Like many of us, Coulter Lewis was mystified by the lawn and garden section at his local home improvement store.
When he looked at the bags of lawn care products, he noticed that some of the store’s most powerful chemicals were found in these items.
“I went to Home Depot and stood in that aisle and said, ‘this feels very wrong,’” he told Colorado Inno.
So, the former mechanical engineer and co-founder of Boulder’s Quinn Snacks began digging deeper into the science behind lawn and garden products. What he found was alarming, and the impacts can be seen in the recent Roundup lawsuit that alleges its products cause cancer.
With more than 18,000 pending lawsuits and more coming, Bayer has lost more than $30 billion in market value as a result of these chemicals.
Lewis set out to create his own lawn and garden products, free of chemicals and designed individual lawns. He connected with Frank Rossi, a Cornell University turf science expert, and formed his startup Sunday nearly two years ago.
The company analyzes climate and soil data to create seasonal subscription packages specifically for your yard - eliminating the need for harmful chemicals, pesticides and herbicides by using formulas with safe ingredients, like organic compost food waste, molasses and seaweed.
Sunday ran a successful U.S. beta test in 2018 and launched to the general public earlier this year.
Lewis said the company provides an alternative to the expensive professional services and mind-boggling Home Depot trips.
“As a customer today, you have two options outside of Sunday, go to Home Depot or you can hire a professional,” he said. “We are in between those two.”
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A subscription to Sunday starts at $129 for a full year and includes three shipments of lawn care products. The first box also contains a soil test kit to ensure you’re receiving the correct products for your lawn.
Lewis said the company’s use of data from a host of sources, like climate and types of grass, is a primary differentiator from traditional options.
“We leverage data sources to know a ton about your property and use that data to create a custom plan for your lawn,” he said.
The 14-person company recently closed a $6 million Series A round to bring its total funding to $9.2 million.
Lewis said the most recent round will be used to grow Sunday’s technology team, allowing the company to dig deeper into available data to craft the best lawn care solutions.
Sunday also recently launched two new weed control products as it beefs up its offerings.
“We’re in an industry that hasn’t changed in half a century,” he said. “There’s a lot for us to develop.”
