AGEYE

This interview details AGEYE an indoor farming technology provider based in the United States. The interview is with Nick Genty, CEO of AGEYE.

Source: AGEYE

What is the origin story of AGEYE?

This is the second company that my co-founder and I have started. Our previous venture, established in 2008, was focused on developing IoT and AI solutions. As technology advanced in 2013 and 2014, we increasingly immersed ourselves in the realms of IoT and computer vision technologies.

We are based in Raleigh, North Carolina, which is known for its thriving pharmaceutical and medical device industry. We had the opportunity to collaborate on several medical device projects focused on utilizing natural mechanisms, such as different wavelengths of light and other factors, to enhance biological growth. It was truly an eye-opening experience, realizing the immense power and potential of these methods in delivering positive outcomes without heavy reliance on traditional pharmaceutical approaches.

Source: AGEYE

We started looking for other applications for our technology and saw a big opportunity in agriculture, specifically indoor agriculture. We launched the company in 2018 and started working on early prototypes of our platform. The pandemic allowed us to focus on quickly iterating our product development, which we could quickly test in our internal vertical R&D farm.

Source: AGEYE

There are numerous challenges associated with indoor farming. How does that affect your business and what are your personal opinions on it?

The recent headlines highlighting the challenges of indoor farming, especially with prominent farms having to make drastic cuts, have definitely impacted the willingness of investors to continue deploying capital. I believe that we’re seeing the outcome of companies that raised an excessive amount of money at unrealistically high valuations - trying to scale too quickly without first showing success at a smaller scale. It was bound to happen, given the circumstances.

Source: AGEYE

We’ve seen this trend in other breakthrough industries, such as solar, electric vehicles, and hydrogen fuel cells. The fact is that truly disruptive innovation is expensive. Early companies in those industries were also able to raise significant capital and ultimately experienced the same high likelihood of failure, with nearly half failing to survive. Many of the well-capitalized indoor farming operations simply tried to do too much internally – with some trying to be both a technology company and an operating farm – and failing to succeed at either. However, we are now witnessing the emergence of a new generation of indoor growers who are completely focused on achieving profitability from day one. 

Source: AGEYE

‍What are the biggest challenges outside of market conditions?

Still being an emerging industry, there is a lack of defined operational best practices. We need benchmarks and agreed-upon standards that growers can rely on to help them reach profitability. Currently, there is a certain level of flexibility, but as the industry progresses, these standards will become more defined. As with any technology, our AI and automation function more effectively when there are replicable processes rather than numerous unique cases. 

Source: AGEYE

What is unique about AGEYE compared to competitors?

We’re entirely focused on providing complete visibility - not just into the health and development of crops - but into the entire business and showing growers the economic impact of their decisions. When we engage with a new grower, we examine the cost of growing each plant as a fundamental economic unit. We assess how our services or value additions impact this cost instead of solely providing crop intelligence, like monitoring plant health, growth, and stress levels. We strive to provide intelligent insights that assist growers in making informed decisions and progressing forward. 

Source: AGEYE

Customers take the hardware that you provide. Is there some sort of recurring investment to get access to the data and the analysis, License? 

We are a complete farm management platform with two main components: Sensors and imaging hardware and a recurring software license. The cost of these components is determined based on the size of the farm. We have designed our system with a services-first approach, which means that any of our technologies can be accessed through a web service or API for seamless integration. This allows farmers to incorporate our system with their existing systems like fertigation and light controls. We gather data from all of these systems and combine it with our own, treating it as supplementary information. Wherever possible, we want to leverage the existing systems a grower already has in place. 

Source: AGEYE

How much are they investing to get the Return on Investment (ROI) eventually with the technology?

Typically, we expect a payback period for the hardware in 6 to 18 months, but it is entirely dependent on the size and complexity of the operation.  For example, integrating into a farm that is using its own racking system will take some customization of our hardware, which impacts the costs. Compare that to a grower using the HYVE automated racking system, who we recently announced a partnership with, allows for a much more standardized installation and cost savings.  

But it’s important to note that the growers we’re working with our seeing significant cost savings and increased operational efficiency in the very first harvest cycle. The ability to show visibility across an entire operation is truly a game changer for these farms.  

Source: AGEYE

What have you learned that you wish you knew when you started the company?

I think it’s natural for any company to make some adjustments to their product strategy as they get further involved in an industry. When we first entered this field, we were thrilled to use our technologies to improve crop growth. As a result, many of our initial patents are focused on enhancing plant development. However, as we spoke to more and more growers, we discovered that there was a greater need to automate basic operational tasks like crop scouting and manual data collection – before any crop improvements via AI could occur. This paved the way for additional sensor and software development to facilitate this. 

Source: AGEYE

It sounds like AGEYE has a large focus on vertical farms – do you also work with other types of indoor growers, like greenhouses? 

Absolutely – our platform is agnostic to the type of facility or types of crops grown.  We have successful greenhouse and shipping container installations, Our goal is to remain flexible and adaptable to any type of indoor environment. 

