Rise Hydroponics is an Agri-tech start-up based in Ahmedabad. Founded in April 2020, this relatively new entrant to the Agri-tech and most importantly, the Hydroponics space has 3 co-founders, Tusshar Agarwal, Meet Patel and Vivek Shukla. Rise Hydroponics is a completely bootstrapped start-up.
What is Rise Hydroponics doing?
Rise Hydroponics is mainly developing indoor and outdoor Hydroponics farm projects. They want to foster an urban farming community within India’s agriculture sector. There is less awareness about Hydroponic farming among India’s rural farmers. Rise Hydroponics understands this and is approaching customers from an educational standpoint.
Rise Hydroponics’ business model is divided into four categories:
Hydroponic Farm Infrastructure setup
They set up indoor or rooftop commercial Hydroponics farms for their clients (mostly farmers). These farms are vertical setups with controlled environment and temperature conditions. They undertake end-to-end infrastructure setup which mostly involves setting up of the greenhouse, the vertical rows of pipe and inlet setup, and supplying the crop specific nutrients for the farmers.
Providing Technology Walkthrough
The company also provides walkthroughs for clients regarding the technology operating the farms. The hydroponic farms operate on IoT based automation and can be managed on a remote SaaS based platform. The web based dashboard is to be utilised by farmers and the farm workers to access real-time condition of the crops from anywhere.
E-Commerce store
They has its very own e-commerce store ‘Rise Freshz’ where they sell their in-house hydroponic produce like Kale and Basil, Baby Spinach, Arugula, Herbs, Product Combos, and more. They also sell subscription-based harvest boxes.
Training Sessions
The start-up also conducts training sessions for farmers so that they can manage their hydroponics farms independently. They undertake weekly training sessions and workshops where farmers obtain key insights like crop selection. The training involves Hydroponics Technology understanding, technical aspects of training, Commercial Aspects of Hydroponics farming, and more.
Empowering Indian farmers with Soilless farming
Rise Hydroponics plans to empower farmers with ‘end-to-end soilless farming solutions’. Rise Hydroponics has taken up the task of educating farmers about the benefits of growing crops in a soilless, nutrient-rich solution:
- Faster growth
- Richer yield
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Rise Hydroponics has taken up the task of educating farmers about the benefits of growing crops in a soilless, nutrient-rich solution – faster growth and richer yield.
What’s in it for me?
Hydroponic farming is a branch of Agri-tech that is at the fledgling stage but one that’s becoming increasingly popular. Before venturing into Hydroponics, start-ups should understand that this farming method is best suited for growing vegetables like Lettuce, Basil, Cherry Tomatoes, Oregano and Thyme.
The market for these vegetables is in supermarkets, restaurants and nutrition institutes. Depending on your location, thoroughly research on the profitability and local demand for these crops.
Urban consumers in Tier I and II cities are the biggest target consumer base for Hydroponics produce. The import market for Hydroponics produce also has high demand since these veggies are popular and have high consumption rates in countries like the UAE, US, Canada, etc.
You can grow exotic veggies in your very own Hydroponic farm and sell it either through e-commerce or by supplying to restaurant or supermarket chains both in India and abroad. However, if you want to venture into Hydroponic farm setup projects for farming clients, you should know that costs vary depending on a number of factors like farming process and materials used, area occupied by the set-up and the types of crops to be grown.
