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The Spoon

Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

Rise Gardens

Rise Gardens Raises $9M in Series A Funding

Rise Gardens has raised $9 million in an oversubscribed Series A Round, according to a press release sent to The Spoon. The round was led by TELUS Ventures with participation from existing investors True Ventures and Amazon Alexa Fund and new investor Listen Ventures. It brings Rise’s total funding to date to $13 million. 

New funds will go towards product development and expansion, according to the company. As of right now, Rise Gardens makes an IoT-connected hydroponic grow system for the consumer home. The company provides the farming system, seed pods, nutrients for the water, and accompanying mobile app that users can rely on to monitor and manage plant growth. The garden comes in three sizes, plus a tabletop version that was released at the end of last year. 

As of right now, there are no voice control features on the gardens. But Rise CEO Hank Adams hinted last year at an eventual collaboration with Amazon that would bring Alexa functionality to the system. The Amazon Alexa Fund’s involvement in today’s funding round suggests that ambition is still very much in the plans. Rise will also in the near future sell its gardens via Amazon, marking the first time the product will be available via something other than the company’s direct-to-consumer channel.

Rise is one of a number of companies trying to bring the concept of high-tech gardening into consumers’ homes. Other notables right now include Gardyn, which makes a compact indoor-only unit, Lettuce Grow’s Farmstand, which can work both indoors and outdoors, and Hong Kong-based Aspara’s countertop unit.

All of these systems use hydroponics to grow leafy greens and herbs. They also all, at this point, come with a hefty price tag: Rise’s Single-Family Garden starts at $549 USD, for example, while a Lettuce Grow unit that holds 24 plants and includes LED lights costs $849.

Adams said today that part of its new funds will go towards reaching “an even wider audience in the U.S., Canada and around the world.”  

The 2020 Kitchen Gift Guide: Bonbowl, BEERMKR, PantryChic and More

There hasn’t been much cause to celebrate during this past year, but maybe the holidays can bring with it a little retail therapy.

If you’re looking to give (or get) the best kitchen gear, than look no further than this list that we’ve put together for you!

JENN

Bonbowl ($149)

My colleagues can attest to the fact that I won’t shut up about the Bonbowl, so it’s only fitting it lands somewhere in this gift guide. As food tech gadgets go, the device is ridiculously simple: it’s an induction cooktop the size of a stove burner and an accompanying bowl you can both cook in and eat from. But you can get a lot of uses out of this simple setup. Since purchasing mine a few months ago, I’ve made single-serving soups and pastas, scrambled eggs, reheated countless leftovers, and made rice krispie treats. Sometimes I use it as a fifth burner for heating sauces when cooking a big meal. Obvious recipients of this device would be a college student (if they ever get to go back to the dorms). That said, I’d buy it for just about anyone who regularly needs to throw a quick meal for one together and hates washing dishes.

Imperfect Foods Gift Box ($24.99)

Fight food waste through holiday gifting. That’s the credo behind online grocer Imperfect Foods’ new holiday snack box. Each box contains a mix of snacks made from “rescued” food — that is, foods that would have otherwise gotten chucked out of the grocery store because of cosmetic imperfections. Some of the included snacks are dried mango considered too “sunburnt” to sell, peppermint- and dark chocolate-covered pretzels that broke into pieces during production, and surplus seasonings. Imperfect Foods says each box saves about nine pounds of food from going to waste. It’s also just a fun way to get your loved ones alert to the world’s 1.3 billion-ton food waste problem. Finally and most importantly, proceeds from the boxes go to Feeding America.

The Personal Rise Garden ($279)

While we’re on the subject of kitchen tech for small spaces, The Personal Rise Garden, a countertop version of Rise Garden’s automated smart farm, just launched and will ship in time for the holidays. Like Rise’s other indoor farms, this one is meant to be used in the average person’s home and doesn’t require agricultural experience or even tech savviness. The accompanying app does most of the work: it calculates temperature, manages the nutrient levels of plants and alerts the user when it’s time to water the garden. The price point is a little high for the average holiday gift, but if you have a loved one who’s a leafy greens devotee and is tired of having to haul ass to the grocery store every other day in the midst of a pandemic, this might be a good investment.

