2025, you were a year of tough calls, narrowed priorities, and uncomfortable decisions.

But you forced us to focus – and that made all the difference!

We stopped doing things that didn’t scale, clarified what vGreens actually exists to solve, and learned to say no where we used to say yes. Progress didn’t come from smooth execution, but from navigating uncertainty without losing direction.

A Clearer Brand: Same Team. Sharper Focus.

The most important shift this year wasn’t a new product feature or a single milestone. It was focus.

As vGreens grew, so did the number of opportunities, requests, and ideas. In 2025, it became clear that doing “more” was no longer an option. So in July, we made a deliberate shift in how we position vGreens, internally and externally.

©EWG / Picture: Julia Pohl

Over the past years, we built deep biological and AI expertise, starting from our own vertical strawberry farm. What became clear in 2025 was this: our real value is not in building farms or selling hardware, but in giving growers control over production outcomes such as cost, quality, quantity, and timing.

Many solutions in the market promise dashboards, automation, or even “self-driving farms.” Most stop at environmental data. Our work showed that the real bottleneck sits deeper: producers lack insight into how plants actually behave and invest energy – and therefore lack the ability to steer production efficiently.

That insight sharpened our stance.

We focus on plant-centric intelligence. By reading plant metabolism and translating it into actionable recommendations and control signals, our software platform vGreensLab closes the gap between biology and farm management. The goal is not more data, but better decisions.

Clearer messaging helped align teams, partners, and priorities around what truly matters.

What Actually Moved the Needle This Year

A lot happened around that strategic reset.

We hosted students from Stanford University at the Triple Z in Essen, contributed to panels and discussions across the ecosystem, pushed key projects forward, secured EU-backed funding, and received recognitions such as FoodTech 500 and the Innovation & Growth Award Ruhr 2025.

©Krupp-Stiftung / Picture: Peter Gwiazda

Of course, there were setbacks, course corrections, and decisions that were uncomfortable by design. We had to reassess assumptions, adjust plans, and let go of approaches that no longer fit where vGreens is heading.

But out of that tension came the real wins of 2025. And they feel earned because they were built under pressure, not despite it!

Team Growth Beyond Headcount

Everything that moved vGreens forward this year comes back to one thing: the team that shows up every day and makes vGreens work!

In 2025, vGreens grew not only in size, but in perspective. With a team size just over 30 now, we became more interdisciplinary, more diverse, and more opinionated. Alignment wasn’t always automatic – but collective growth isn’t deeply anchored in our principles for nothing. Across engineering, biology, data science, operations, and strategy, one thing unites the team: the drive to build technology that helps to secure the future of food.

We are equally grateful to our extended team, a strong network of partners and supporters who challenged us, trusted us, and worked alongside us throughout the year. This includes the local ecosystem with the Bryck Startup Alliance and Essen Wirtschaft (EWG), our research partners at Technical University of Munich, the University of Bonn, Wageningen University & Research, and Fraunhofer UMSICHT and so many others.

Their involvement didn’t just enable projects, it raised the bar for how we think and build.

Looking Ahead: What 2025 Set in Motion

2025 wasn’t about perfection. It was about progress earned the hard way.

With major initiatives underway and a much clearer sense of direction, 2026 is already taking shape. We’re entering the new year with sharper priorities, stronger foundations, and the confidence that comes from having tested our assumptions in reality.

Focus forced the change. The work ahead will scale it.

Happy new year from #TeamvGreens!