Join us at Foresight for a virtual road trip across Canada in our annual series Cleantech Coast to Coast. From the nation’s largest urban centres, to remote pockets of innovation, we’ll celebrate Canada’s inspiring innovators at every stop.
Buckle up, and come along with us as we visit some of the change-makers and cleantech leaders who are deploying impactful climate solutions, and moving the needle toward net zero. Our next stop: Montreal, Quebec.
Traditional agricultural practices often involve clearing vast amounts of land to make way for crop fields, and using pesticides along with GMO’s to maximize their food production. Globally, agriculture accounts for roughly 70 per cent of all freshwater withdrawals; a practice that is becoming increasingly unsustainable. Thankfully, Vizva AgroTech has found a way to cut agricultural water consumption by over 95 per cent.
Vizva is working to convert traditional greenhouses into vending machines through utilizing robotics and the Internet of Things — a method that allows physical objects embedded with sensors to communicate with other objects to exchange data. Their new system uses hydroponic greenhouses, which replaces traditional soil with a water-based nutrient solution, allowing the greenhouses to run vertically. Their method involves automating these vertical hydroponic greenhouses from seed all the way to harvest and packaging, eventually providing fresh produce to the customer on demand.
“I was looking at the economics of greenhouse projects. I observed that labor was the biggest operational expense and this is magnified as the projects get smaller,” founder Arjunan Kumar said about what inspired him to start Vizva AgroTech. “As I was designing a hydroponics Greenhouse, I saw the opportunity to make smaller projects viable with the automation system.”
A graduate of Foresight’s Accelerate from Anywhere program, Kumar and the rest of the team at Vizva are working hard to eliminate food deserts. “The accelerator program was a very useful guide to help me understand my market and specifically the customer. It is a great guide with highly effective mentors,” said Kumar.
Through mentorship, education, industry and investor connections, and networking events, our acceleration programs help Canadian cleantech ventures get to market and scale faster.
Ready to accelerate your venture? Apply to Accelerate from Anywhere, or contact us to learn more.
Accelerate from Anywhere is made possible with the generous support of the RBC Foundation, Peter Gilgan Foundation, and Bullfrog Power.
