From Researcher to Founder: Louis Daniels’ Journey with Metiris

1. For readers discovering Metiris for the first time, what problem are you trying to solve?

Today, growers still rely on predetermined schedules to decide their yearly fertilisation treatments. Useful methods do exist; chemical analysis of plant tissue, for example, provides very valuable information. But these methods are not scalable.
To get results, a farmer must go into the field, collect a sample, package it, send it to a lab, and wait days or even weeks. As a result, fertilisation decisions are often made based on incomplete or outdated information.
With Metiris, we are building a handheld optical device that delivers this same type of information to the grower in minutes instead of days.

2. Traditional leaf analysis can take days and requires lab work. What changes when growers can measure crop nutrient status directly in the field?
The scale of it all changes. With our technology, taking an additional measurement costs no more than a single field visit. This allows growers to measure as much as they want or need, at a fraction of the cost of the equivalent laboratory bills.
The result is more precise treatments, because growers can track nutrient trends in their crops in near real time.

3. How does the Metiris sensor work? 
Essentially, when a grower holds the device against a leaf, we measure in great detail how light interacts with the leaf's surface.
Plants, as photosynthetic organisms, absorb a large portion of visible light and convert it into energy. When a plant is less healthy, for example, when it lacks iron, specific parts of its internal biochemical pathways are affected.
Eventually, once the deficiency becomes serious enough, this leads to recognisable symptoms on the plant. By that point, yield or quality may already be affected.
Our sensors can detect these symptoms before they become visible to the human eye, buying the grower valuable time to act.

4. Why did you choose crop nutrient status as the first application? Was there a moment in your research when you realised this could become a company?
The basis of this idea came out of my PhD, a VLAIO Baekeland mandate supported by BMS Micro-Nutrients, a foliar fertiliser producer.

There, we saw a clear connection between foliar fertiliser applications — which are highly versatile and can quickly solve early deficiencies — and faster nutritional assessments of crops. A better view of crop nutrient content and how it evolves over time leads to better, easier decisions about when to use which nutrient spray. We realised this could become something bigger when we started speaking to growers during my research. The pain of collecting and sending samples to the lab quickly surfaced, and that prompted us to investigate further.

5. Metiris comes out of UGent research. What has been the biggest shift from researcher to entrepreneur?
Since we are still at the university, I would not say the transformation is complete. But there has been a clear shift in how I spend my time.
During my research, most of my days were spent at my desk, working on data exploration, modelling, writing, and reading literature. Today, I am out and about much more often, talking to potential customers, partners, and stakeholders.
Without those years at my desk, doing what I do today would not have been possible. But I feel the impact is now growing.

6. What challenged you most about building a spin-off?
Probably learning that almost everything takes longer and costs more than you plan for — but ask me again in two years.

7. You are preparing for incorporation in September. What needs to happen between now and then?
We need to raise our pre-seed round and finish our measurements this summer to deliver the proof our potential customers are waiting for: that our technology works.
We are always happy to talk to people who find this interesting, whether that is growers, potential partners, or investors.

8. Who are the first customers or partners you are hoping to work with?
To start, we are mainly looking at crop advisors. These are the people who currently advise growers based on, among other things, chemical leaf analyses. We believe our technology can help them succeed by providing more timely information on crop nutrient status.

9. What does success look like for Metiris in five years?
I think our main challenge for the coming years is to productise our technology.
Our goal is to create a product that ships easily, arrives at a grower’s doorstep, and takes less than 10 minutes to set up before they can start measuring.

Within five years, we want more than 1,000 sensors out in the field, helping growers gain the insight they need for precise fertilisation.

Personal questions:

Did you always see yourself becoming an entrepreneur, or did the company grow naturally out of the research?
This company grew naturally out of the research. When colleagues first asked whether it would not be a great idea to turn this into a company, my initial reaction was: “No, no — there are other people far better suited for that. Let me just do my research.”
Today, that has completely shifted because I was given the opportunity to explore whether this could be something for me.

What has been the hardest decision so far?
Choosing which crops to focus on is incredibly difficult. Almost every crop is interesting for more than one reason, but you cannot develop models for all of them at once — at least not with our current team of four.
It is very tempting to say yes to everything, especially when a grower asks for help developing a model for their crop. But our capacity is not endless, and stretching ourselves too thin would not help anyone. It would only cause frustration.
So we made some tough decisions and now focus on four crops we can realistically manage.

What skills did you have to learn that were not part of your scientific training?
I had a very limited background in economics and finance. Keeping a company financially afloat is not optional, so I have been learning — and still am. Luckily, I found a co-founder who is well versed in these matters, which helps a lot.

Who has influenced you most as a founder?
My co-founders, Arne and Wouter. We are a team of highly complementary profiles, and they come from very different professional backgrounds. Learning from them on all the aspects that come with a startup is shaping me as an entrepreneur.

What advice would you give to other researchers considering a spin-off?
If someone is interested in taking their research to market but doubts themselves, the only advice I can give — and it is the advice I received at the beginning — is to go talk to other entrepreneurs, both from successful and less successful projects.

Often, a simple LinkedIn message is enough to get a coffee with someone relevant. These conversations quickly reveal whether this gives you energy.