Fresh herbs and greens often depend on long supply chains, pesticide use, large water inputs, and plastic-heavy packaging.
R&D Focus
Vertical and hybrid farming; closed-loop hydroponics; renewable-energy cultivation; farm automation.
Innovative Solution
Groots combines vertical farming, greenhouses, and field cultivation. Its vertical system recirculates water and nutrients, uses sensors and full-spectrum LEDs, and has automated planting, transplanting, harvesting, and cleaning processes.
Solution Effectiveness
Groots reports about 95% lower water use in vertical cultivation and an 84% reduction in plastic for its FSC tray. A 2022 R&D account said the company had worked with more than 400,000 plants; these figures are company-reported.
Investment Funding
Last Funding Stage
Seed
Total Funding Amount
$2.32M
Last Funding Amount
$1.6M
Last Funding Date
10-04-2023
Startup Stage
Early Stage
Lead Investors
Tech Transfer Agrifood, EIT Food, Clave Capital
People
Founders
Alessandro Calcagno
Carlos Chereguini
Joaquim Bas
CEO
Joaquim Bas
About
Groots sells aromatic herbs through a replica of vertical cultivation inside the supermarkets
Products
Product
Fresh aromatic herbs, leafy-green mixes, and pesto, including products in lower-plastic FSC packaging. Independent consumer reviews were not located.
Star Product
Fresh aromatic herbs and greens – the largest and most visible part of the retail portfolio and the main use of its vertical-farming technology.
Demo Product or Complete Product?
Complete commercial product. Groots stated that it launched four formats and 25 references in 2022 and currently sells herbs, greens/mesclun, and pesto.
Future Plan
Market Expansion
Groots previously announced plans to increase capacity, enter more retail chains, and begin exports through ICEX Next. No newer country-by-country roadmap was located.
Investment Funding
Groots described a mix of bootstrapping, state loans/grants, and seed investors. No future funding round was publicly announced.
Awards and Recognitions
Participations
ICEX Next export-initiation program with European Regional Development Fund support.
M&A and Collabs
Collab
ICEX Next / FEDER – export-initiation and internationalization support disclosed on the company website.
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