While Heliponix’s in-home computerized vegetable-growing machine has always seemed like a great idea, the coronavirus pandemic might be the push needed to get the wider public to realize what the company’s two young founders have been espousing since the startup sprouted in 2016.
Since March, interest in the firm’s product — called GroPod — has been rising faster than Jack’s beanstalk. The fact that Scott Massey, 25, and Ivan Ball, 26, originally bootstrapped the company with money they earned delivering newspapers in West Lafayette is certainly icing on the cake — or perhaps more appropriately, dressing on the salad.
Heliponix’s GroPod product fits under a homeowner’s kitchen counter, much like a dishwasher or wine cooler. It uses a hydroponics system, which means no soil is needed.
It costs $2,000, but Massey is confident that once production ramps up, the price of the unit will decline, possibly to half of what it now costs. Despite the GroPod’s hefty price tag, the biggest revenue generator for the company will be seed subscriptions.
“We make more on the subscription in a year than we do on the machine at one time,” Massey said.
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Startup's computerized vegetable-growing machine taking root
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - While Heliponix's in-home computerized vegetable-growing machine has always seemed like a great idea, the coronavirus pandemic might be the push needed to get the wider public to realize what the company's two young founders have been espousing since the startup sprouted in 2016.
