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CombaGroup SA, A World Leader In Automated Mobile Aeroponics, Commits to Rigorous Standards of Social and Environmental Performance, Accountability, and Transparency
CombaGroup joins the rapidly growing movement of more than 3,500 B CorpsTM from 150 industries, across 74 countries including companies like Patagonia, Alpro, Alessi, Etsy, Innocent, Too Good To Go, Opaline, and Ben & Jerry’s
Molodin, Switzerland – 17 September 2020 CombaGroup SA today announced that it has officially become a Certified B Corporation®, utilizing the power of business to address society’s greatest social and environmental challenges.
CombaGroup joins the rapidly growing movement of more than 3,500 B CorpsTM from 150 industries, across 74 countries including companies like Patagonia, Alpro, Alessi, Etsy, Innocent, Too Good To Go, Opaline, and Ben & Jerry’s.
CombaGroup has been certified by B Lab as having met the rigorous standards for B Corp Certification that represent its commitment to achieving goals beyond shareholder profit. These include verified social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability to balance profit and purpose. B Corps are accelerating a global culture shift to redesign success in business and build a more inclusive and sustainable economy.
B Corp certification covers five key impact areas: governance, workers, community, environment, and customers. The certification process is rigorous, requiring a score above 80 and providing evidence of socially and environmentally responsible practices, including energy supply, waste and water use, workers' compensation, diversity, and corporate transparency. To complete certification, the company will legally embed their commitment to a purpose beyond profit in their company articles.
The recent focus on the agro-technology industry has made CombaGroup’s B Corp Certification a milestone and underlines a shift towards greater responsibility and transparency in the sector.
"B Lab is delighted to welcome CombaGroup to the B Corp community,” said Jonathan Normand, Director of B Lab Switzerland. “CombaGroup has been a pioneer in the field of mobile aeroponic growing solutions. CombaGroup has also been acknowledged as one of Solar Impulse’s 1000 Efficient Solutions for its ability to grow crops with minimal environmental impact for maximum profitability. I look forward to seeing CombaGroup inspire other companies to join the B Corp community and use business as a force for good.”
Serge Gander, CEO of CombaGroup stated: “We are proud to be part of the B Corp community with aligned values and ways to change the world through conscious business decisions. By certifying as a B Corp, we have met the highest levels of verified social and environmental performance, transparency and accountability.
“This certification reconfirms our commitment to use our unique automated high-performance culture systems to bring efficiency, consistency, and profitability in the food supply chain with the least possible resources and minimum environmental impact.”
About B Lab
B Lab is a non-profit organization that serves as part of a global movement to redefine the notion of success in business so that one day all companies compete not only to be the best in the world, but also the best for the world.
Located on five continents, B Lab advocates for systemic change by providing a standard and tools to create a community of B Corporation certified companies.
About B Lab Switzerland
B Lab Switzerland is the Swiss branch of a global non-profit organization that supports a community of people using business as a force for good.
About CombaGroup
CombaGroup is a Swiss agro-technology company that provides farmers and industrialists with innovative mobile aeroponic farming solutions for growing fresh, environmentally- friendly, nutrient-rich vegetables.
CombaGroup’s patented technology significantly reduces water consumption and contamination risks while offering maximum productivity per square meter and minimizing environmental impact. Mechanized irrigation and spacing systems produce clean, quality, pesticide-free salads, cabbages, and aromatic plants all year round, thus providing consumers with healthy, responsible products.
For more information
contact@combagroup.com +41 21 545 99 25 www.combagroup.com
Media information online
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For the latest updates on CombaGroup, visit combagroup.com or follow on Instagram @combagroup_sa, Twitter @SmartLettuce, Pinterest, and LinkedIn
Plantlab Uses €20 Million Investment To Open New Vertical Farms In The Netherlands, The U.S. And The Bahamas
"On a surface area the size of only two football fields, it is now possible to produce enough crops to feed a city of 100,000 residents with 200 g of vegetables each on a daily basis"
25 July 2020
Dutch scale-up PlantLab has raised a first external investment of € 20 million from De Hoge Dennen Capital. The company has developed a globally patented technology for ‘vertical farming’, an efficient method for growing vegetables and fruits. It will use the injection of capital to open indoor production sites in various countries, including the Netherlands, the US, and the Bahamas.
