Cologne-based startup eternal.ag , using a ' simulation-first ' approach, trains robots in virtual greenhouses before deploying them in real ones, aiming to solve a development problem that has frustrated the industry for years.
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The greenhouse automation market has accumulated a graveyard of startups that sound reliable. The engineering problem is truly difficult: harvesting tomatoes or cucumbers requires handling irregular, delicate, densely packed fruits in a wet environment where each plant is slightly different and the layout changes seasonally.
Many companies have shipped robots that work in controlled demonstrations and then failed at commercial scale. The gap between 'itworks in the lab' and 'it works reliably 22 hours a day in a real grower's greenhouse' has proven extremely difficult to close.
Renji John has attempted to solve this problem before. He founded Honest AgTech, a Dutch startup that makes autonomous greenhouse robots, which was declared bankrupt by the Noord-Holland in July 2023 due to lack of liquidity.
Now he’s back with a second attempt. eternal.ag, the German agritech startup he founded with Sherry Kunjachan in 2025, announced Thursday that it has raised €8 million from Simon Capital, Oyster Bay Venture Capital, EquityPitcher Ventures, and Backbone Ventures. The company is headquartered in Cologne with an office in Bengaluru.
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The key technical distinction John makes this time is the development methodology. Eternal.ag uses simulation-first development, building and validating robots inside virtual greenhouses powered by NVIDIA Isaac Sim before deploying the hardware in real life.
Once the robots are developed, each action feeds data back into the system for continuous improvement. Both the 22-hour-a-day operation and the compression of repeat cycles are claims by the company that have not been independently verified, although the underlying approach is consistent with how leading robotics companies manage the risk of hardware development.
The company's first commercial product is Harvester, an autonomous tomato harvesting robot designed to operate as part of an AI-powered system that manages cut quality and product consistency. The product is designed as a modular platform intended to expand to other greenhouse operations over time. Eternal.ag's stated ambition is fully autonomous greenhouse operations by 2040, with no human operators required.
John's background includes a stint at Boston Consulting Group working in technology strategy, an MBA from INSEAD, and prior career experience at Tata Consultancy Services. Sherry Kunjachan, the co-founder and CTO, has no independently documented previous roles beyond press release materials.
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The investor team is well aligned with the sector. Oyster Bay Venture Capital is a Food and AgTech fund based in Hamburg, whose second vehicle manages over €100 million and is supported by the European Investment Fund and KfW. The company usually leads rounds with initial investments ranging from €1 to €5 million. Simon Capital, based in Dusseldorf, is an early‑stage fund whose portfolio includes waterdrop and Just Spices.
