French agritech startup near Clermont-Ferrand developing a solar-powered, remotely deployable robotic canopy that protects vineyards from frost, hail, and heat.
BIENESIS is a French agritech startup incorporated in February 2024 and headquartered at 8 Rue des Vergnes, 63960 Veyre-Monton, in the Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes region near Clermont-Ferrand. The company emerged from the Michelin Innovation Lab, where founder and CEO Francois Lemaire began working in 2022 with winegrowers to define a field-validated product. The first prototype was built in 2023, with patents filed the same year.
BIENESIS develops an automated, remotely deployable vineyard canopy system designed to protect grapevines from four primary climate hazards: frost, hail, extreme heat, and heavy rainfall. Each canopy unit is stored in a compact housing measuring 22 x 35 cm — roughly the footprint of an A4 sheet of paper — integrated at trellis height within the vine row. When a weather alert is triggered, either manually via a smartphone app or automatically by the system's onboard algorithms, two robotic arms each 3 meters long extend across the row and unfurl a lightweight protective fabric spanning a 6-meter width.
The system is fully energy autonomous, powered by an integrated solar panel requiring no external electrical cabling, and is controlled remotely via 4G. The canopy is compatible with all standard vineyard machinery including mechanical harvesting, and this compatibility was validated during 2025 field trials without modifications to standard operating sequences. During heat events, the fabric reduces solar radiation by more than 90% and can deliver potential water savings of up to 30 cubic meters per hectare per day.
Independent field trials in 2024 and 2025 were conducted by the French Vine and Wine Institute (IFV) and the Chamber of Agriculture across parcels in Burgundy. BIENESIS received a CES 2026 Best of Innovation Award in the Food Tech category. The Constellation 2026 initiative is expanding demonstrator installations across all major French wine regions and into Italy and the United States.
The company's SIREN registration number is 985088202.
Primary type & automation activities this supplier delivers:
Solar-powered retractable robotic vineyard canopy protecting crops from frost, hail, heat, and rain via 4G remote control.
Contact BIENESIS
WEBSITE
https://bienesis.fr/en/home/PHONE
0033 4 73 00 00 00HEADQUARTERS
France
Company Facts
Founded
2024
Primary Role
Manufacturer
Company Size
-
Primary Region
Europe
Annual Sales
-
Funding Stage
-
Funding Total
-
