Grove Labs

Grove Labs (also referred to simply as Grove) is a Somerville, Massachusetts consumer agriculture technology company founded by MIT graduates Gabe Blanchet and Jamie Byron. Its product, the Grove Ecosystem, is an indoor gardening appliance roughly the size of a bookshelf — about six feet tall, two feet wide and 16 inches deep — built as a wooden cabinet with three layers: LED grow lights on top, a growing bed in the middle, and an aquarium at the bottom. The system uses aquaponics, in which ammonia-rich fish waste is converted by beneficial microbes into nitrates that feed the plants while the plants clean the water for the fish.

The unit contains sensors for air and water temperature, humidity and water level, feeding data to a smartphone app through which owners monitor conditions, record growth and diagnose problems. Crops grown in the system and its prototypes include kale, arugula, lettuce, romaine, cilantro, thyme, sugar peas, tomatoes, strawberries, jalapenos, peppers, Thai basil and mizuna, with an expected yield described as roughly a small salad per day. The system can be left unattended for up to two weeks. The company positions the appliance as a way for households to grow fresh produce year-round and, more broadly, as an alternative to industrial food production.

Founding story

Blanchet and Byron conceived the idea as roommates during their senior year at MIT, where Blanchet studied mechanical engineering and Byron aerospace engineering. Byron built a first aquaponics system in their Sigma Chi fraternity room, fed by filtrate from a fish tank; within a month it held string beans, lettuce, kiwis and about a dozen other plants, and the setup became a gathering spot for fraternity members. Blanchet had twice left MIT — once as a sophomore to thru-hike the 2,182-mile Appalachian Trail, and again during his junior year to work at the startup GrabCAD, which he saw grow from 5 to 40 employees and from 60,000 to 1.2 million users. The pair went through MIT's Global Founders' Skills Accelerator and worked with the Martin Trust Center for Entrepreneurship at MIT to develop the business, and the company officially launched in fall 2013 (described as officially a company as of August 2013).

Business model

Grove Labs sells the Grove Ecosystem hardware unit directly to consumers, with an in-home unit priced starting in the low thousands of dollars, alongside a recurring consumables supply of roughly $25 per month covering seeds, nutrients, fish food and other tools. Operating the unit consumes an estimated 75-100 kilowatt-hours of electricity per month, costing an additional $10-$15.

Hardware sales of the indoor gardening appliance plus a monthly consumables subscription for seeds, nutrients, fish food and tools.

Traction

The company reported 20 employees, many of them former classmates of the cofounders, and over $4 million in seed funding raised as of November 2015. Distribution began with approximately 50 early adopters in Boston before a national launch in November 2015.