Lab will be used to develop Hectre’s next-generation Arc camera, designed to identify internal fruit quality
New Zealand agritech company Hectre has opened a new fruit quality research laboratory in Auckland, where it will develop pioneering hyperspectral technology for its customers around the globe.
Agriculture minister Todd McClay opened the facility on 27 October, which houses a near-NZ$5mn programme co-funded by the Government. The lab will be used to develop Hectre’s next-generation Arc camera, designed to identify the internal quality of a piece of fruit by using light to read maturity, starch content and firmness through the skin.
Hectre’s technology aims to solve one of the biggest issues in the world’s billion-dollar fruit industry, allowing packhouses to decide earlier what to store, what to pack and what to ship. Fruit will therefore reach the market in better condition, with less waste.
“Hectre is the world leader in fruit colour and grade detection, but reading for internal quality is a much trickier problem,” said CEO Matty Blomfield.
“But solving it is vital. Understanding the internal structures of fruit being shipped allows packhouses to make smart decisions around how to store, pack and ship their product. It reduces avoidable waste and brings value back to the growers and packhouses.”
The research programme is a three-year project led by Hectre, with co-investment by the government through the Primary Sector Growth Fund. Hectre is funding the balance.
The programme targets a proof-of-concept algorithm with at least 80 per cent detection accuracy by June 2027, and a packhouse prototype validated under commercial conditions by June 2028.
Hectre’s existing Arc camera scans fruit as trucks arrive at packhouse intake, returning sizing, colour and external quality data in near-real time.
Packhouses in 22 countries use it, and the data covers billions of pieces of fruit each year, which, according to Hectre, delivers accuracy approaching 99 per cent from samples some 200 times larger than manual methods allow.
The laboratory opening caps a year in which Hectre closed an oversubscribed NZ$12mn Series A, led by Punakaiki Fund, alongside Cultivate Ventures, Nuance and private investors.
