Rubens Technologies

What Rubens Technologies does

Rubens Technologies Pty Ltd is an Australian agtech company, founded in late 2018 by physicist Daniel Pelliccia and headquartered in Knoxfield, Victoria. It builds a handheld multi-spectral scanner that captures fluorescence, visible and near-infrared reflectance data across the 350-900 nm range to generate a 'molecular fingerprint' of fresh produce, paired with proprietary machine learning models that predict commercial quality parameters — including sugars (brix), firmness, dry matter, maturity and starch index — calibrated against conventional refractometer, penetrometer and colour measurements. The system is offered as a Bluetooth-paired iOS/Android device plus a web dashboard, with models commercially available for apples, stone fruit and avocados and calibration in progress for mango, citrus, grape, pineapple, kiwifruit, berries, banana and palm.

The company monetises through a hardware-plus-software model: devices are sold or leased, with two subscription tiers (Standard: up to three crops, one device, dashboard analytics; Advanced: unlimited crops and devices, custom model development and API integration). Customers are commercial growers, packers and exporters of fresh produce, including named accounts such as 9 Mile Fresh, Batlow Fruit Company, QFM Variety Management, Lenswood Apples, Fruitways and Cutri Fruit, with deployment stated across four continents. Rubens also positions the technology for supply-chain use cases beyond the packhouse, including food authenticity verification, traceability, and milestone-based payment release in import-export flows.

Rubens is a founder-controlled private company with no disclosed institutional funding rounds beyond participation by SVG Ventures in April 2021, a sub-ten-person team of PhD-trained founders and leaders, and a single registered trademark. The current evidence base — early commercial launch in 2022, a small but globally deployed customer base, and an actively expanding crop and pricing surface — points to an early-commercial-stage business whose revenue base is not yet publicly disclosed.

Name

Rubens Technologies

Legal name

Rubens Technologies Pty Ltd

Website

https://rubenstech.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2018

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Rubens Technologies is an Australian agtech company that builds handheld multi-spectral scanners and proprietary machine learning models to predict quality parameters — sugars, firmness, dry matter and maturity — in fresh fruit, serving commercial growers, packers and exporters across multiple continents.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Agricultural Quality Sensors

NAICS

Analytical Laboratory Instrument Manufacturing (334516), Navigational, Measuring, Electromedical, and Control Instruments Manufacturing (3345)

SIC

Laboratory Analytical Instruments (3826), Agricultural Production-Crops (100)

akta.pro primary industry

Yield Monitoring & Harvest Analytics (Combine Yield Monitors, Harvest Data Platforms) (AFAGALAH)

akta.pro secondary industries

Remote Sensing & Imagery Analytics (Satellite, Drone, Aerial) (AFABAMAB), Identity & Authenticity Verification for Label Accuracy (species, varietal, adulteration) (AFALAHAF)

Keywords

• Spectroscopy sensors
• Fruit quality prediction
• Fresh produce analytics
• Supply chain traceability
• Non-destructive testing

Headquarters

HQ city

Geelong

HQ country

Australia

HQ region

Oceania

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Supply Chain, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Hardware Device Sales/Lease: Rubens scanner handheld device available for purchase or lease. Device connects to smartphone/tablet via Bluetooth. Includes rechargeable 18650 type battery (3400 mAh). Device lease includes support for sensor hardware and companion software.
2. Subscription Services: Subscription-based software and analytics services with two tiers: Standard (up to 3 crops, 1 device, dashboard analytics) and Advanced (unlimited crops, unlimited devices, custom models, API integration). Prices in USD, taxes exclusive. Monthly subscriptions and periodic billing available.
3. Software/Tiered Plans: Crop quality prediction plans available for purchase. Standard plan includes up to 3 crops, unlimited models, 1 device with lease, dashboard analytics. Advanced plan offers unlimited crops, unlimited devices, custom model development, API integration.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Rubens Technologies sells a handheld multi-spectral scanner that captures molecular fingerprints of fresh produce (apples, stone fruit, avocado and other crops) and uses proprietary machine learning models to predict commercial quality parameters such as maturity, sugars (brix), firmness, dry matter, and provenance in real time without damaging the product. The offering is delivered via Bluetooth-connected iOS/Android mobile apps and a centralised dashboard analytics platform, sold to commercial growers, packers, and supply-chain operators under monthly subscription tiers (Standard and Advanced) bundled with the leased or purchased device.

Product overview

Rubens Technologies offers a unified product ecosystem combining a handheld spectral scanner device with machine learning analytics for the fresh food supply chain. The core offering consists of the Rubens Handheld Spectral Scanner (a Bluetooth-enabled device capturing multi-spectral data at 350-900 nm), paired with the Rubens Mobile App (iOS/Android) for real-time data display, and the Rubens Dashboard Analytics for centralized data monitoring. These are offered through two subscription tiers: the Standard Plan (up to 3 crops, 1 device, unlimited models, dashboard analytics) and the Advanced Plan (unlimited crops and devices, custom model development, API integration). The company was founded in late 2018 by Daniel Pelliccia and is currently deployed with apple, stone fruit, and avocado growers and packers across four continents.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Rubens Handheld Spectral Scanner Handheld battery-operated multi-spectral scanner (rechargeable 18650, 3400 mAh) that captures molecular fingerprint data from fresh produce across fluorescence, VIS reflectance, and NIR reflectance modes (350-900 nm wavelength range, 12 nm resolution) and transmits readings to a smartphone or tablet via Bluetooth for real-time quality analysis. Sold or leased to commercial growers and packers across the fresh food supply chain.
• Rubens Crop Quality Analytics Platform

Quantifiable outcome

• 40% reduction in food waste achievable with only half a day efficiency improvement in supply chain
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration3 records

AI capability2 records

Feature5 records

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Neolithics: Neolithics (which acquired Sunforest) builds AI-driven optical sensing platforms to predict fresh produce quality at packhouse scale, targeting the same apple, avocado and stone fruit packer customers as Rubens with non-destructive quality assessment.
• Felix Instruments: Felix Instruments manufactures handheld NIR and visible spectroscopy tools (e.g., F-750 Produce Quality Meter) for non-destructive measurement of fruit dry matter, brix and maturity. It is the closest direct competitor to Rubens' handheld spectral scanner for fresh produce growers and packers.
• Tellspec: Tellspec provides handheld spectroscopic sensors combined with cloud analytics for food quality, authenticity and traceability across the supply chain, directly overlapping Rubens' spectral scanner + ML offering for fresh produce.
• Consumer Physics (SCiO): Consumer Physics makes the SCiO handheld near-infrared molecular sensor and cloud analytics for material and food analysis. It overlaps with Rubens on the handheld spectrometer + ML quality prediction model targeting food and agricultural supply chains.

Others

• StellarNet: StellarNet manufactures portable and handheld spectrometers (UV-VIS, NIR) for food, agricultural and laboratory analysis. It is an adjacent instrumentation vendor rather than a direct fresh-produce software competitor, supplying enabling hardware to similar end markets.

Broad incumbents

• trinamiX (BASF): trinamiX, a BASF subsidiary, develops miniaturized NIR spectroscopy modules and solutions for material identification and food/feed analysis. It is a broad incumbent with deeper R&D resources applying similar underlying spectroscopy to Rubens' target use cases.

Emerging players

• Spectral Engines: Spectral Engines builds miniaturized NIR spectral sensor modules and analytics platforms that power third-party handheld and inline analyzers for food, agriculture and industrial quality control, supplying enabling technology for the same applications Rubens targets.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors1 record

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Rubens Technologies