Gardening is one of the world's most popular hobbies, and for good reason: it has been proven to enhance well-being by reducing stress, promoting relaxation, and encouraging physical activity. Interacting with plants is also important for other reasons: it strengthens our connection to nature and increases environmental awareness, which is especially crucial in our increasingly urbanized and digitalized world.

Our mission is to foster daily interaction with plants to promote environmental awareness and a sustainability mindset. To achieve this, we are developing smart solutions to make gardening and plant care easier and more fun.

In July 2022, we launched FYTA Beam, our hero product. The Beam is a smart fitness tracker for plants that monitors key environmental parameters and provides care instructions through an app. The app offers users a wide range of information, tutorials, and relevant products.

Our goal is to develop FYTA into the leading, open platform for Smart Gardening that integrates various IoT garden products and applications. This will create an ecosystem that delivers value to both end-users and partners in the Smart Gardening sector.

FYTA was founded in mid-2018 in Berlin by Claudia Nassif (CEO). Fully bootstrapped, we created the first prototype of the FYTA Beam within 10 months. In June 2019, we conducted a successful Kickstarter campaign primarily to test market demand. The pandemic and supply chain crisis posed challenges for further financing and development in the following years.

By the end of 2020, Alexander Schmitt joined as CTO, driving forward technical development and supply chain establishment. At the end of 2021, we completed our first significant round of financing, bolstered by an innovation grant (IBB PROFIT). This enabled us to build our team, advance our technology, and file for our first patent. We initiated our first production run in April 2022, leading to our market entry in July 2022.

Today, we are an interdisciplinary team of ten members. Alongside the ongoing development of our core offerings, we are currently working on expanding our marketplace and platform.

Our team consists of ten talented and highly motivated developers, data scientists, biologists, and designers. Our DNA is technology, but we are united by a passion and love for plants and creative projects. Diversity and tolerance are important values that we live by daily. Our working style is hybrid; we gather in our office at least three days a week, sharing the space with 236 plants and an equal number of Beams.

Additionally, we are supported by an experienced, independent team of engineers in China who manage our sourcing, production, and shipping processes.

Would you like to get to know us?

We would be happy to tell you more about ourselves and our plans. Simply book a meeting here, and we will organize a video call. We look forward to it. 

Plant sensors are not trivial. Even in the professional sector, their application is expensive, complex, and requires substantial prior knowledge in measurement and data analysis. Simple, non-networked soil measuring devices with decent performance typically cost more than €600. Our goal was to develop a measuring device for the hobby sector that not only delivers accurate results but also continuously monitors and analyzes a variety of environmental factors. 

Our solution combines advanced sensor technology with artificial intelligence (AI) and user-friendly design to make it easy for hobby gardeners to use. 

1. Innovative technology: We rely on a proprietary impedance measurement method for soil analysis, making manual calibrations unnecessary. Our data model continuously monitors all soil measurements and automatically adjusts them on our server, taking into account other parameters. We also use standard temperature and humidity sensors, as well as a full-spectrum light sensor for detailed analysis of light conditions.
2. Comprehensive AI-supported plant analysis: By combining structured data (like measurements) with unstructured data (e.g., photos), we create a continuous feedback loop in the data analysis. This approach allows us to perform a comprehensive analysis of plant health and tailor our analyses to the specific needs of each plant.
3. Customization: Our sensors are equipped with interchangeable measuring rods that can be adapted to different pot sizes to increase measurement accuracy.
4. Cost optimization: Through mass production, we can manufacture our sensors at an affordable price and high quality. Additionally, we generate revenue by selling third-party products through our app, which allows us to keep the hardware price low (max. €39 per sensor).

Our sensors were extensively tested in an 18-month joint project with the Humboldt University of Berlin. The results of these tests were incorporated into our development, enabling us to continuously improve the measuring accuracy of our sensors. Today, our capacitive sensors offer an unsurpassed price-performance ratio, which also makes them attractive for customers outside the hobby sector. As a result, our customer base now includes more than 10 universities and research institutes.

Our product consists of three components:

1. IoT Plant Sensors

The FYTA Beam, a premium plant sensor with accessories (WiFi Hub, interchangeable measuring rods, pH kit), is included. It measures various environmental variables and sends the data via BLE or WiFi to our server for analysis.

In the future, we plan to expand our system with other products, such as a more affordable version of our sensor or an IoT pH meter.

