Food waste to indoor farming input: Re-Nuble raises $1.1m seed funding

The organic cycling science leader Re-Nuble closed a $1.1 million seed round. Re-Nuble's core technology upcycles organic compounds from unrecoverable vegetative food waste, generating water-soluble, organic hydroponic nutrients for soilless farms. The invested seed round monies will expand their team, advancing sales and marketing support to their rapidly growing base of clientele. 

Re-Nuble is an agriculture technology company that uses organic cycling science to convert vegetative food waste into organic hydroponic nutrients for soilless farms. "Our Away We Grow liquid organic hydroponic nutrient allows soilless farms to rapidly use mineralized organic nitrate, amino acids, growth promoters, vitamins, and a full spectrum of micronutrients for quicker plant uptake and yields," they explain. "It is designed as a two-product nutrient system that allows nutrients to be absorbed both at the root level as well as on the leaves by way of our biostimulant foliar spray. Synergistically, these two products (foliar spray and organic hydroponic nutrient concentrate) work together to provide growth without the excessively high nitrate concentration normally found in conventional mineral salts, causing the need to dump nutrient water."

Origin
While volunteering as an SAT-prep teacher in 2012 in New York City, Re-Nuble founder Tinia Pina saw firsthand how limited healthy food options impacted her own students' productivity, affecting their future. Pulled towards the mission of improving local food production, she created the company, Re-Nuble. "I felt there was a unique opportunity to use the waste stream... to catalyze more sustainable growing near urban areas, especially as people are becoming more interested in evaluating food sources for sustainability." 

In addition to its core nutrients product, Re-Nuble has also developed what it calls its ‘On-Site Food Waste Recovery System.’ This captures residual product waste — such as plant matter like vines, leaf cuttings, and perishable produce — as well as a farm’s wastewater for conversion into sterilized biostimulants and potable water. These byproducts are then reused for reduced water and agricultural input consumption.

The new funds will be used for typical seed-stage tasks like hiring, R&D, manufacturing, and general acceleration. Pina estimates the product market pipeline is worth at least $2 million.

Thanks to a lot of upfront diligence, Re-Nuble is confident that it has reached product market fit and that securing customers won’t be too much of a challenge. The startup spent seven years studying different food waste characterizations and their biochemical reactions when applied under different environmental controls for a group of specialty crop varietals.

“We’ve been really drilling down and making sure the product works consistently in each type of farm, which is very different,” Pina said. “Some use deep water culture systems, some vertical farming systems are using tray racking systems and ebb and flow. Others are nutrient film techniques. We really wanted to spend the time to make sure that it is consistent in all farm types.”