AVA Technologies, maker of the AVA Byte countertop smart gardening system, has raised a $2.6 million seed round (no pun intended) led by Vanedge Capital, according to BetaKit.
The AVA Byte is an all-in-one connected gardening appliance that uses a combination of soil-less seed pods, smart sensors, artificial intelligence and a smartphone app to guide you through the process of growing herbs, mushrooms and even tomatoes indoors. AVA CEO Valerie Song pitched her company as a Smart Kitchen Summit startup showcase finalist last year. You can see her presentation here:
This looks to be the first institutional round of funding for AVA, which has raised more than $130,000 on crowdfunding platform Indiegogo. To date, the company has raised $2.9 million.
An update from Song on the AVA Indiegogo page says that to celebrate the funding, AVA is giving away a free HD camera for their growing systems to all of their backers. She went on to say that the AVA Byte will start shipping this October.
The indoor smart garden space is certainly sprouting (Ed. note: Sorry). SproutsIO offers much of the same functionality as AVA and is supposed to ship this summer. Then there’s AeroGarden, which is available now.
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