in deploying its harvesting robots across Europe and North America.
- Janssen joins from vertical farming company Planet Farms and brings extensive horticultural technology experience, including prior roles leading business development for Philips Lighting's horticultural LED division and its spin-out Signify, where he helped establish the company as a global market leader.
- eternal.ag emerged from stealth in March 2026 with €8 million in funding and has since launched two commercial products: the fully-autonomous Harvester for tomato harvesting, and the omni-directional Trolley, a modular crop work tool upgradeable into a Harvester.
- The appointment comes as eternal.ag accelerates growth across Europe, with North American expansion also planned; Janssen will lead the company's international go-to-market strategy and grower adoption programme.
- Janssen will represent eternal.ag at Greentech Amsterdam, where the company will demonstrate its recently launched Trolley.
eternal.ag, a German agritech startup developing autonomous greenhouse harvesting robots, has appointed Roel Janssen as Chief Business Development Officer. Janssen joins from vertical farming company Planet Farms and will lead the company's commercial expansion across Europe and into North America, supporting growers in the adoption of eternal.ag's autonomous harvesting technology.
eternal.ag Appoints Roel Janssen: Background and Mandate
Janssen brings a track record in scaling horticultural technology businesses from early stage to global commercialisation. He previously led business development for Philips Lighting's horticultural LED division and later for Signify, its spin-out company, working closely with growers to improve yield, quality, and harvest predictability through advanced LED systems. His work is credited with helping establish Signify as a market leader in horticulture. Most recently, he held a role at Planet Farms, a vertical farming company.
At eternal.ag, Janssen will be responsible for driving the company's mission to fully automate greenhouses by 2040, working directly with growers to support the deployment of its autonomous Harvester robot and its newly launched Trolley platform.
“I have always been a believer in horticultural automation, but it was not until I saw the Harvester in person that I realized that the future of scalable, automated farming is no longer just a concept — it's already here. I joined eternal.ag because I wanted to be part of the journey that finally bridges the gap between manual labor and true robotic autonomy,” said Roel Janssen, Chief Business Development Officer of eternal.ag.
eternal.ag Background: €8M Raised, Two Products Launched
eternal.ag emerged from stealth in March 2026 with €8 million in funding. Its first commercial product, the fully-autonomous Harvester, was developed to harvest tomatoes and address widespread greenhouse labour shortages. The company recently launched a second product, the omni-directional Trolley — a modular crop work tool that can be upgraded into a Harvester as an entry-point to automation. The capital raised is being deployed into key hires, technical development, and international growth execution.
“With his accomplished background of taking disruptive agritech from initial trials to global market leadership, Roel brings the expertise we need to scale globally. His unique experience — merging his pioneering roots in lighting with his achievements in international expansion and crop optimization — has earned him a strong horticultural network and diverse industry expertise, which are invaluable assets to our team,” said Renji John, Co-founder and CEO of eternal.ag.
Grower-Centric Strategy and Greentech Amsterdam
Janssen has outlined a grower-partnership approach as central to his strategy, acknowledging that robotics remains a relatively new concept for greenhouse operators and that trust and reliability will be key adoption drivers across eternal.ag's target markets.
“I intend to work with growers as a partner to ensure our technology directly addresses their long-term challenges and provides them with lasting operational security. Robotics is something relatively new to greenhouses so growers need trust and reliability from us — I look forward to building that across eternal.ag's key markets over the coming months,” Janssen said.
Janssen will represent eternal.ag at Greentech Amsterdam, where the company will showcase the Trolley through live demonstrations.