CHRIS

BEERMKR ($499)
I have a full review of the BEERMKR system coming out soon, but here’s all you need to know. I have never attempted to brew beer before. With the BEERMKR, though, I was able to make what is, according to everyone I’ve shared it with, a delicious stout on my first try. BEERMKR’s unique system is simple enough that a N00b like me can use it, but open ended enough that a pro can customize their brew however they like. What’s nice is that it doesn’t require buckets and hoses and bottles, and it doesn’t take a bunch of your time and attention. It just works and is perfect for the BEERLVR in your life.

Photo: Crowd Cow website.

CrowdCow Gift Certificate ($25 – $250)
When the pandemic first hit and we weren’t sure how safe it was to go to grocery stores, I immediately started buying meats through CrowdCow’s online marketplace. It’s been eight months and I’m still buying fish and chicken from CrowdCow’s small farms and fisheries. The service is fast and the quality is top-notch. I highly recommend the halibut!

Philips 3200 LatteGo Superautomatic Espresso Machine ($799)
Look. I’m sorry that I’ve put two very pricey items on my gift guide here. Really. But if you are able to swing it, this superautomatic coffee machine is worth every penny. I saved up and got one for my wife for her birthday+mother’s day towards the beginning of the pandemic. My reasoning? If we’re going to be stuck on lockdown, she may as well start each (Groundhog) day with a delicious cup of coffee. This machine grinds and brews (excellent!) espressos, cappuccinos and straight-up coffee. Plus, the LatteGo system is a super-easy, hose-free way of steaming your choice of milk. And yes, it’s expensive, but given how often it gets used in our house, the cost comes out to about $3.60 a day, which is less than getting a Starbucks latte everyday. And given that this pandemic won’t be over anytime soon, that cost per day will continue to drop.

MIKE

Misen Carbon Steel Pans ($55)

Like many, In recent years I’ve started to move away from chemical heavy non-stick surfaces and rely more heavily on things like my Lodge cast iron skillet. The only problem is the thing weighs more than Thor’s hammer and requires an oven mitt to move around once hot. Enter carbon steel. Carbon steel has been one of those pro kitchen secrets that has started to make its way into the consumer kitchen, and now it’s one of the fastest growing categories for consumer cookware. The growing popularity is due in part because carbon steel offers most of the same benefits of cast iron (durability, high heat tolerance) without its downsides. So when Misen, which got its start as an Instagram purveyor of knives, recently launched their line of carbon steel and I picked up the 10 and 12” bundle. They work great. You still need to season them, but if you or your loved one is looking for a new set of go-to pans, I’d try them out. 

The PantryChic Smart Storage System ($350)

Do you have a hyper organized type on your gift list who wears out their label maker organizing everything into little containers and bins? You might want to consider buying them the PantryChic smart storage system. Sure, the system allows you to store food into interchangeable bins and then dispense using exact measurements with the built-in scale, the container system is BPA-free and airtight, and it all works with the Chefling smart kitchen app to manage food inventory. But you can also feel good buying the product from a founder who has worked long and hard to get the product to market: PantryChic was invented by Nicole Lee who, together with her husband, showed off a prototype at the first Smart Kitchen Summit back in 2015. After half a decade of persistence, they finally started shipping the product last month. You can find the on  PantryChic’s website or on Amazon.  

Stasher Bags

Like everyone else, I’m cooking more at home during the pandemic, and that has meant firing up my sous vide circulator at least once or twice a week. While many are still using plastic bags – either in the form of Ziploc or vacuum seal bags – a couple years ago I started using reusable silicon bags for all of my sous vide. The category got its start when Kat Nouri launched Stasher bags back in 2016 and a couple years later got an investment by Mark Cuban on Shark Tank. The bags aren’t cheap – the half gallon bag (which I use) costs $20 – but you won’t have to keep buying Ziplocs or a vacuum sealer and don’t have to feel bad about putting more plastic into the waste stream. If you’re just getting started or buying for a sous vide fanatic in your family, start at least with a half-gallon or go up to the stand up mega bag, which holds almost up to a gallon. 

