Basil, coriander, chilli, tomato or lettuce: anything can be planted in a Botanium – without a green thumb. The self-watering pot system from Sweden relies on cultivation without soil and guarantees uniform growth by automatically watering the seedlings every three hours thanks to a USB connection. With this idea – gardening for everyone in their own homes – Rasmus Tretow, Johannes Roselius and Mario Sanchez achieved great success on the crowdfunding platform Kickstarter in 2017. Instead of the targeted 500,000 Swedish kronor, the trio was able to raise more than 1.3 million crowns (around 118,000 euros) as the starting signal for the production of the clever plant towers.

The financing round for the larger Vega model with built-in lighting and Botanium App was even more successful. This informs when water needs to be refilled in the 5-litre tank and thus enables remote monitoring of the plants. This convinced 1,500 backers on Kickstarter and Indiegogo. They contributed 3 million kroner to make the new project a reality. A new round of funding raised another 4 million Swedish kronor last December.

Mainly men between 25 and 55 rely on their own vegetables

The company was the brainchild of Rasmus Tretow. He had already experimented with growing plants without soil at university. He tinkered with a self-watering hydroponic system in which the roots of the plant hang in a nutrient solution, a mixture of water and nutrients dissolved in it.

With the help of a 3D printer, the industrial designer created a prototype. He brought the pot and its contents back to the office. In the design studio, product developer Johannes Roselius was immediately hooked on Tretow’s idea and also wanted such a pot without soil. The two decided to turn the idea into a business. With success: so far, the trio has sold more than 30,000 of the smart planting systems to hobby gardeners all over the world.

"Interestingly, it is mainly men aged 25 to 55 with university degrees who buy our product. These characteristics apply to 65 million households worldwide," says Johannes Roselius, betting on the trend towards gardening in one’s own four walls. Botanium is particularly successful in Canada. In his opinion, this could be connected to the fact that cannabis cultivation for personal use is already legal there. In other countries like Germany, legalisation is being discussed.

The Swedish entrepreneurs distinguish themselves from other indoor systems by their smart irrigation system. While competitors such as Aero Garden (USA), Click and Grow (Estonia) and Plantuie (Finland) rely on simple water tanks in combination with special plant lamps, Botanium automatically provides water every three hours. A built-in pump makes it possible. It receives the necessary energy via a USB connection. The tank content lasts up to one month, depending on the thirst of the plants.