Sollum Technologies

This interview details Sollum Technologies, ‍an indoor farming LED grow light solution provider based in Canada. The interview is with Louis Brun, CEO & co-founder of Sollum Technologies.

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What is the origin story of Sollum?

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I'm a telecom engineer and technology startup entrepreneur. Sollum® is my fourth startup. When I wasn't starting my own company, I was working for another startup. I've always enjoyed this because I believe we can solve many problems and issues. If we look at them, we can address many of the challenges we face as a society today. And that's where the story of Sollum begins.

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After my third venture, I took a break and contemplated my next project. I wanted to be involved in something that would positively impact society, particularly in areas like climate change and food sustainability. I began visiting startup incubators in the Montréal area, and that's where I met Francois and Gabriel. They were in the basement of the university, with no cellular signal and neon lights giving us an underground feel. As I was about to leave, Francois and Gabriel invited me to see their invention.

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They claimed to have created the Sun. At first, I thought it was an intriguing pitch, but I was ready to head outside, tired of being in the basement. However, they insisted that I join them. To my surprise, they opened the door to their small office, and I felt like I had stepped outside. Their lighting system perfectly replicated natural sunlight, following the cycles from sunrise to sunset, even simulating passing clouds.

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They had strawberries growing inside, and I was amazed. I asked if they were growers, but they clarified that they were engineers who had managed to recreate the Sun. Seeking a partner to transform their technology into a real company, I joined the journey in the summer of 2016.

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I am passionate about innovation and involving myself in technologies that have the potential to revolutionize industries. When it comes to lighting in controlled environment agriculture (CEA), it has always been viewed as a simple on-off switch for providing light. However, light has a much more profound impact on crops than we realize. Just as it affects humans, with shorter days in the winter, it also affects crops. This realization became the driving force behind Sollum.

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Seven years later, we have completed several financing rounds, including a successful $30 million raise in January. We have developed the most advanced dynamic LED grow light solution and are determined to transform horticultural lighting. In a few years, people will look at lighting in the industry and distinguish between the time before and after Sollum.

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What are some of the biggest challenges facing your team in the future?

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One of the challenges we face is educating the growers on our solution. It is crucial for them to understand that light can be controlled, just like watering plants or using fertilizers. The power of controlling the lighting with precision in CEA is a paradigm shift. While industry research supports this, the industry still has a significant learning curve. It's essential to convey the message that they can indeed control light and do it easily. Therefore, education is a significant factor.

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The industry is still undergoing a transformation to LED lighting, and terms like "smart," "controlled," and "advanced" are often used by our competitors. Our solution offers AI technology, modularity, and ease of control through our cloud-based platform, which results in a slightly higher cost. However, the real value lies in the fact that we offer a solution that significantly impacts the bottom line now and adapts to the future for greenhouse growers. The industry isn't offering what we are and currently owns a large share of the voice. Ensuring that the correct message reaches our audience is crucial for our success, which includes the proven results from our customers and research.

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What is unique about Sollum compared to competitors?

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A key component of building a dynamic system is modularity, made of independent, repeated entities that are combined to form a larger unit. These repeated entities can be added, removed, or changed without affecting the whole, offering multi-zone lighting options, each zone with a custom light recipe, allowing real-time spectral and intensity control. Many other LED options are hardware-centric. The dominant lighting systems, once installed, provide growers little flexibility to no flexibility, thus embedding limitations. Consequently, growers must adapt their cultivation methods to suit the light they just purchased. In contrast, Sollum's system incorporates a significant software component, necessitating AI algorithms and other advanced technologies.

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We have developed a Smart Object and offer a comprehensive lighting solution rather than simply selling a fixture. Whether you have one or ten thousand units, each fixture is equipped with our 100% programmable technology, allowing you to control them remotely through the cloud using your PC or smartphone. Our system creates optimal lighting conditions for crops by utilizing sensors to measure natural light and adjust output accordingly. It harnesses free light efficiently, generating what the crops or cultivars precisely require while saving energy.

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Moreover, our solution evolves. As our understanding of the impact of different wavelengths improves, light will undergo significant changes in the coming years. With Sollum, they have a solution that adapts alongside the crops, cultivation methods, and the introduction of new seed varieties with unique requirements. This adaptability sets us apart as the fundamental difference.

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How do you measure the impact of your company so far? (Revenue, Employees, Customer Quantity, Production Volume) etc.?

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Today, Sollum boasts a customer base of over 20 commercial clients. While the majority of our customers are in Canada, particularly in Québec and Ontario, we serve clients in the United States, Holland, and the United Kingdom. Additionally, we collaborate with five universities and research centers as part of our mission to facilitate the industry's transformation. We provide the necessary fixtures and training on our system for researchers to conduct their studies and publish their findings independently.

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Our customer base continues to grow along with our work with research centers. We currently employ 50 individuals, including horticulture, agronomy, software, and hardware experts.  Having dedicated considerable time to research and development, we are now focused on market traction, and recently expand our footprint in the US.

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In 2020, we successfully fine-tuned our product and executed the first large-scale deployment, the largest pepper greenhouse in Canada, enabling pepper cultivation even during winter. The greenhouse spans a vast production space of five hectares, equivalent to 50,000 square meters.

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Crop growth, yield, quality, and taste are other ways we measure impact, which are the success factors of our customers. Tailoring lighting recipes to each crop or cultivar allows growers to produce the best out of their greenhouse. For instance, lettuce requires lower light intensity compared to tomatoes or cucumbers. We do not merely sell light; we provide a comprehensive system that generates photons to stimulate crop growth.

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Our pricing may be slightly higher due to the intelligence and sophistication of our solution. However, the value we offer encompasses various aspects. Through our mixed model, we can demonstrate to growers the anticipated yield and the associated savings in terms of operational and maintenance costs. Our team assists growers in optimizing their output, and we achieve this by monitoring the system's seamless operation.

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With our extensive experience, we have successfully cultivated over 100 different crop varieties, including leafy greens, herbs, vine crops, root vegetables, and even some citrus fruits. In a way, we can be considered the Spotify of sunlight recipes.

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Does the customer make a one-time investment, or do they pay a subscription fee to access the software?

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The first year is free; then, there is an annual maintenance license fee. This fee grants the grower a software license agreement, ensuring that the entire system remains under their ownership. 

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The fee, although minimal, plays a crucial role in supporting essential activities such as monitoring, maintenance, and system upgrades. We constantly strive to enhance the system's capabilities by developing new algorithms for energy management and innovative light recipes.

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As these advancements are developed and released, they automatically become accessible to all our valued customers.

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

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Ensuring the fundamental industry problem is addressed is crucial for any startup. As a telecom engineer, I recognized the importance of becoming a technology enabler. Our vision at Sollum is to empower growers and help them improve their practices. To achieve this vision, I needed to engage with growers, listen to their feedback, and continuously iterate on our solutions. This approach has been instrumental in our previous successes and the positive trajectory of Sollum.

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Venturing into the market, we faced challenges and sought out customers with an early adopter mindset. It was important not to get ahead of ourselves by carefully integrating all the components before scaling up. Our journey began with a modest pre-seed round of funding, securing a million dollars in 2017, three million in 2019, and six million after that. With the necessary elements in place - robust technology, scalability, and stability - we are prepared to take the next step.

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Having achieved this readiness, we recently raised 30 million in funding. We are expanding our global reach with a focus on the US market to revolutionize the horticulture lighting industry. We aspire to be the equivalent of Tesla in this field, driving substantial change.

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

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To discover more about Sollum, please visit our official website at https://sollumtechnologies.com. People can also connect with us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

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