Over the last 10 years, PlantLab has succeeded in developing innovative and revolutionary technology for efficient urban farming, which is already being applied in a commercial production site in Amsterdam. The new technology enables growing vegetables on a large scale very close to the consumer, without using any chemical crop protection agents. On a surface area the size of only two football fields, it is now possible to produce enough crops to feed a city of 100,000 residents with 200 g of vegetables each on a daily basis, the company claims.
“This injection of capital will enable us to open up additional production sites and further perfect our technology”, explains Plantlab CEO Michiel Peters. “The increasing population of the planet and the climate crisis are posing new and enormous challenges to the production of food for the world’s population. We have no choice but to grow our food more sustainably and efficiently, and that demands innovative and revolutionary solutions.”
PlantLab’s production sites can be set up anywhere in the world, even on barren land or urban areas. Due to optimized temperature, moisture, and light control, the crops grow to their full potential, while water use is reduced by as much as 95%, Peters says. Light is provided by specially developed LEDs that provide the specific wavelength needed by the plant for photosynthesis.
New CEO, new CFO
De Hoge Dennen is part of the investment company founded by the De Rijcke family, the former owners of Kruidvat. The company has made previous investments in the online supermarket Picnic, the salad producer De Menken Keuken, and the electric bicycle brand QWIC. CFO Jelle Roodbeen says he wants to help PlantLab make a real difference on a global level. “It will make healthy and delicious vegetables affordable and accessible to everyone, in an environmentally friendly and sustainable fashion.”
In addition to the injection of capital by De Hoge Dennen, Frank Roerink and Michiel Peters are joining the scale-up company as its new CFO and CEO, to strengthen the management team. PlantLab has its vertical farming R&D center in Den Bosch and a commercial production site in Amsterdam. PlantLab employs over 60 people.
PlantLab
PlantLab specializes in technology for innovative urban farming and aims to supply the planet with a sustainable source of food for the future. The company was founded in 2010 in Den Bosch with the goal of revolutionizing the production of food for our planet. Over the last 10 years, the company has already invested € 50 million in the development of technology. The goal is to grow healthy, day fresh vegetables close to the consumer anywhere in the world without the use of chemical crop agents, while at the same time reducing water consumption to an absolute minimum.
More on Plantlab at Brabant Brandbox
Lead Photo: © Plantlab
Valoya Announces Its Spectrum Technology Licensing Program
Valoya’s extensive patent portfolio in the field of horticultural LED lighting is a result of significant innovation and investments into R&D over the past 11 years
Valoya, the research-driven LED grow light manufacturer has today announced a licensing program making their patented technology available to LED manufacturers and horticultural LED fixture providers.
Valoya’s extensive patent portfolio in the field of horticultural LED lighting is a result of significant innovation and investments into R&D over the past 11 years. The patents are in the field of light spectra for plant cultivation and lighting applications. At the moment, the portfolio consists of over 100 patents, all of which can be reviewed at valoya.com/patents.
'We have always been curious about the possibilities of light and how its potential could be pushed further to make cultivation of crops we use for food or medicine production more efficient. When we started in 2009, LED meant piercing purple light produced by red and blue chips. We were the first to apply wide spectrum LED light to plants in our experiments and to introduce wide spectrum light to the market. We are now in a business phase where we can extend this intellectual property and know-how to other companies wishing to produce premium quality horticultural LED luminaires through our licensing program' comments Lars Aikala, the CEO and Co-Founder of Valoya.
The research and development at Valoya does not stop. ‘After having conducted over 600 plant trials on over 300 plant varieties/species, we have an understanding of plant response to light, unmatched by other LED companies in the market. The focus remains on advancing horticulture through developing even better spectra and helping our customers grow. We are happy we get to share this expertise with other companies now’, comments Nemanja Rodic, Marketing Director of Valoya.
To learn more about Valoya's patent licensing program,
please click here.
About Valoya
Valoya is a provider of high end, energy-efficient LED grow lights for use in crop science, vertical farming, and medicinal plants cultivation. Valoya LED grow lights have been developed using Valoya's proprietary LED technology and extensive plant photobiology research. Valoya's customer base includes numerous vertical farms, greenhouses, and research institutions all over the world (including 8 out of 10 world’s largest agricultural companies).
Additional information:f
Valoya Oy, Finland
Tel: +358 10 2350300
Email: sales@valoya.com
Web: www.valoya.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/valoyafi/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/valoya