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USA: VIRGINIA - Maker of Hydroponic Farming Systems Gets $1 Million Grant, Relocates Headquarters To Scott's Addition

John Reid Blackwell

June 24, 2021

A startup company that makes indoor, hydroponic farming systems has opened its new headquarters and production site in the Scott’s Addition area of Richmond.

The opening of the Babylon Micro-Farms Inc. office comes after the company received a $1 million grant from the National Science Foundation with the potential for $750,000 in follow-on funding to continue development of BabylonIQ, its technology platform designed to operate decentralized, automated micro-farms.

The grant will help the company move further into commercialization. The company had been awarded a $225,000 Phase 1 grant in 2019 to conduct scientific trials of its technology.

Babylon Micro-Farms also completed a $3 million investment round in the first quarter of this year. Investors include Virginia’s Center for Innovative Technology, Hull Street Capital, Venture South, and the CAV Angels Group.

The capital raised “helped us move here [to Richmond] and build our team,” Alexander Oleson, the company’s CEO who co-founded the business with Graham Smith, said Thursday as Babylon Micro-Farms hosted an open house at the headquarters.

“A lot of it is about switching from an R&D organization to a sales organization,” Oleson said. “We have a backlog of orders to fill.”

Babylon Micro-Farms was founded in Charlottesville in 2017 by Oleson and Smith, who were University of Virginia students. The company announced plans to move its headquarters to Richmond earlier this year.

The company now has more than 30 employees working in a renovated 7,700-square-foot building on Carlton Street. The facility serves as the company’s main office as well as a research and development site for its indoor farming units designed to grow more than 40 different types of leafy greens, herbs and flowers.

From the Scott’s Addition site, the company staff also can remotely monitor the functioning of more than 40 of its indoor farming units that have been installed at customer sites including retirement communities, universities, and corporate cafeterias.

Several of the company’s 8-foot-tall, climate-controlled farming units stand in the main lobby of the headquarters, growing plants such as basil, kale, lettuce, and bok choy.

In a research area of the building, Babylon Micro-Farms is testing growing other produce such as strawberries and peppers in its hydroponic systems.

“Our hope is to be in hundreds of locations by the end of next year, mostly in Virginia, but really casting our footprint nationally,” Oleson said.

Photos: John Reid Blackwell

  1. Karen Sizer, an account manager for Babylon Micro-Farms Inc., spoke with visitors on Thursday about the company’s hydroponic, indoor farming systems. The company, founded in Charlottesville in 2017, hosted an open house at its new headquarters in Scott’s Addition.

  2. Alexander Oleson, co-founder, and CEO of Babylon Micro-Farms stands by one of the company’s 8-foot-tall, climate-controlled hydroponic farming units.

  3. Babylon Micro-Farms Inc., a maker of indoor farming systems, has its headquarters and research facility on Carlton Street in the Scott’s Addition area of Richmond

jblackwell@timesdispatch.com

(804) 775-8123