What is the latest with Ketos since the last article on Urbanvine.co?

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Initial Inerview (2023): https://www.urbanvine.co/blog/ketos

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2023 was another phenomenal year for KETOS, specifically in the indoor agriculture space, where the company was repeatedly recognized for its ongoing innovation. In 2023, KETOS was awarded Best AI/Automation Development in Zenith’s 2023 Vertical Farming World Awards and Water Monitoring Innovation of the Year at AgTech’s Breakthrough Awards.

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Once again, Tracxn also recognized KETOS as a Top Smart Cities Startup in 2023 where KETOS was recognized as a “minicorn” of note. We were also honored to be chosen to participate in the 100+ Accelerator and, as part of the program, have showcased the value of the KETOS platform to Colgate via a deployment in Brazil.

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We’ve also been active internationally and were honored to attend World Water Week in Stockholm. During the event, KETOS participated in two panels: “Building Water Stewardship Through Innovation” (about our experience as a member of the 100+ Accelerator) and “Harnessing the Digital Revolution for Water Innovation.” 

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What are some of the upcoming plans and goals for KETOS in 2024? 

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In 2024, KETOS plans to continue to add more parameters to SHIELD's monitoring capabilities. We can already monitor for 35+ parameters (including ammonia, nitrates, sulfates, and more). We want to work closely with all our partners to uncover which parameters are most concerning to them and ensure KETOS SHIELD can deliver real-time lab-accurate results of every parameter of concern right to water operators so that the technology becomes a one-stop-shop for water quality monitoring. 

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The vertical farming sector has strongly supported KETOS, and we value the partnerships we’ve developed over the years. Bowery Farming, for example, has been a big believer in KETOS and even expanded use of our technology in 2023. Our goal is to continue to strengthen our partnerships with indoor farming stalwarts and reach out to others in the space to continue to make water quality monitoring as seamless as possible in the vertical farming process. 

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Any predictions about the indoor farming market and associated technology looking forward? 

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While vertical farming has faced challenges in 2023, the industry isn’t going anywhere, despite what naysayers may think. The business model, though shaken in some areas by soaring energy prices, remains a viable and attractive option for a variety of reasons. It uses far less water than traditional farming, and it’s easier to control variables that ensure successful crop yields.

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Vertical farming, though still most popular in the US, will also see more international traction, with food security being top of mind globally. The world will see more widespread adoption of vertical farming technology, especially in food-insecure countries that traditionally have had to import a lot of fresh produce. The Middle East and UAE have been the front runners for potentially supporting the vertical farming industry and creating it as the de facto food supplier in the years to come.

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AI, as in every other industry, will also have a big part to play in the future of vertical farming. More predictive and prescriptive analytics, powered by AI, will help make vertical farming best practices even more reliable and effective.

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Anything else that you would like to share about KETOS that is notable? 

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We’re excited to be launching a new product we’re calling PRISM. It’s an AI-powered platform that can serve a variety of use cases ranging from site assessment for engineering firms to compliance monitoring for NPDES permit holders. PRISM aggregates publicly available land and water quality data from various third-party sources and applies cutting-edge AI algorithms to serve targeted, location-based insights on-demand. In addition to detailed analytics, users can get location-based customizable water quality risk reports that describe exposure to a wide variety of risks ranging from PFAS and toxic waste exposure to NPDES permit and SDWA violation-related risks. To make it easy for our users to dive deeper into the insights being delivered to them, we’ve also created an AI-based assistant that users can interact with using natural language queries.

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The goal of PRISM is to aggregate and contextualize all water quality related data and deliver it as relevant insights to our end customers in a form of their choosing - as reports, dashboards, or as a chat-based conversation. PRISM is highly complementary to SHIELD as both a source of reliable water quality intelligence and a tool for ongoing compliance management. Users can find out more about it on our website or email us at info@ketos.co to get on the list for early access.

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