Source: AGEYE

What are some of the goals for the company in the future?

Our focus is on continued commercialization across North America and beyond, as well as expanding our integration ecosystem with industry partners. It is crucial to establish open standards and systems that facilitate communication among vendors and enables data sharing, avoiding isolated data sets within farms. 

Regardless of the specific type of indoor farming, the key to achieving widespread adoption and commercial viability of controlled environment agriculture lies in promoting greater interoperability among infrastructure systems and vendors. We believe that the success of the industry is dependent on vendors working together. 

Source: AGEYE

How can people connect with you or learn more about AGEYE?

Our Website: https://ageyetech.com 

Email: Hello@AGEYETech.com 

Our Social Profiles:

LinkedIn

Instagram

Facebook

Source: AGEYE

Asia Vertical Farming Companies: The 2023 Report

Download the Free Sample Report

Mark-Horler

"For a target audience that is trying to understand the basics of vertical farming, this is a quality newsletter to subscribe to"

- James Pateras, CEO, Modular Farms Australia

North America Vertical Farming Companies: The 2023 Report

Download The Free Sample Report

Mark-Horler

"The North America Vertical Farming Companies Report 2023 aggregates many sources of public information on many different companies so that you don't have to do the research yourself, it's worth the money and saves a lot of time"

- John Ireland, CEO, NTP Technologies

Europe Vertical Farming Companies: The 2023 Report

Download the Free Sample Report

Helen Andrew Spare Harvest

"As a business development manager supporting the indoor agriculture, CEA, and food tech industries, I can say Urban Vine guides and their insider newsletter provide detailed information often difficult to find online."

- Irena Lundberg, CleanTech Invest Stockholm

Middle East Vertical Farming Companies: The 2023 Report

Download the Free Sample Report

Mark-Horler

"As a marketing professional in the indoor agriculture industry, Urban Vine's newsletters, reports and guides are an excellent resource for keeping up-to-date with news and developments in vertical farming."

- Steven Mitchell, Product Manager, Intelligent Growth Solutions (IGS) UK

All Indoor Farming Company Interviews

TTA Netherlands (2024)

February 18, 2024

This interview details TTA, an indoor farming technology provider based in the Netherlands. The interview was conducted with Peter Rietveld, Business Development Director at Eurogroep, and with Renko Schuil, Sales Manager Indoor Farming at TTA.

View Full Interview

Mutha Agro Pvt Ltd

February 18, 2024

This interview details Mutha Agro Pvt Ltd, an indoor farming company based in Nepal. The interview is with Kushal Gurung, Founder of Mutha Agro Pvt Ltd. To learn more about Mutha Agro Pvt Ltd and other indoor farming companies, click on this link!

View Full Interview

Horticulture Wales

February 18, 2024

This interview details Horticulture Wales, a company based in the UK. The interview is with Mark Roberts, Niche Crops Officer at Horticulture Wales. To learn more about Horticulture Wales and other indoor farming companies, click on this link!

View Full Interview

Nuravine

February 18, 2024

This interview details Nuravine, an indoor farming technology company based in the United States. The interview is with Alex Babich, Founder & CEO of Nuravine. To learn more about Nuravine and other indoor farming companies, click on this link!

View Full Interview

Looije Agro Technics

February 18, 2024

This interview details Looije Agro Technics, a company based in the Netherlands. The interview is with Tom van Zundert, Co-owner of Looije Agro Technics. To learn more about Looije Agro Technics and other indoor farming companies, click on this link!

View Full Interview

Floating Robotics

February 18, 2024

This interview details Floating Robotics, an Automation Machinery Manufacturing company based in Switzerland. The interview is with Salman Faraji, Founder & CEO of Floating Robotics. To learn more about Floating Robotics and other indoor farming companies, click on this link!

View Full Interview

SkoneLabs

February 18, 2024

This interview details SkoneLabs, an indoor farming technology company based in Germany. The interview is with Siddardha Koneti, Founder of SkoneLabs. To learn more about SkoneLabs and other indoor farming companies, click on this link!

View Full Interview

VOLTZ Vertical Farming

February 18, 2024

This interview details VOLTZ Vertical Farming, an indoor farming company based in France. The interview is with Solène VOLTZ, International Sales Manager at VOLTZ Vertical Farming. To learn more about VOLTZ Vertical Farming and other indoor farming companies, click on this link!

View Full Interview

greenhub

February 18, 2024

This interview details greenhub, an indoor farming technology company based in Germany. The interview is with Isabelle van Doorn, Business Development Manager/ Plant Scientist at greenhub. To learn more about greenhub and other indoor farming companies, click on this link!

View Full Interview

Voltiris

February 18, 2024

This interview details Voltiris, an indoor farming technology company based in Switzerland. The interview is with Nicolas Weber, CEO of Voltiris. To learn more about Voltiris and other indoor farming companies, click on this link!

View Full Interview