Rise Gardens Launches a Countertop Version of Its At-Home Smart Growing System

Rise Gardens is best known for its indoor smart farms that are geared towards the average consumer and roughly the size of your average bookshelf. But those living in small spaces may not be able to easily accommodate another piece of furniture, and with that in mind, Rise released a countertop version of its farm this week. According to a LinkedIn post from the company, the device, dubbed The Personal Rise Garden, can grow “8+ plants at any given time” that can be harvested in “as little as 25 days.”

The Personal device is essentially a smaller version of Rise’s flagship product, a multi-shelf smart garden that uses nutrient-enriched water and a “recipe” of LED lighting to hydroponically grow leafy greens and herbs. An accompanying smartphone app does the bulk of the work in terms of calculating the temperature of the garden, determining nutrition and pH levels, and telling the user when it’s time to water the plants. Users can purchase a subscription service that automatically mails growing supplies on a regular basis. They can also use their own plant seeds if they prefer not to be locked into a subscription. 

Speaking to The Spoon earlier this year, Rise Gardens’ Head of Product and Strategy, Diego Blondet, said he believed automated indoor farming would make its way into most kitchen designs in the future. But we’re still years away from having a smart farm built into the cabinetry like a microwave, and in the meantime, many would-be users live in small apartments that can’t accommodate farms the size of furniture.

Hence Rise’s move to release a countertop version of its smart garden. The new device clocks in at 18 x 11 x 16 inches and weights 20 pounds. According to a press release sent to The Spoon, it can grow four large plants (tomatoes, peppers, kale, etc.), eight medium-sized plants (herbs), or 12 small plants (chives, lavender). Cost-wise, the farm will run you $279, which is on par with other countertop growing devices, including those from Aspara ($259) and AVA’s Byte Smart Garden ($349).

Notably, Rise received an investment from the Amazon Alexa Fund last month to “fuel new products, accessories, and further R+D.” At the time of the announcement, Rise CEO and founder Hank Adams hinted at an Alexa integration for his company’s devices, which means voice tech might be coming to smart farms soon, with Rise leading the way. The company also recently expanded distribution to Canada, according to a Rise spokesperson.

Offering a smaller version of its standard product could also connect Rise Gardens to a potentially different audience, which is those who are new to the at-home smart farming concept and may not want to commit $500 or more to learning about it. From the looks of it, the Personal device won’t feed an entire family, but could be sufficient for one- and two-person households. I’ll let you know as soon as I’ve purchased mine.

Amazon’s Alexa Fund Invests in At-Home Vertical Farming Company Rise Gardens

Rise Gardens announced today it has received an investment from the Amazon Alexa Fund that builds upon a $2.6M seed round Rise closed in May. The amount invested by the Amazon Alexa Fund was not disclosed.

According to a press release sent to The Spoon, the deal is both a collaboration and a cash investment that will “fuel new products, accessories and further R+D” for Rise Gardens.

The Chicago-based Rise is best known for its standalone console (roughly the size of a standard bookcase) that contains a hydroponic grow system for consumers at home. The system does most of the hard work—calculating nutrition and pH levels, knowing when and how much to water the plants—for the user, whom it notifies via a corresponding app.

Rise’s system is also modular, so it can be added to or subtracted from over time depending on how many greens your household consumes each week. Users can also grow beets and tomatoes in addition to leafy greens and herbs.

Rise raised $2.6 million in seed funding earlier this year; Amazon’s new investment is an extension of this seed funding, according to today’s press release.

Amazon’s investment in Rise sounds promising, not just for the company but for the entire vertical farming sector. To start, Rise CEO and founder Hank Adams hinted today at Alexa functionality for the Rise system: “Collaborating with the Alexa Fund will better enable us to integrate our smart, connected garden with Alexa, making indoor gardening even easier. We are also excited about the opportunity to work with Amazon to evolve and expand how we reach consumers with our device and consumables business concept,” he said. The details of that Alexa integration are scant as of now, but one imagines being able to ask Alexa about your plant’s pH levels or tell the speaker to adjust the light mixture. On the flip, Rise could notify users via Alexa when it’s time to water the plants.

There’s no question that consumer-grade vertical farms are still a pretty niche product right now, since many of them cost more than the average person can easily afford. (Rise’s single unit console starts at $549.) But the pandemic and accompanying disruptions to the food supply chain have undoubtedly increased folks’ desire to control more of what they eat, which has led to an influx of new devices. From Gardyn’s stylish take on at-home farming to consumer electronics companies like LG building them into the kitchen, vertical farming is definitely making its way into the home. 

