Crocus Labs wants vertical farms and greenhouses to light each crop with its own tailored spectrum. The company, registered in Berlin in 2020, builds LED lights that can change their spectrum under software control, and set out to make its own LED chips to do it more efficiently.
The European Innovation Council granted €1,902,542 towards miniSun, a €2.72 million project that ran from December 2022 to March 2025. Its only CORDIS report, for the first year, records 200 x3 luminaires made, a cloud control system and "19% better efficiency at a commercial farm", with the in-house LED chip about three months late. In its 2024 review the company said it had shipped its SiriusX.3 system to ten crop science customers. No final report for the project, which ended 18 months ago, has been published.
Company file
- Legal entity
- Crocus Labs GmbH, HRB 38062 (Potsdam), office in Berlin
- Registered
- December 2020
- Products
- x3 and SiriusX.3 luminaires; Licht-2GH greenhouse lighting
- Investors
- High-Tech Gründerfonds, Brandenburg Kapital, Business Angels Club Berlin-Brandenburg
- Partners
- Łukasiewicz Institute, Fraunhofer ISIT, Humboldt University
- EIC project
- miniSun, 1 Dec 2022 to 31 Mar 2025
- EIC funding
- Blended finance; no EIC Fund investment announced
Where Crocus Labs Stands Today
The company's website now lists three markets: controlled-environment agriculture, where it has "major CEA R&D facilities as customers and partners"; health and wellness, with a "first pilot completed with a large medical and wellness company" in 2025; and automotive and robotics. Its recent blog posts discuss circadian lighting for people. The commercial register shows no capital increase since October 2022 and no insolvency.
The Technology: Light Tuned to the Crop
The first-year report describes custom LED chips made with the manufacturers Novagan and TopGaN, a smart driver, and software on a cloud server that can "adjust each kind of LED to generate a unique light spectra". A test facility at Berlin-Ostkreuz ran trials on basil, spinach and salad, with tomato and strawberry trials planned. In its 2024 review the company reported a 20% crop yield increase for early adopters of its greenhouse lights and a 30% rise in marketable berries; these figures are its own.
What the EIC Project Promised, and What CORDIS Shows
miniSun promised "disrupting the horticulture industry with smart lighting solutions". The public report covers only the first year, to November 2023, and lists one delayed work package, the in-house LED chip. Whether the chip was completed, and what the project achieved in its final 16 months, is not on the public record.
- Luminaire and control softwareDeliveredx3 made; cloud control.
- In-house LED chipUnknownDelayed in 2023; no later report.
- Customer deploymentsResearch labs10 crop science customers.
- Final reportingMissingNone on CORDIS.
What Has Happened Since the Award
Crocus Labs closed a seven-figure seed round led by High-Tech Gründerfonds in November 2022, just before the EIC project began. No round has been announced since, and the register shows no new share capital after October 2022.
The Money
Crocus Labs' accounts are filed in Germany but not freely displayed. Its revenue and losses are not public.
What cannot be checked
How many lights Crocus Labs has sold, to which farms, whether its LED chip was finished, and whether the EIC Fund invested under the blended award are not public.
Why Europe Should Care
The EIC paid most of the development of a European grow-light system with its own chips. The company has sold to research customers and is now looking at other markets. With no final report and no sales figures, the public cannot tell what the grant produced beyond the first year.
What the project promised
Smart lighting that disrupts the horticulture industry.
What the record shows
A luminaire shipped to ten research customers, a late LED chip, a move into health lighting and no final report.
The Verdict
Half a record
miniSun produced working lights and early customers, by the company's account. The EU's own record stops after the first year, and Crocus Labs has broadened beyond the farming market the grant was meant to disrupt.
Crocus Labs has not been asked for comment for this article. It is based entirely on company statements, German register data and EU project data, linked throughout.
