GrainSense

GrainSense Oy, an AgTech company headquartered in Oulu, Finland, provides grain quality analysis tools that bring laboratory-level accuracy to the field. The company originated as a spin-off from the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, which in the early 2010s sought to miniaturize bulky Near-Infrared (NIR) spectroscopy equipment. Officially founded in 2014 and beginning operations in 2016, GrainSense was established by a team including Edvard Krogius, Arve Lukander, Ralf Marbach, Ykä Marjanen, and Max Schulman. Edvard Krogius, leveraging a 25-year background in management, finance, and entrepreneurship, initially served as CEO. The company is now led by CEO Riku Niemelä, who has over two decades of C-level international business experience.

The core of GrainSense's offering is a patented sensor technology that makes NIR spectroscopy portable and affordable. This allows for the instant measurement of key grain parameters such as protein, moisture, oil, and carbohydrate content from just a few kernels. The business model revolves around the sale of its hardware devices coupled with an annual service subscription that includes access to a cloud platform for data storage, GPS tagging, calibrations for different crops, and software updates. Its client base is diverse, serving farmers, seed producers, grain traders, researchers, and industrial players like mills and breweries across more than 48 countries.

GrainSense offers a suite of products tailored to different needs within the agricultural value chain. The flagship product is the GS GO, a portable, battery-powered handheld analyzer that connects via Bluetooth to a mobile app, allowing users to analyze crop quality directly in the field, pre-harvest, or at storage locations. For in-line analysis during harvesting or processing, the company developed the GS FLOW analyzer, which can be installed in combine harvesters, silos, or dryers to provide continuous, real-time quality data. The GS FLOW sensor is also available as an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) product for integration into existing agricultural machinery. All devices utilize the same core sensor and are supported by the GrainSense cloud service, enabling users to track and manage their results through a dedicated dashboard.

Keywords: grain quality analysis, NIR spectroscopy, AgTech, crop diagnostics, portable grain analyzer, precision agriculture, farm technology, protein measurement, moisture content, crop quality sensor, real-time grain data, VTT spin-off, Edvard Krogius, Riku Niemelä, GS GO, GS FLOW, agricultural hardware, smart farming, crop management, feed quality control, grain value chain