Land Betterment, a Certified B Corp. focused on innovative environmental solutions is pleased to announce that ekō Solutions' commercial partner, anu™ (Heliponix LLC), an ag-tech innovator, has been awarded a $175,000 Phase I Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA). The company is potentially eligible for a $600,000 Phase II SBIR from USDA NIFA. ekō Solutions is a Land Betterment portfolio company.

Purdue University alumni Scott Massey and Ivan Ball co-founded anu, which has received financial support from the Purdue Research Foundation.

The total healthcare spend relating to poor diet is quickly approaching $4 trillion annually according to the American Heart Association. This doesn't even include lost worker productivity.  One of the key contributing factors to that is access to healthy foods. Scott Massey, founder and CEO of Anu, is an entrepreneur that unites the power of technology and health to bring a new category of innovation to agbioscience. He joins us to talk the access gap to nutrition in our country and Anu’s approach to nutrition – right at the point of consumption. 

We're excited to share more about the latest harvest from our Pure Produce® Container Farms, grown in collaboration with anu™ (previously gropod)™. This time, we've cultivated a beautiful variety of greens, herbs, and leafy vegetables, including:
Mustard Leaf
Mizuna
Dill
Cilantro
Listka Lettuce (Red Leaf Lettuce)
Divisor Lettuce (Green Oak Leaf Lettuce)
Red Russian Kale

Each of these crops was grown using Rotary Aeroponics® technology inside ekō Solutions' up-cycled shipping containers, allowing us to produce fresh, zero-waste, sustainable food even in challenging environments.

Anu™, a health and wellness brand developing innovative controlled-environment agriculture systems, won first place and $20,000 among 10 small businesses at the national SCORE 60th Anniversary Pitch Competition in Des Moines, Iowa. SCORE, or Service Corps of Retired Executives, is a resource partner of the U.S. Small Business Administration.

Purdue University alumni Scott Massey and Ivan Ball founded anu. The company has received financial support from the Purdue Research Foundation.

“This funding will support sales and the rapid growth of our intellectual property portfolio, focusing on AI computer vision control systems that optimize yield and energy efficiency in our cultivation containers,” said Massey, who acts as CEO.

Forty days from planting to harvest

Land Betterment's portfolio company, ekō Solutions, is excited to announce that the first harvest from the Pure Produce® Container Farms is ready. These farms are a collaborative creation between anu™ and ekō Solutions, bringing sustainable, year-round fresh produce to communities.

Much of the first harvest was used for internal composition analysis, with the remainder being donated to a local Indiana church, university, and urban community garden project, supporting local food initiatives.

Land Betterment's portfolio company, ekō Solutions, and anu™ were recently featured on Middle Tech's weekly podcast with Co-Host, Logan Jones. During this fascinating conversation about innovative agricultural technology, Kirk Taylor, Land Betterment Co-Founder and Scott Massey, anu™ Co-Founder discussed how their jointly developed commercial-scale Pure Produce® Container Farms are revolutionizing how and where fresh produce is grown.

Innovative Partnership: Land Betterment and anu™ have announced a partnership to commercialize autonomous fresh produce growing systems using up-cycled shipping containers. Technology Integration: The collaboration combines ekō Solutions’ modular construction expertise with anu™’s Rotary Aeroponics® technology.