Digital solutions provider ForFarming has plans to help people easily access fresh, healthy food independent of climate conditions and has set its cou
Digital solutions provider ForFarming has plans to help people easily access fresh, healthy food independent of climate conditions and has set its course for the global market now that it has inked a second investment agreement
Smart agricultural startups of the future attract investors’ attention. ForFarming, which develops smart agricultural solutions in greenhouse-like indoor areas without the use of pesticides, has made its second investment agreement of about TL 2.4 million.
The startup, which succeeded in receiving its first seed investment through Tarvenn Ventures, is now focusing on the global smart vertical agricultural market. ForFarming develops alternative farming solutions in line with changing lifestyles, using artificial intelligence algorithms and internet of things (IoT) technology that provides instant tracking of production conditions. Having set out with the idea of vertical agriculture created by the flow of healthy living and consumption of fresh products, ForFarming is taking steps as a smart agriculture startup at a growing pace.
ForFarming, which set course for the global market after its seed investment, has managed to carry out operations in seven countries. The startup, which operates in more than 25 locations, decided to expand its steps with interest in the second investment round, while its products have already begun to attract attention.
MEASURING FOR SMART AGRICULTURE
Offering consumers two products, Farmi and Farmio, it is taking steps to radically change agricultural production parallel to people’s fast-paced lifestyles. The startup has initiated the Formio solution, which uses the internet of things, artificial intelligence and cloud-based smart agricultural technologies at every stage, from irrigation in indoor areas like greenhouses to humidity and temperature control. ForFarming aims to be a pioneer with Farmio. Greenhouses, parks and gardens currently used for production are becoming smarter and more controllable with Farmio. Temperature, humidity, carbon dioxide, pH levels and light values of the products grown with artificial intelligence-backed and cloud-based Farmio software with advanced algorithms are automatically measured and controlled. The products are evaluated with artificial intelligence and the environmental conditions are optimized, while the producers are informed in real-time. Besides, features such as plant data and plant analysis enable producers to plan production and harvest processes more efficiently.
CONSUME WHERE YOU PRODUCE
Local production is one of the most supported areas in many countries, and fresh and healthy eating habits can be realized with the Farmi solution. Production is possible all year round in many places, from multistory apartment buildings to plazas, from hotels to restaurants. You will not have to live in villages to consume fresh food anymore. Thus, consuming where food is produced offers healthy and low-cost shopping. Healthy agricultural consumption is not surprising since no pesticides are used at any stage of the production process.
It provides fresh and healthy products throughout the year with the possibility of production that eliminates human error at every stage of production. With its fully autonomous intelligent system, Farmi allows more than 30 plants to be grown without agricultural know-how. Besides, it can remotely control the production planning of all plants with its special software and can be realized with artificial intelligence. With the Farmi solution, all ambient conditions are measured instantly via sensors. Thus, it is possible to consume on-the-spot by producing in healthy conditions.
VALUE EXCEEDS TL 12 MILLION
The second investment tour was led by Tarvenn with the participation of Volkan Çağsal, the founder of Adphorus, Tolunay Yıldız, Frederic Fatih Pagy from EGİAD Angels investment network, a well as Figen Korun and Gamze Sart from Keiretsu Forum angel investors.
Having succeeded in offering smart soilless agriculture solutions in seven different countries and 24 different locations with Farmio and Farmi, ForFarming is gearing up to become an important player in the global market with its investment. ForFarming, which transforms vertical agricultural areas and greenhouses with the artificial intelligence-backed software automation (SaaS) Farmio, aims to become the world’s leading artificial intelligence technology provider with this solution. Its other service, Farmi, enables the production of fresh and healthy products independent of the season with turnkey autonomous vertical agriculture solutions in many different areas from restaurants to market chains, hotels and factories.
‘A PIONEER IN SMART AGRICULTURE’
“In today’s world where access to healthy and fresh products is becoming more and more difficult, soilless agriculture, which offers onsite production, is gaining importance. With the technology we possess and the solutions we have provided, we have become the leading smart soilless agricultural company of Turkey and the surrounding regions in a short time,” ForFarming co-founder Levent Atlas said after the second investment tour.
“This makes us proud while at the same time increasing our responsibilities. With our new investment, we will be advancing confidently to our goal of becoming the world’s soilless agricultural technology supplier. We sincerely thank all our investors, who believed in our vision and team, and especially Tarvenn Ventures, our teammate that supported us on everything from the very first day, and its esteemed CEO Mustafa Kopuk.”