Amazon, of course, wants to control your entire home, including your kitchen, so it’s not surprising the Seattle tech giant would partner making at-home vertical farming products. As well, the company has made forays into the gardening space before, like this patent from 2017. Amazon knowing what types of plants you are growing can fuel its selling machine to recommend recipes and other groceries.

Like it or not, Amazon’s moves in food tech tend to influence others, which means the collaborations and products that come out of the Rise partnership will influence the future of at-home vertical farming for everyone. 

Rise Gardens Raises $2.6M in Fresh Funding for Its At-Home Hydroponics Platform

Chicago-based startup Rise Gardens has raised $2.6 million in seed funding for its indoor grow system, according to TechCrunch. The round was led by True Ventures. 

Rise is one of a growing number of companies making self-contained indoor farms designed not for mass production of leafy greens, but for the average person’s home or apartment. The hardware-software system looks like a piece of furniture, requires minimal setup by the user, and is controlled via a smartphone app. In theory, at least, that means you don’t need a degree in agricultural studies or even a good track record with gardening to grow herbs and lettuces for your own personal meals.

That’s where the Rise Gardens app comes into play. When we spoke in January of this year, Rise’s Head of Product and Strategy, Diego Blondet, explained how the app automates tasks in the growing process a farmer would normally do, such as calculating the temperature of the farm, determining nutrition and pH levels, and figuring out when to water. Rise’s app works with a sensor that automates those calculations and notifies users when it’s time to water or feed their plants.

Blondet also said he believes automated indoor farming will make its way into the design of most kitchens at some point in the future. In fact, that’s already happening, with 2020 so far being a year when startups and large appliance-makers alike have unveiled indoor farming devices designed for the average home. Seedo, Verdeat, the Planty Cube, LG, and GE are all on that list. 

As The Spoon’s Publisher Michael Wolf pointed out not long ago, the COVID-19 pandemic could accelerate average folks’ adoption of indoor farming. The recent panic buying spree reminded us that grocery store supplies aren’t infinite, and that there are glaring issues with our current food supply chain. As Mike said:

“As the coronavirus has forced all of us to think more about our food supply, some consumers have gone beyond just buying a little extra food to store away. Now they are thinking about how we could ensure access to food independent of breakdowns in the system.”

Rise Gardens’ founder Hank Adams told TechCrunch that since shelter-in-place orders landed in the U.S., the company has seen a 750 percent increase in sales. 

Heads of lettuce won’t feed a family of four, of course, but according to Adams, Rise looks at itself as more of a supplement to your weekly groceries, rather than a replacement. Which is, frankly, one of the more honest takes on indoor vertical farming, an industry that’s often been praised as being the future of agriculture but still can’t grow a root vegetable. 

Since leafy greens are difficult to ship because of their delicate nature, they’re an obvious area for vertical farming to target. Few at-home systems currently allow for the volume of greens the average family, or even the average person, would need in a given week. Since Rise’s system is a little bigger as well as modular (you can add shelves to it over time), it could provide a good blueprint for what at-home vertical farms should look like when they start to become the norm in kitchen design.

Rise Gardens Is on a Mission to Make the Smart Farm Part of the Everyman’s Kitchen

One question we’ve asked for a while here at The Spoon is whether vertical farms will eventually make their way into the average consumer’s home. Versions of these farms self-contained, temperature controlled smart gardens have existed for years now, but they’ve historically gotten the most adoption among startups and independent food producers selling to local retailers.

Of late, however, a number of companies have come to market with indoor-farming devices built not for industrial-grade production but for the average person’s home or apartment. Among them is Rise Gardens, a Chicago-based startup that makes an indoor farming system that looks like a piece of furniture, takes minutes to set up, and can be controlled remotely with a smartphone app.

Rise’s product, among others, is a far cry from some of the at-home farming concepts appliance-makers like GE and LG showed off at CES this year as they unveiled fridge-sized products meant to be built right into the kitchen cabinetry. But it does the same job, and, arguably, in a cheaper, more user-friendly way.

