International start-ups Origeen, Ceragen, Crop Convergence and Gyroplant showcased their innovative solutions at the Indoor AgTech Innovation Summit in 2023. We caught up with the ambitious entrepreneurs to see how they have progressed to the next level in the CEA industry.

MEXICO: Jessica Gomez is the Co-Founder of Origeen, a technology provider manufacturing scalable systems for vertical gardens or vertical hydroponic farming.

What have been the key milestones since you founded the company?
Designing and manufacturing a modular and scalable system that you can use for different irrigations: drip and hydroponic. This helps us to make different products and projects of different sizes: such as the hydroponic kit for homes and restaurants, and to grow food indoors and for hybrid projects across the University of Celaya and in the Hotel Boutique Dune at Tulum, with natural and artificial light to make it more sustainable and more easy to control the products. A recent key milestone was making it possible to sell the system with a “do it yourself” manual.

How do you think the Indoor AgTech Innovation Summit has accelerated the success of your company?
It helps me connect with interesting people and CEA experts. It also provides the opportunity to meet notable journalists in the agtech industry who can help spread the word about us after the event through articles and podcasts.

What role do partnerships and collaboration play in your business strategy?
Partnerships and collaborations are very important to us because we help each other to grow, share expertise in different areas, and gain exposure. Also, we choose very carefully and identify the opportunities.

What’s next for your company?
We are going to be part of the biggest controlled environment production room in Mexico (100 square meters), located in the city of Guadalajara. We are currently working on the executive project with our system VPOT.

CANADA: Danielle Rose is the CEO of  Ceragen, a biotechnology company focused on helping farmers increase their crop yields through plant microbiome engineering.

What have been the key milestones since you founded the company?
We have brought two biostimulant inoculant products to market (one for use in lettuce and one for tomatoes) that are currently being piloted by commercial growers. There is development now underway for our strawberry and cucumber products.

How do you think the Indoor AgTech Innovation Summit has accelerated the success of your company?
We have been very impressed with the calibre of connections we made at the Indoor AgTech Innovation Summit, including decision makers at a number of large commercial growing operations. These connections have been essential for accelerating the process of onboarding growers for commercial pilots of our lettuce and tomato products.

What role do partnerships and collaboration play in your business strategy?
We have several partners on different research projects related to developing new inoculant products for use with new crop types.

What’s next for your company?
Over the next two years we plan to launch two new biostimulant products for use with strawberries and cucumbers. We also hope to develop probiotics for plants to help growers increase crop yields in hydroponic fruit and vegetable production.

USA: Kendra Armstrong is the Co-Founder & CEO of Crop Convergence, a technology start-up building a hybrid modeling approach to help growers optimize farm operations.

What have been the key milestones since you founded the company?

  • Leafy greens model implemented and actioned on farms
  • Expanded our team to include software engineers, marketing, and R&D
  • Launched partnerships and POCs with key well-established tech providers in the ag industry
  • Expanded our offerings to include new technology and crops, both indoor and outdoor.

How do you think the Indoor AgTech Innovation Summit has accelerated the success of your company?Attending Indoor AgTech in 2023 provided us with a great stage for our early products and we had a key partnership conversation. We look forward to continuing that success at the 2024 summit.

What role do partnerships and collaboration play in your business strategy?
Partnerships and collaboration are an essential element of our strategy. We are not striving to be another platform as there are many great platforms already available in agriculture. Instead, we look to be a vital part of an existing platform’s analytics options for growers. This allows us to concentrate on what we do best, which is explainable ML/AI and decision-making tools.

What’s next for your company?
We are launching a new partnership this month (look for the announcement in June). We are also working on projects in new crop species and exploring the application of our explainable ML/AI tools for other CEA crops and outdoor crops.

UK: Marcus Comaschi is the R&D Engineer of Gyroplant, a research-driven company developing substrate free plant cultivation technologies.

What have been the key milestones since you founded the company?
We embarked on a 20-month research project funded by Innovate UK and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC). GyroPlant has enabled substrate free growing across sectors at an R&D and trial level, and now we are working to scale up commercial operations with partners.

Our project with the BBSRC focuses on optimizing growing protocols for substrate-free cultivation and designing in house-automation technologies. This includes collaborations with CHAP UK, focussing on growing trials, enhancing our understanding and methodologies for substrate-free farming systems.

How do you think the Indoor AgTech Innovation Summit has accelerated the success of your company?
The Indoor AgTech Innovation Summit has played a pivotal role in accelerating GyroPlant’s growth. As an R&D-led company, feedback from growers and technology companies is crucial. The summit facilitated connections with multiple organizations, gaining insights into the needs of the industry and new technology innovations. The collaborations formed have been instrumental in the refinement and the creation of new products, directly influenced by the needs and insights of the growers we met at the event. For example, working with growers vertical farms and engineers from turnkey irrigation systems and technology companies, we can bring partners together for future projects.

What role do partnerships and collaboration play in your business strategy?
Partnerships and collaborations are at the core of GyroPlant’s strategy. We focus exclusively on designing substrate-free solutions for various irrigation systems, crops, and contexts. This specialisation necessitates close collaboration with growers. We are currently engaged in diverse projects, from polytunnels in Malaysia, high-tech indoor farms in the USA, space applications in Japan/USA and plant breeding in Europe. Each context requires a unique solution and a different user journey, driving innovation and cross-contextual design improvements. The design process for one context often impacts and enhances solutions for others, leading to creative and effective hardware and growing protocols for substrate free growing.

What’s next for your company?
GyroPlant is poised for further advancements and expansions. Building on the success of the GyroCup, we have launched the GyroSnap, facilitating ZERO substrate plant cultivation for leafy greens. Using the same core design principles as the GyroCup, it’s also 100% silicone rubber, transplantable and compatible with most seeds and any irrigation system.

Our technology is being utilized in various industries and research institutions. We are expanding on applications in the pharmaceutical/cosmetic sector, future plant protein production, tree sapling development and home growing systems. It’s an exciting time for us!

Indoor AgTech 2024

Join us at the Indoor AgTech Innovation Summit on June 24-25, 2024 in Chicago to meet the next generation of start-ups transforming the CEA industry. Register your summit pass: www.indooragtech.com/register.