This interview details Sapling, an indoor farming technology company based in the UK. The interview is with Manish Patel, Managing Director at Sapling Automation Ltd.
Sapling emerged from a simple idea: revolutionize vertical farming by making it fully autonomous. Myself and my co-founder Adriano founded Sapling in Manchester in response to the flaws in existing vertical farming operations and technology. We built our first prototype in my university room and successfully grew microgreens. I was doing a PhD and would come home from the lab and Adrian and I would spend the evening designing and building.
Despite initial setbacks due to COVID, we regrouped in London in 2023 and secured pre-seed funding to develop a prototype with advanced features such as automated aeroponics, spectrum-controlled lighting, and a fully scalable IoT network to control robotics. Now, we're poised to scale up and revolutionize vertical farming.
Our primary challenge is securing funding to realize our vision. While fundraising for deep-tech startups can be challenging, we're confident in our solution. Additionally, recent closures in the vertical farming industry underscore the need for innovation, positioning us as the solution to high costs and inefficiencies.
Sapling stands out for our ambition to create a fully autonomous vertical farming platform. Unlike competitors, our system requires minimal user intervention and is significantly lower in cost due to our in-house design and manufacturing. This ensures not only affordability but a greater degree of scalability.
With a lean team of two, we've already developed a prototype capable of producing 140kg of produce per year per square meter at an astonishingly low cost. This yield is also just for one level so if we had multiple units stacked on top of each other (which is the whole point) then we can get 720kg of produce per year per square meter for a typical warehouse! This achievement demonstrates our potential to scale and deliver on our promise of affordable, sustainable farming solutions.
Our immediate goal for 2024 is to secure seed funding to further develop our fully autonomous farm and begin supplying local establishments with microgreens and herbs. Looking ahead, we aim to expand our offering to include a variety of fruits and vegetables, empowering individuals to grow their own fresh produce sustainably.
You can contact me on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/manish-patel-11a486149/ or visit our website at https://www.sapling.farm/.
Manish Patel
Managing Director at Sapling Automation Ltd
manish.patel@sapling.farm
+44 781 630 1436
This interview details GrowDirector, an indoor farming technology company based in Israel. The interview is with Dima Chernobylski, CEO and Co-Founder of GrowDirector. To learn more about GrowDirector and other indoor farming companies, click on this link!
View Full InterviewThis interview details Pure Greens Container Farms, an indoor farming company based in the United States. The interview is with Taisiya Jacobson, President & Co-Founder of Pure Greens Container Farms. To learn more about Pure Greens and other indoor farming companies, click on this link!
View Full InterviewThis interview details Bloemteknik, an indoor farming technology company based in the UK. The interview is with James Fleet, Co-Founder & CEO of Bloemteknik. To learn more about Bloemteknik and other indoor farming companies, click on this link!
View Full InterviewThis interview details Farmitank, a company based in Spain. The interview is with Cristian Nieves, R&D Department at Farmitank. To learn more about Farmitank and other indoor farming companies, click on this link!
View Full InterviewThis interview details JHS Group, a company based in the United States. The interview is with Janet Tso-Shushan, CEO of JHS Group. To learn more about JHS Group and other indoor farming companies, click on this link!
View Full InterviewThis interview details Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke), a research organization based in Finland. The interview is with Saila Karhu, Research Professor at Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke). To learn more about Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke) and other indoor farming companies, click on this link!
View Full InterviewThis interview details The indoor growing pods at Canadore College, an indoor farming company based in Canada. The interview is with Angela Proudfoot, Project Administrator Sustainable Food & Clean Water at Canadore College.
View Full InterviewThis interview details NIAB, a crop science organization based in the UK. The interview is with Ros Lloyd, Head of Communications at NIAB. To learn more about NIAB and other indoor farming companies, click on this link!
View Full InterviewThis interview details Ecocool GmbH, a packaging solutions provider based in Germany. The interview is with Florian Siedenburg, General Manager of Ecocool GmbH. To learn more about Ecocool GmbH and other indoor farming companies, click on this link!
View Full InterviewThis interview details Autonomous Greenhouse, an indoor farming technology company based in the Netherlands. The interview is with Silke Hemming, Head Scientific Research Team Greenhouse Technology at Wageningen University & Research. To learn more about Autonomous Greenhouse and other indoor farming companies, click on this link!
View Full Interview