The Chicago-based Rise has been hard at work for the last couple of years making prototypes of its indoor farming device, a standalone console that can grow greens year-round and is small enough to function as another piece of furniture inside someone’s house. The company started selling its product to the U.S. and Canada markets in August of 2019.

Like other consumer-grade hydroponic farms, Rise Gardens’ device is a self-contained system that grows leafy greens in a temperature-controlled environment, with much of the work automated by technology. “If you just use our device without the app, it might still be four or five hours [of work] per week. That’s why we created the app,” says Blondet. “What the app is doing is automating things on the back end that a farmer would do.”

That includes calculating temperature, nutrition and pH levels, as well as determining when and how much to water the plants. Were a user to do this manually, Blondet says, they would need to perform some relatively complicated mathematics to get this kind of information. Rise Gardens’ app works with a sensor (“kind of like a Fitbit but for plants”) to automate such calculations, so that a user simply gets notified when it’s time to re-up the water or nutrient supply, or harvest the plants.

Rise Gardens’ farms are also modular in that they can be added to over time if a user wants more space to grow greens. The console itself, where the farm lives, resembles a standalone cabinet and is assembled by the user. A single-level farm (see below) is roughly the size of an entry-way table and comes with 12 plant pods. Users who want to grow more plants over time can add second and third levels, so that the largest system resembles a bookshelf.


Blondet notes that one of Rise Gardens’ goals in coming up with the product design was to have it fit inside a consumer’s home as easily as most other appliances. In other words, it’s just another piece of furniture, albeit a highly functional one. “We didn’t want to disrupt the home, we want to fit in it,” he says. He adds that an earlier version of the Rise Gardens farm more resembled a refrigerator. As LG showed us at CES this month, fridge-like designs are coming. But not yet. “Right now, no one is going to remodel their kitchen to fit this,” Blondet says of the fridge-style size and design. Rise chose its current design in part to appeal to consumers who would like to keep their greens hyper-local but can’t or won’t remodel a home just to do so.

Rise is one of many companies taking this approach, which seems to be fast becoming a good middle ground between a built-in appliance and a bag of lettuce from the grocery store. Aspara, n.thing’s Planty Cube, Seedo, Verdeat . . . the list goes on, and it’s getting lengthier each month. Another appliance-maker, Miele, is also getting involved in the space, having acquired German startup Agrilution and its wine-fridge-sized Plantcube product in 2019.

As more consumers get familiar with the concept, Blondet suggests a future in which these kinds of systems are ubiquitous, where seed packs can be bought at a grocery retailer like Whole Foods (right now they have to be special ordered), and every kitchen will be designed to accommodate some type of indoor farm. 

By way of example, he mentions the dishwasher. “Forty years ago, no one had a dishwasher. And then slowly but surely the dishwasher made its way into people’s lives,” he says. “I think [indoor farming] is the type of thing that will slowly but surely make its way into the design of the kitchen.”

Are In-Home Vertical Farms the Next Big Appliance for Connected Kitchens?

A little less than a year ago, The Spoon looked at a number of hydroponic farming devices that could fit into the average person’s apartment. These were for the most part table-top models or units that could hang on a wall. At the time, the concept of having a grow system in your own home seemed more than a little novel.

Fast forward to now and things have changed. Putting an indoor vertical farm in the average consumer’s home isn’t yet a mainstream concept, but as more startups and major appliance-makers alike have shown over the last 12 months, the idea is making its way into the Everyman’s kitchen with more speed these days. Now, thanks to a bunch of concepts shown off at this year’s CES, suddenly the idea of having a smart farm in your kitchen doesn’t seem so novel.

Whether you’re contemplating your own home grow system or just curious, here’s a look at what’s available and what’s in the pipeline.

Aspara

If you’re like me, you have minimal space (almost none, really) in the home for adding much in the way of smart farming systems. Aspara’s hydroponic growing device could potentially solve that problem because it’s small — 14 inches high and 21 inches wide — and could reasonably fit on a countertop, shelf, or even on top of the refrigerator. The system uses a combination of LEDs, an auto-watering feature, and sensors that detect nutrient levels, humidity and air, and other factors to create the optimal grow “recipe” for the plants. 

