Click and Grow
 | |
| Industry | Indoor gardening |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2009 |
| Founder | Mattias Lepp |
| Products | Smart Flowerpot, Smart Garden, Wall Farm |
| Website | eu |
Click and Grow is an Estonian indoor gardening company, founded by Mattias Lepp in 2009.[where?] It develops consumer electronic products for growing edible plants indoors.
History
[edit]Click and Grow was founded by Mattias Lepp, in Estonia, in 2009. In 2010, he won a local Ajujaht business idea competition with his idea for a 'Smart Flowerpot'.[1] The idea took two years to develop before it was sold as a product.[2][3][4]
As of 2018, Click and Grow employed 42 people, with offices in San Francisco, Tartu and Tallinn, and had more than 450,000 customers.[5] In the same year the company received investment from INGKA Holding.[6]
Between March and May 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Click and Grow saw sales that were three to five times higher than normal. It was claimed that this was due to fresh food shortages and fear of them continuing,[7] an effort to improve mental health,[8] and in order to reduce food shopping frequency.[9][10][11]
Products
[edit]Click and Grow's products are self-irrigating and the system uses 'plant pods' that contain plant seeds, a growing medium and a controlled-release fertiliser.[12][2]
Smart Flowerpot
[edit]The Smart Flowerpot was introduced in 2011, as a battery powered, indoor plant pot that did not require manual watering or fertilizing.[13] By 2012 Click & Grow had sold 90,000 Smart Flowerpots. However, customers in Nordic countries found that they had insufficient natural sunlight to grow many varieties of plant.[4][14]
Smart Herb Garden and Smart Garden 3
[edit]
In 2013, Click and Grow used Kickstarter to raise $625,000 for a Smart Herb Garden, which included an LED grow light, and could grow three plants at once.[15] It began selling the Smart Herb Garden in January 2014.[4][16] In 2017, a second generation of the garden was released called Smart Garden 3.
Smart Garden 9 and 27
[edit]In 2016, Click and Grow launched a bigger version of the Smart Herb garden through another Kickstarter campaign - the Smart Garden 9, capable of growing nine plants at a time.[12] The nine-plant unit is stacked using a three-tiered stand, to become a Smart Garden 27.[10][17][5]
Smart Farm
[edit]In 2015, Click and Grow introduced a larger indoor plant growing product which can grow up to 250 plants.[18]
Wall Farm
[edit]In 2016, Click and Grow launched the Wall Farm, which can grow up to 51 plants at a time.[5][3][19]
References
[edit]- ^ "Click & Grow – the most successful alumni of Ajujaht". ajujaht.ee. October 20, 2015. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
- ^ a b Issie Lapowsky (April 22, 2015). "This Indoor Farm Can Bring Fresh Produce to Food Deserts". Wired. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
- ^ a b Beren Dere (August 3, 2018). "Interview with Mattias Lepp, Founder and CEO of Click and Grow, about Indoor Farming Solutions". bontena.com. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
- ^ a b c Svetla Marinova; Jorma Larimo; Niina Nummela (November 6, 2016). "Click & Grow Moving Forward with High-Tech Plant Growing". Value Creation in International Business. 2. Springer International Publishing: 41–49. ISBN 9783319393698.
- ^ a b c Kalev Aasmae (December 7, 2018). "Smart soil, automated LED lights, this tech can grow anything from herbs to sequoias". Znet. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
- ^ Silver Tambur (November 1, 2018). "Ikea invests in Estonian smart herb garden producer Click & Grow". estonianworld.com. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
- ^ Mandy Behbehani (July 3, 2020). "Pandemic gardening moves indoors with a smart garden in the kitchen". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
- ^ Ellise Pierce (March 25, 2020). "Quarantine garden boom: Local growers are delivering starter food farms to your door". The Dallas Morning News. Retrieved March 30, 2021.
- ^ Matthew Kronsberg (February 17, 2021). "Is Growing Your Own Indoor Garden Worth It?". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
- ^ a b "Virtually You". BBC Click. July 4, 2020. BBC News. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
- ^ "In Fashion". BBC Click. August 8, 2020. BBC News. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
- ^ a b John Biggs (November 19, 2016). "The Smart Garden 9 is a self-contained kitchen garden for your "herbs" and vegetables". TechCrunch. Retrieved March 30, 2021.
- ^ Katie Pilkington; Megan Wollerton (March 26, 2014). "Click & Grow Smart Flowerpot: Smart gardening for everyone (hands-on)". Cnet. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
- ^ Julie Strietelmeier (February 10, 2013). "Click & Grow Smartpot flowerpot review". the-gadgeteer.com. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
- ^ Biz Carson (August 19, 2015). "This startup is building a Keurig for fresh herbs". Business Insider. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
- ^ Brian X. Chen (July 19, 2017). "Going Low-Tech to Solve Everyday High-Tech Problems". The New York Times. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
- ^ Larry Olmsted (April 1, 2020). "Fresh Vegetables: Why I Just Bought An Indoor Garden". Forbes. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
- ^ Adele Peters (June 19, 2015). "Grow A Full-Size Garden In Your Dark, Dingy Apartment With This Smart Farm". fastcompany.com. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
- ^ M. Moon (September 28, 2016). "Raise veggies like an astronaut with these Wall Farms". Engadget. Retrieved March 31, 2021.