Plant breeding is no longer just about fields and tractors - it is increasingly about data. Breeders collect vast amounts of information: How does a plant grow under heat stress? Which soil conditions are best? How does it respond to pests? So the real issue is that there is now so much data that it has become increasingly difficult to quickly draw the conclusions and meet the right decision.
This is exactly where the partnership between RootCamp partner KWS, a leading corporate in plant breeding, and startup NoMaze from RootCamp batch #5 comes into play. For more than two years, the two companies have been working closely together to make plant breeding more efficient.
In the past, breeders often had to wait a long time for specialized data teams to write complex computer code in order to analyze results. By the time this was done, important decisions were often already overdue.
NoMaze has developed a solution for this: software that functions like an intelligent assistant system. It processes massive amounts of data in a way that allows breeders at KWS to understand and use it immediately, without needing to write code themselves. This enables them to focus on what they do best: developing better seeds for farmers.
Many partnerships between large corporations and young startups fail after the initial pilot phase. The collaboration between KWS and NoMaze is different:
“KWS has been an outstanding partner,” says Jean-Pascal Lutze, CEO of NoMaze. “Our shared goals and collaborative spirit continue to drive meaningful outcomes for both companies.”
KWS also views the partnership as equally positive and fruitful: “Our partnership with NoMaze demonstrates how combining breeding expertise and technology improves our data use and decision-making, ultimately leading to better seeds for farmers,” says Stefan Schwarz, lead of scouting and licensing at KWS.
This collaboration illustrates how venture clienting can deliver tangible value in practice. Rather than ending after a short pilot phase, the partnership evolved into a long-term working relationship with clearly defined roles: KWS as the user with concrete needs from day-to-day breeding operations, and NoMaze as a technology partner capable of responding quickly and flexibly to those needs. The value did not lie in a standalone innovation, but in the sustained integration of a solution into existing processes. This demonstrates that venture clienting is most effective when it is driven by real operational demands, continuously developed in practice, and built on mutual trust.