After a user does the initial planting of the seeds, the Aspara app manages most of the grow process, notifying the user when it’s time to refill the water tank and harvest the plants. It also includes tips and recipes for growing and lets you monitor multiple Aspara farms at the same time.

The device is currently available in Hong Kong, the United Kingdom, Canada, and the U.S. through online retailers. For U.S. buyers, the device currently goes for $259.99 on Amazon for just the machine and $339.99 with a starter seed kit included.

Rise Gardens

Chicago, IL startup Rise Gardens is one of those companies aiming to make a truly “plug in and go” indoor vertical farming system for the home. This one is a standalone console that can be purchased with one, two, or three “levels” for plants and weighs between 60 and 106 pounds depending on the size.

A user assembles the garden — much as you would a piece of furniture from IKEA, from the looks of it — then downloads the app, which controls the lighting and nutrients schedule and reminds the user when it’s time to water the plants. Each garden comes with a starter pack of 12 plant pods that can be inserted directly into the grow trays. 

Price ranges from $549 for a single-level console to $949 for a triple. 

Agrilution’s Plantcube

Not to be confused with Plantycube (see below), the Plantcube made headlines at the end of 2019 when its maker, a German company called Agrilution, was acquired by appliance-maker Miele. Less device than full-on kitchen appliance, the Plantcube automates temperature, light, climate, and water levels of the indoor vertical farm, and can be controlled from within the Agrilution app. 

The appliance looks like a wine cooler and is about the same size. However, unlike a wine cooler or any of the systems listed above, the Plantcube is meant to be built directly into your kitchen cupboards or beneath a countertop. That would perhaps explain the price point: €2,979 (~$3,300 USD), a figure most consumers wouldn’t spend on an indoor farm right now. Even for those who would, the device is currently only available to those in Germany, Austria, Belgium, Luxemburg or the Netherlands.

Even so, the concept Plantcube pushes is one to watch. It’s entirely possible that appliances like these eventually become as common in the home kitchen as microwaves. The price point would have to come way down for that to become a reality, which is one reason we’re watching Plantcube closely in the future.

GE Home Grow

As The Spoon’s Mike Wolf wrote recently, CES 2020’s standout in the consumer kitchen was GE because, “rather than create product demos designed as show-off vehicles for new technologies, GE illustrated how these technologies could be employed in a cohesive, systematic way to provide consumers answers to some of their biggest problems.”

Among those technologies was Home Grown, GE’s indoor gardening concept that uses a combination of hydroponics, aeroponics, and soil-based grow systems that are built directly into the kitchen design. For each of the three systems, water, nutrient, and light delivery are controlled through an app, which also guides the user through the seeding and harvesting stages of the grow process. 

The system also offers consumers information on the health benefits of each plant as well as how to prepare herbs and greens in meals once they are harvested. 

Home Grow is purely conceptual at this stage, so there’s no price point on these systems. Like the Plantcube, however, GE is thinking bigger than the just-another-appliance concept and imagining a system that can encourage healthier eating, reduce food waste, and increase consumer education around the foods they’re eating.

Honorable Mentions

We’ve covered these in-depth already, but LG and Plantycube are also at the forefront of bringing vertical farming technology into the consumer kitchen. Both showed off products at CES this year.

LG’s forthcoming appliance is the size of a fridge and, as I wrote recently, “takes many of the functions found in commercial-scale indoor farming and applies them to a device specifically made for the average consumer.”

N.thing’s Planty Cube, meanwhile, is a highly modular indoor farming system that can be small enough to fit on a countertop or large enough to serve cafeterias at schools, offices, and other institutions.

Since things are never as simple as they seem, there are obviously still a lot of questions around these “plug-in-and-grow” systems. Will they raise consumers’ utility bill significantly? What happens if they break? Are they worth the cost if they can only grow leafy greens and not more substantial veggies, like carrots or broccoli? 

Many more questions will sprout up as companies introduce new systems to the consumer market, and it’s ok that those questions won’t get answered immediately. The more important point here is that entrepreneurs and corporations both are testing new ways to make food cleaner, more local, and more in the consumer’s control. Right now, we need concepts as compact as an Aspera and as conceptual as GE’s Home Grown right now to help get us there.