- The Aix-en-Provence-based start-up, Agrove, is visiting CES in Las Vegas for the first time.
- It offers a connected and intelligent planter for growing in the city as easily as in the countryside.
Live in the city, and cultivate your little vegetable garden to develop plants. The young start-up Agrove, based in Aix-en-Provence, is about to fly to Las Vegas to participate in its first Consumer Electronics Show (CES), a global forum for start-ups. Just two years ago, Quentin Rousselot, was far from imagining flying to Nevada. He tried to combine his rural roots with his city life.
“My parents are farmers, I grew up near Manosque before coming to study at Polytech Marseille. I wanted to bring a little nature into town, growing my fruits and vegetables on my balcony in sufficient quantity to suffice for myself. But in town, there is no time, life is faster, space is also lacking, it is necessarily more complicated, ”he notes.
A (very) intelligent planter
Thanks to his skills in electronics and automation, he decides to create a solution to support individuals, but also companies, to cultivate their vegetable garden from A to Z. “The gardener has sensors that directly detect the humidity in the soil , these sensors are connected to a drip system which is triggered, or not, according to the needs, ”explains Quentin. It proposes to cultivate in soil contrary to the hydroponic solutions of its competitors, for a "return to the earth, to agroecology". This system offers an autonomy of about three weeks, the time to take a few vacations.
But Agrove goes even further with climate sensors. “It's a real challenge, concedes Quentin. Sensors will provide data on the microclimate, which will be cross-referenced to a database that we will have fed. By crossing these data, the gardener will advise the user of one variety of tomato rather than another, which will be more suited to the microclimate. "
Planning and sharing
This gardening knowledge database will also be used to advise the grower. “A schedule will be established, and the user will receive notifications directly on his phone, on his tasks to be accomplished. For example, pinch the tomatoes, sprinkle the basil, ”explains the CEO of the start-up. And to extend the user experience, a community section is also planned, in which growers can exchange their experiences
Still in this agroecology approach, Quentin and his colleagues imagined planters made of vegetable fiber to eliminate any use of plastic. "The drip pump is directly powered by a solar panel on the top of the planter," he says.
Marketing planned for fall 2020
A pilot phase will be launched with the supply of around fifty planters for partners, such as airports, stations or businesses. "At the end of this piloting phase, we will launch crowdfunding to start production for individuals," warns Quentin. The connected planter should be marketed around 299 euros around next fall.
And what about CES? “Everyone told us that the first participation was to get our bearings, but that to be successful, you have to make two. We go there with the objective of making ourselves known, increasing our notoriety, meeting key accounts and having access to leaders who are usually inaccessible. And if we can approach distributors ... ”hopes Quentin. Their selection at the Vivatech show in Paris last May and the RSE prize, organized by Le Phare de l'Entreprenariat in Marseille, should contribute to this.
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