InstaGreen | Bringing Local and Sustainable Produce Back to the City

Summary
Global food waste is estimated at 33% (€25B/yr) during storage, processing & transportation. At InstaGreen our goal is to
bring the point of production back to the point of consumption, shorten the supply chain & drastically reduce the carbon
footprint by reducing the resources used & waste produced in the growing, processing & transportation of produce. We
developed a proprietary food-on-demand service, initially targeting high end restaurants. After extensive research &
development we created a scalable growing system using aeroponic technology & currently have a second generation
prototype of the InstaGreen system (InstaGrow unit & GrowCartridges) at TRL6. Our business model focuses on the service
rather than the product: we grow the leafy greens in centralised urban locations, once the greens are ready we deliver the
living plants to the client’s premises, where the cartridge is placed in our InstaGrow unit. The greens are ready for
consumption without the need for cleaning & can be harvested whenever as needed. Our primary goals for the SMEI are to
confirm our market assumptions, perform an in-depth market analysis, confirm willingness to pay & develop a full feasibility
study for European roll-out. Aeroponics is a new technology that is only recently starting to reach the market. We are initially
targeting a niche market: High end restaurants with chefs that are interested in ecologically responsible, high quality organic
food. After creating a critical mass in B2B market, we can start a B2C offering. This strategy has been validated by Ogilvy &
Mather. We will target big cities that have a strong food culture as well as those that are in climates that make it difficult to
have fresh produce year round. As it is a food-on-demand-service, food is supplied on a subscription basis. The InstaGrow
unit is leased 20€/mo, the GrowCartridges are sold for 15€/2 new cartridge. This ensures steady/recurring revenues. We
predict an income 9.302.475 € by 2022.
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More information & hyperlinks
Web resources: https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/718725
Start date: 01-03-2016
End date: 31-08-2016
Total budget - Public funding: 71 429,00 Euro - 50 000,00 Euro
Cordis data

Original description

Global food waste is estimated at 33% (€25B/yr) during storage, processing & transportation. At InstaGreen our goal is to
bring the point of production back to the point of consumption, shorten the supply chain & drastically reduce the carbon
footprint by reducing the resources used & waste produced in the growing, processing & transportation of produce. We
developed a proprietary food-on-demand service, initially targeting high end restaurants. After extensive research &
development we created a scalable growing system using aeroponic technology & currently have a second generation
prototype of the InstaGreen system (InstaGrow unit & GrowCartridges) at TRL6. Our business model focuses on the service
rather than the product: we grow the leafy greens in centralised urban locations, once the greens are ready we deliver the
living plants to the client’s premises, where the cartridge is placed in our InstaGrow unit. The greens are ready for
consumption without the need for cleaning & can be harvested whenever as needed. Our primary goals for the SMEI are to
confirm our market assumptions, perform an in-depth market analysis, confirm willingness to pay & develop a full feasibility
study for European roll-out. Aeroponics is a new technology that is only recently starting to reach the market. We are initially
targeting a niche market: High end restaurants with chefs that are interested in ecologically responsible, high quality organic
food. After creating a critical mass in B2B market, we can start a B2C offering. This strategy has been validated by Ogilvy &
Mather. We will target big cities that have a strong food culture as well as those that are in climates that make it difficult to
have fresh produce year round. As it is a food-on-demand-service, food is supplied on a subscription basis. The InstaGrow
unit is leased 20€/mo, the GrowCartridges are sold for 15€/2 new cartridge. This ensures steady/recurring revenues. We
predict an income 9.302.475 € by 2022.

Status

CLOSED

Call topic

SFS-08-2015-1

Update Date

27-10-2022
Geographical location(s)
Structured mapping
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EU-Programme-Call
Horizon 2020
H2020-EU.2. INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP
H2020-EU.2.3. INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Innovation In SMEs
H2020-EU.2.3.1. Mainstreaming SME support, especially through a dedicated instrument
H2020-SMEINST-1-2015
SFS-08-2015-1 Resource-efficient eco-innovative food production and processing
H2020-EU.3. SOCIETAL CHALLENGES
H2020-EU.3.2. SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Food security, sustainable agriculture and forestry, marine, maritime and inland water research, and the bioeconomy
H2020-EU.3.2.0. Cross-cutting call topics
H2020-SMEINST-1-2015
SFS-08-2015-1 Resource-efficient eco-innovative food production and processing