Agri-tech Vitæ exceeds crowdfunding target in mission to lead the way for sustainable urban agriculture

Vitæ, the award-winning company that aims to reinvent urban agriculture, has overfunded its IndieGogo crowdfunding campaign in just 48 hours. The British company has created the Vitæ Halo, an innovative indoor herb garden that grows fresh, tasteful herbs whenever or wherever you need them. Its crowdfunding campaign, successfully launched on 8th November 2022, reached its main target goal in 2 days, and will remain open for another 30 days - with an ultimate target of £40,000.

The company was founded by Isaac Conrad McNamara and Arthur Georges, two King’s College London alumni and entrepreneurs passionate about innovation and sustainability, with the dream that people should be able to access fresh and tasteful food anywhere.

“Vitæ was born from the idea that agriculture shouldn’t be destroying the environment, but sadly it is currently the second most polluting industry in the world, and the most water consuming,” says Arthur Georges, co-founder and CBO of Vitæ. “To help fix this, we wanted everyone to be able to easily grow organic food at home, even if they lived in crowded city centres or are not a green thumb.”

The Vitæ Halo Indoor Garden makes growing your own food easier, more sustainable, entirely autonomous, and unlike traditional gardening. It is made from 100% bio plastics from trusted UK partners, and uses 90% less water than soil-based agriculture, with 100% organic seeds and nutrients. Herbs grown in the Vitæ Halo also have a 30% richer taste and 40% higher nutritional value, and are 100% natural (no pesticides, no GMO), and 100% autonomous.

The Vitæ Halo is easy to use: Just place Smart Seeds in the pods, add water, flip the switch and wait for a variety of different flavourful herbs to grow. The system comes with a complimentary set of 5 plant pods, with more than 10 different plant varieties to choose from - with new ones being added every month.

With the Indiegogo campaign, Vitæ aims to build bigger and more refined units that can be used domestically and commercially in urban spaces. It will also open urban shops for customers to buy pre-grown herbs to use in their home smart garden, and continue to have fresh herbs that do not spoil, avoiding food waste.

Reaching its funding goal was only the beginning for Vitæ, as the company aims to reach further goals to develop its offering for customers. Hitting the £10,000 mark, which Vitæ calls its ‘farmers stretch goal’, would allow the business to put a variety of spices and leafy greens into production more quickly. Reaching £25,000, its ‘growers stretch goal’, would allow Vitæ to start building an app so customers can control their indoor garden. Vitæ’s ‘ultimate goal’ at £40,000 would allow the team to start building and testing their own wall farms.