Breakthrough vertical farming solution seeking $2m investment

Gaia Project Australia’s Rejig-Grow System is helping leafy green farmers maximise space and efficiency with an innovative, modular system that expands with natural growth cycles – halving operational costs and doubling yield. With a successful prototype for NASA and global expansion plans GPA is now raising its A$2 million seed round.

modular system growing leafy green plants

Date 19 April 2023 Share

A self-described “pre mid-life crisis” was the catalyst for Nadun Hennayaka starting Gaia Project Australia (GPA) – the company behind a new modular plant-growing system.

“I’d been working in the corporate world for nearly 20 years and one day I just thought ‘what’s the purpose of my life’ and decided to do something completely different and make a difference in the world,” said Nadun Hennayaka, CEO and Founder of GPA.

“I started looking into renewable energy technologies, which led me to sustainability in general and eventually vertical farms.

"It inspired me to take the concept to the next level by developing systems that could grow in tandem with the plants themselves, rather than relying on the static cultivation methods that have been in use for over 800 years."

Nadun founded GPA in 2017, initially focusing on renewable and waste to energy solutions before switching focus to agritech in 2019.

Learn more about Gaia Project Australi’s $1 million investment opportunity to expand its Melbourne-based business operations, engineering and commercial manufacturing to service multiple domestic and international large market opportunities here.^

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Gaia Project Australia Pty Ltd

Gaia project Australia (GPA) was founded in 2017, with initial horizon scanning in the renewable energy sector in Southern Asia. In 2019 GPA designed a Nutrient Flow Technique modular solution that was applicable to leafy greens grown in the controlled environment agriculture.

Location
Victoria, Australia
Organisation type
Startup or Scaleup or SME

Rejig-Grow System

From Left: Nadun Hennayaka, CEO & Founder, Michael Bridges, Market Research Analyst, and Adrian Cosman-Jones, COO

GPA’s Rejig-Grow method allows growers of leafy green plants to work with natural growth cycles to optimise space and power resource requirements, ultimately doubling their output yield when compared to other controlled-environment agriculture (CEA) methods.

The modular channel system is specifically engineered to expand in both length and width in accordance with the plants' growth using a patented linear expansion technology, in conjunction with the existing Mobile Gully system. This eliminates the need for transplanting and achieves high-density crop growth without requiring the use of robotics or human labour, thereby avoiding additional CapEx and OpEx expenses.

The technology is configured with AI enabled algorithms and makes it possible to grow over 50 mature plants per square metre on average compared with an average of 25 mature plants per square metre with fixed-growing techniques..

“This technology is completely new – no-one before us has done a linear bi-directional expansion system like this,” said Nadun.

“Rather than trying to get the plants to grow a certain way to fit the planting system, we make our system respond to the natural growing cycles of the plant.”

In 2021, NASA awarded GPA the International Innovation Prize, and approved the company to develop its prototype for long-duration flights and future off-planet habitats. They are currently in the top three globally of this year’s competition.

Nadun said space flight’s unique specifications require new and innovative solutions to be able to provide food options for its crew.

“Space agencies are now focused on lunar and Mars exploration and expanding our presence in the solar system, so providing safe, nutritious food is paramount for successful interplanetary missions,” he said.

“The last few years working with NASA has taught me something very important – keep it simple. It can be tempting to load up more sensors, automation, cameras and other technology to your system, but each time you do that it adds a potential break point.

We’ve worked hard to make the most effective and simple solution that can be easily deployed in a commercial scale. Farmers want something that’s easy to maintain that won’t break down and affect their production.

Nadun Hennayaka

Growing low-input food for the future in space and on Earth

Gaia's unique modular design, with Nadun Hennayaka, CEO & Founder, and Michael Bridges, Market Research Analyst

With the CEA global market valued at US$44 billion and a compound annual growth rate of 14.5%, GPA is eager to harness the opportunity and expand global operations within the next 12 months.

The company is well placed to address climate uncertainty and rising input costs, and aims to continue its work with NASA, while supplying the Rejig-Grow system to more farming operations.

GPA is now seeking an A$2 million seed round to expand its Melbourne-based business operations, engineering and commercial manufacturing to service multiple domestic and international large market opportunities.^

“On the technical side we’re ready for market, but the engineering and tooling for this system is the expensive part,” said Nadun.

“So, we’re forecasting our sales for the next two years to go to our manufacturers and work on decreasing unit costs as much as possible.

“We’re really passionate about our mission to fight the adverse effects of climate change and create a more sustainable future, and we believe collaboration is at the heart of this.

“I’m inspired by the words of Robert Baden-Powell – ‘the greatest thing you will ever give to the world is your commitment to leave the world better than you found it.”

GPA’s investment opportunity is open to commercial partners interested in supporting the project, farmers and growers looking to move into CEA methods, and existing greenhouse and vertical farmers looking for more efficient and profitable solutions.

To find out more about this opportunity or to get in touch visit Gaia's opportunity page on grow^AG. here.

Explore, find and connect with a wealth of research projects and innovation opportunities from across Australia’s agrifood innovation system at growag.com. To list a research project, commercialisation opportunity or organisation, please visit growag.com/submit.

^{^This investment opportunity is only for professional and sophisticated investors as defined in the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth). The content of this opportunity is intended for use by persons having professional experience in matters relating to investments and must not be acted or relied upon by any other person including, without limitation, retail clients.}