Indoor gardening startup Rise Gardens snagged funding Monday as it works to get its hydroponic system into more homes.
Rise Gardens announced it raised a $9 million Series A round led by TELUS, a large Canadian internet and phone provider. Other backers include Amazon's Alexa Fund, True Ventures and Chicago's Listen Ventures. The startup has now raised $13 million to date.
Founded in 2019 by former Sportsvision CEO Hank Adams, Rise Gardens has created an internet-connected, indoor-hydroponic gardening system that lets you grow a variety of vegetables, herbs, and greens at home. That startup's app can monitor your plants' progress, letting you know when it's time to add water and fertilizer. Rise Gardens' systems come in one, two or three levels and range from $549 to $949. It also sells a countertop version for $279.
Rise Gardens said its devices have so far harvested over 40,000 plants and over 12,000 pounds of produce. Sustainability concerns and grocery shopping anxiety early in the Covid pandemic led to fast growth in 2020, the startup said, with its products selling out three times last year.
This week Rise Gardens also began selling on Amazon, its first retail channel outside of its own website.
Rise Gardens previously raised a $2.6 million seed round from Michael Alter of the Alter Group and owner of the WNBA's Chicago Sky; former 1871 CEO Howard Tullman, and Jai Shekhawat, the founder of Fieldglass.
