Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: Indoor Farming Startup BoomGrow Secures Pre-Series A Funding
BoomGrow turns repurposed shipping containers into 'machine farms' to grow pesticide-free vegetables with a reduced carbon footprint
2 Oct, 2023
Gobi Partners has made an undisclosed investment in agritech startup BoomGrow’s as part its pre-Series A funding round.
The investment has been made through the Khazanah Nasional Berhad-backed Gobi Dana Impak Ventures (GDIV) fund.
With this latest funding round, BoomGrow aims to expand operations across Southeast Asia.
Founded by Murali Krishnamurthy, Jay Desan and Shan Palani in 2015, BoomGrow aims to bring healthy, nutritious food within reach by focusing on densely populated urban areas where traditional farming is scarce and affected by long supply chains.
The startup has turned repurposed shipping containers into what it calls ‘machine farms,’ where they can be located in situ, growing pesticide-free vegetables with a significantly reduced carbon footprint
A key feature of the machine farm is the ability to grow close to consumers as well as serve remote areas. Compared to traditional outdoor farms, these farms use 95 per cent less land, water and labour. This capability is pivotal in areas with limited access to fresh, clean and traceable produce.
BoomGrow also offers Farm OS, a remote management platform that integrates hardware and software. It uses machine vision and machine learning to optimise operations and performance across all farms based on data.
Currently, BoomGrow can produce a wide range of leafy greens, microgreens, and herbs. It also plans to expand into a wider range of produce like fruiting and vine crops.
The company mainly supplies hotels, restaurants and grocers and offers additional subscription packages for direct-to-home delivery through their website.
CEO Krishnamurthy said: “BoomGrow is enabling access to better-quality fresh food by focusing on our ESG principles. Our commercial-scale solutions are backed by a data-driven approach which is key to resilience and agile decision-making. Ultimately, we are unlocking the future of food whilst having a transformative impact on the environment and our communities.”
BoomGrow operates Machine Farms in Malaysia and is in the process of expanding. It recently expanded into Manila, the Philippines.
The startup’s initial grant came from SME Corp, US-based Big Sky Capital, and angels.
Lead photo: BoomGrow Co-Founders