ZORLU SUPPORT FOR BRILIANT IDEAS
Three startups selected to hold an investment meeting by receiving support from Zorlu Holding’s in-house entrepreneurship platform Parlak Bi’Fikir have been announced. The MRT Technologies, AbilityPool and Jungo teams got the chance to sit down with Zorlu Holding for an investment meeting. The projects shaking hands for investment at the end of the process will continue as a venture with Zorlu Holding’s 25% partnership.
According to the results, MRT Technologies with its smart glasses to treat lazy eye, which is a big problem in children especially up to the age of 7, AbilityPool with its digital application focusing on talent sharing for social responsibility projects, and Jungo, a digital business management application enabling individual and team development, were chosen to hold an investment meeting with Zorlu Holding.
NEW CULTURE OF INNOVATION
At the end of this process, Zorlu Holding will be a 25% partner in the projects agreed on the investment. Besides, Zorlu Holding will also provide law, accounting and financial support in this scope. Emre Zorlu, a board member of Zorlu Holding, stated that in today’s world, only companies that can be different come to the forefront, and there are many ways to do this. “In a world where access to information is quite easy, you can only go somewhere by generating individual ideas,” Zorlu said. “I believe using innovation properly is one of the most important factors. Therefore, there is a need for a corporate culture that will bring ideas from below and stimulate innovation. This was the main starting point in our focus on in-house entrepreneurship.”
INSTITUTION WINS
Emre Zorlu underlined that they live in a world shaped by the new generation. “For these generations, working in one job is not enough, but they are also looking for meaning in everything they do. They want to see what can be done together. In-house entrepreneurship actually contributes to the search for meaning for the new generation in this joint path,” he continued. “Meanwhile, we have to prepare Generation Y for the new world. Our in-house entrepreneurship project has such a function. We can create an area where everyone involved in this project can make mistakes and learn from them. We provide the ground for our people, who are our most important resource, to achieve perfection through trial and error methods. So, the winner of this process is not one or a few people but the entire Zorlu Group.”
STARTUP OF THE WEEK: B2METRIC AI
B2Metric AI, an active learning platform based on artificial intelligence for companies, improves productivity by clearing corporate data and capturing fraudulent and erroneous transactions.
Artificial intelligence technology is used to prevent institutions that serve millions of customers from getting clumsy. Insurance, finance, telecom and retail companies are taking advantage of the energy of startups to regulate customer data and prevent fraud and counterfeiting. B2Metric AI, a graduate of Türk Telekom’s startup acceleration program PILOT, is a cloud and on a premise-based software solution that enables organizations to solve complex problems based on artificial intelligence and machine learning. First, it starts with data cleaning in institutions planning to conduct data-based business. In doing so, it uses artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies.
B2Metric AI makes use of artificial intelligence technologies such as data collection, data cleaning, data processing, as well as big raw sales, customer and image data, especially for companies in the finance, insurance and retail sectors. In other words, after solving the first stage of the culture of doing business with the database, it takes the first step of doing business for the future. Then, it optimizes its data, makes future forecasts and enables companies to increase their profitability. www.b2metric.com
LIFELINE SUPPORT FOR UNIVERSITY STUDENTS
“You Imagine, We Realize,” the first and longest-running project-idea competition for university students in Turkey, which was held for the seventh time this year by the Credit Bureau (KKB), has begun to receive applications for the new term. The “You Imagine, We Realize” Social Innovation Idea Competition is a platform for young people with contemporary, creative and innovative ideas aimed at adding value to society as well as to themselves in environmental, education, financial literacy, culture and art, health, sports, technology and social fields. University students will be able to apply to the competition until Jan. 1, 2020 with their innovative ideas that provide creative and social impact. The competition with a grand prize of up to TL 30,000 accepts applications on www.hayaledingerceklestirelim.com.
The “You Imagine, We Realize” Social Responsibility project idea competition, which is the first competition in Turkey in this context, propelled innovation to center stage in 2019 and opened new doors for young ideas. The social innovation competition, in which all Turkish students studying abroad, as well as associate, bachelor, master and doctorate students of all universities can participate in a group or individually, supports young people to develop project ideas that provide social benefits and to create innovative projects by exploring their entrepreneurship skills.
GRAND PRIZE OF TL 30,000
In the Social Innovation Idea Contest, where university students can participate individually or as a group, TL 30,000 will be awarded to the project that has the highest score, followed by TL 20,000 for second place and TL 15,000 for third. The Findeks Special Award will also be presented to one of the projects that did not rank in the top three but was considered successful by the jury.