iFarm's Urban Greenhouses Deliver Organic Revolution
IFarm continues to carve out more real estate in the agtech space following an investment from Gagarin Capital. The technology will allow automated vegetable production in cities.
The project has raised $1 million to develops modular automated farms. iFarm makes it possible to produce natural vegetables, salads, and berries year-round.
VC fund Gagarin Capital is the project’s leading investor. JSergey Ryzhikov, CEO of 1C-Bitrix, Russian Association of Franchising board member Sergey Ambrosov, Atlas clinics co-founder Artem Rudi, and the Uniscan Research company made investments as well.
The purpose is to develop an innovative technology to grow produce in a fully controlled automated environment. Farmers will be able to harvest natural salads, berries and vegetables the entire year, including off-seasons.
MEET THE LEAD INVESTOR
Venture capital firm Gagarin Capital Partners (GCP) invests in AI-based products and services. The firm has 20 years of experience in VC, PE, and M&A to facilitate portfolio companies in wide spectrum of vital activities.
Gagarin uses a hands-on approach in its ventures from corporate governance to mastering new markets. GCP is known for building and supporting a strong community of AI experts and top-in-class engineers. The firm’s exits include Facebook’s MSQRD and Google’s AIMatter.
ABOUT IFARM
iFarm was founded by entrepreneurs Alexander Lystovsky, Maxim Chizhov, and Konstantin Ulyanov in June 2017. Their goal is to create a single engineering platform for food cultivation. The company launched its first urban greenhouses and vertical farms in the same year.
iFarm creates a technology where it is possible to plant vertical farms on year-round greenhouses. Urban crop production is now possible thanks to easy-to-use plug-and-play modules.
The company has formed a team of over 30 professionals by the end of 2018. Experts in agriculture, IT, engineering and sales teamed up to build five greenhouses and vertical farms. The team then opened its own shop, and set up partnerships with restaurants and food retail.
Founder and CEO Alexander Lyskovsky said that “the investments from this round will be used to develop technology and expand our team, including our engineering, construction and agro projects teams.”
Lyskovsky came up with the idea after living in Paris for a month. “One day I started to ask sellers about the delivery system of these products to the city, I was interested in how it works. As it turned out, the customers regulate it themselves,” he said.
iFarm plans to enter the international market in 2019. They also plan to add further development of iFarm technology if funding will allow. Lyskovsky looks to pilot the technology on the European market as well.
HOW IFARM WORKS
Indoor farming makes production convenient. Empty warehouses, workshops, basements, roofs of buildings etc. can accommodate farming units.
Each farm is connected to a cloud-based management system. The system sets growing conditions as well as a unified network of sales distribution. Crops are all treated organically without the use of pesticides or preserving chemicals.
iFarm assures fresh produce as crops are delivered to sales outlets within an hour of harvest.
WHY IFARM?
Companies do not need to study agriculture to go into farming. All they have to do is take modules on seeds, fertilizers, and electronics. Plantations will then be optimized for an urban environment. The process also requires less electricity, water, and fertilizer.
Small and medium enterprises can now download growing recipes from a centralized database. Enterprises can grow foods as easy as a press of a button.