2. FYTA App

The FYTA App is our direct connection to the customer. It is not only a portal for data and analyses but also offers extensive content and tutorials on gardening and environmental topics. It informs users about the needs of their plants through push notifications and provides tailored care recommendations. Additionally, the app features an integrated shop that has everything for gardening projects. A special feature of the app is its complete personalization, based on the individual plants and interests of the user, so that only content and products relevant to the specific user are displayed.

3. IoT-Platform

Our platform represents the foundation of FYTA. It is based on a state-of-the-art IoT architecture that serves as a central interface for all data models, content distribution, and the development of our marketplace. In the future, we plan to expand the platform to include integrations for dropshipping partners, thereby offering an even wider variety of products. Also, integrations for IoT products from third-party providers are planned, which will develop our platform into a comprehensive hub for smart gardening.

1. 1. IoT Solutions: FYTA combines advanced sensor technology with AI analysis to enable precise and personalized garden care.
2. All-in-One App: The FYTA App provides not only data and analysis but also personalized content, tutorials, and an integrated shop tailored to the individual needs and interests of users.
3. Innovative Technology: Utilizing state-of-the-art IoT architecture allows FYTA to operate a comprehensive data model and offer a platform for marketplace and third-party integrations.
4. Scalability and Integration: The platform is continually expanding through planned extensions for dropshipping partners and the integration of third-party IoT products.
5. Customer Engagement and Community Building: With personalization and a comprehensive offering, FYTA strengthens its relationship with customers and builds a dedicated community of gardening enthusiasts.

We have two revenue streams:

1. Product Sales: Our primary revenue is generated from the sale of FYTA Beam, a smart IoT plant sensor that provides precise data and care instructions for plants.
2. In-App Sales (Marketplace): Additional revenue is generated through the sale of gardening products and accessories via the FYTA App. FYTA combines its own products with third-party items. Third-party providers are connected to our platform through a dropship model, allowing us to scale our product range rapidly.

Our go-to-market strategy focuses on:

1. Online Distribution: We leverage digital channels (our website, online marketplaces, and social media) to reach a broad audience and promote the sale of FYTA Beam and app downloads.
2. Marketing Campaigns: Targeted marketing and advertising efforts, both online and offline, help to increase brand awareness and acquire new customers. This includes collaborations with micro-influencers (product seeding).
3. Partnerships and Collaborations: Through strategic commercial partnerships, we market individual Beams in product bundle promotions with well-known garden brands at a preferential price, drawing more customers to our platform.
4. Product-Driven Growth: By providing valuable content, tutorials, and personalized recommendations in the app, FYTA creates an engaged community of gardening enthusiasts. Social features aid in the market penetration of the app.

The gardening market offers enormous potential: Globally, consumers spend over 125 billion euros annually on garden products, which equates to between 220 and 340 euros per household, depending on the region.

We position ourselves as a mass-market product and aim to create an attractive offering for all consumer segments through the gradual expansion of our hardware offerings and our in-app product portfolio. Currently, we are focusing on technology-savvy and smart home enthusiast gardeners in the DACH region, aged between 30 to 55 years. Additionally, with the anticipated legalization of cannabis, we plan to expand our offerings to cannabis consumers interested in home growing. Both target groups have above-average income and accordingly invest more in gardening products.

In the B2B sector, we see scaling opportunities through customized software solutions for Cannabis Social Clubs and universities. In 2022, we already acquired six university customers. This opens up the possibility to expand our business model to include licensing fees.

Our goal for 2024 is to acquire 20,000 new customers and subsequently double our user growth. To achieve this, we need to expand our product range and scale our marketing efforts. According to our current plan, we require €700,000 to reach positive cash flow by Q4 2024, which we aim to obtain through this digital financing round. Conservatively, this should provide us a runway of 12-16 months. Once we can double our monthly revenues, we will have access to sufficient working capital financing from e-commerce financing providers to fund our growth. Further financing rounds are not currently planned, but could be considered for an international expansion strategy starting in 2025.

The financing amount will mainly cover personnel costs (41%), external software development expenses (15%), and marketing and advertising costs (44%). Of this amount, €300,000 has already been secured from existing investors.

We have successfully positioned ourselves in the Smart Gardening market with the launch of the FYTA Beam system. Our brand is gaining increasing recognition, and we receive a lot of positive feedback from our customers, who often recommend and gift our products. The expansion of our team and the acquisition of renowned investors reflect the company's growth and positive development.