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The Spoon

Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

Click & Grow

Smart Garden Startup Click & Grow Raises $11 Million To Fuel Expansion

Estonian smart-garden startup Click & Grow announced this week it has raised $11 million to help accelerate growth for its hyperlocal grow systems into new markets.

Investors in this round include two strategic corporate investors in Swedish holding company Ingka Group (which owns and operates the majority of IKEA stores) and French conglomerate Groupe SEB, as well as Y Combinator and Shanghai-based Yunqi VC. The round brings the total invested in the nearly 10 year old company to $17.9 million.

Investor interest in one of hottest indoor-gardening startups is not surprising given the strong growth in the home-grow space as of late. Demand for smart-grow systems has surged as consumers embrace the healthy aspects of indoor farming and — let’s be honest — start their own mini ganja farms as cannabis becomes legal in parts of the US and other countries like Canada.

While Click & Grow was one of the first of a wave of startups bringing technology to indoor gardening for the home, there is no shortage of competition in the space. New entrants like AVA, Verdical and SproutsIO are working to to bring their products to market, while Natufia, another Estonian smart garden startup, just raised $1.2 million in funding. Even long-time market leader AeroGrow (over 1.4 million units shipped as of 2016) has also seen a resurgence as majority owner MiracleGrow freshens up the product lineup.

IKEA’s involvement is intriguing for a couple reasons. For one, there’s no doubt the home furnishings giant has increasingly embraced smart home technology in recent years and the Click & Grow investment will strengthen extend this tech push into the garden. The deal is also interesting because IKEA had already launched a home grow system a couple years ago, which they are apparently still selling.

Either way, the Swedish company sees lots of potential in its new partnership:

“We see this as another step forward in our journey to serve IKEA customers and our co-worker’s healthier and more nutritious food, and it opens up new opportunities for IKEA Retail markets to become more self-sufficient by growing fresh local produce,” explained Krister Mattsson, Head of Investments, Ingka Group.

The Estonian startup, which has sold 450 thousand total systems and 2.1 million plant pods since launch, said it plans to use the funding to expand into new markets.

The Year in Home Grow Systems

I have a fantasy of plucking juicy, ripe tomatoes from the vine in my garden, snipping a few basil leaves off the plant, and making myself a fresh summer salad. The problem is, I’m not much of a gardener. I’ve killed so many cacti that I don’t even try anymore: My buying a plant is pretty much sentencing it to death.

That’s why I’ve been so excited to see the home grow landscape blossom this year, with tons of systems, apps, and other devices to make growing food at home easier for even the worst black thumb like me.

Here are the most notable happenings and advancements in the past 12 months.

Grow It All

The Edyn solar-powered sensor is perfect for the detailed gardener with a big backyard plot: It sends data about weather, soil conditions, light frequency, and moisture levels to your phone, where you can manage it all. Meanwhile using sensors, the Gro app can also put together that data and even give you suggestions about specific plants. If you’re more of a hands-off person, the Parrot Pot senses the water level in the pot and waters your plant accordingly. These three devices don’t have to be used solely for produce, but they would certainly make it easier to grow vegetables and fruit at home.

Then there’s the FarmBot, which launched earlier this year and is available for preorder now for delivery in early 2017. The open-source home-farming robot plants seeds, kills weeds, and waters plants individually for their precise needs. It’s controlled through an app and grows enough food to feed one person year-round. Sounds like it might be advanced enough to override even my black thumb.

Home farming robot

Home Garden Copycats

Throughout the past year, we’ve seen so many indoor garden systems that we’re not sure how to separate the wheat from the chaff. Sure, they’re cool, but they’re also copycats of one another, which at some point makes all of them indistinguishable.

Ikea launched its indoor garden for year-round fresh produce, SproutsIO kicked off its connected platform and app, Japanese company Foop brought its hydroponic pod to market, and Opcom launched its GrowBox. Still in the development stages, Everbloom conceptualized its grow fridge, Click & Grow raised funds on Kickstarter for its Smart Garden, and an entrepreneur at Purdue has created what’s essentially a Keurig for hydroponic gardening.

Then there are the 7Sensors Grow Box and Grobo, systems both designed to grow weed but that will work for any other plants too (yeah, like we’re gonna care about peppers when pot is in the picture).

All of these are designed for small spaces, perfect for big cities and tiny kitchens. They almost universally have some sort of pod (with or without soil) and an app to help make the growing process easier.

In short, we have a very crowded market with a lot of systems that essentially do the same thing. Over the next year or so we’ll see some of them weeded out, with only a few remaining: It will come down to the best interface, prettiest design, and most interactive and helpful support and community.