How our green journey began
It all started in February 2018: us and a table at TU Berlin. We are Olga and Filip, two young visionaries with a background in architecture and civil engineering. With what mission? To bring more greenery into our homes and to use smart technology to maintain it. And in a sustainable way, in other words: fair, local and high quality. With as many natural materials as possible.
The path to proto-types
The financial resources of our mini start-up were limited to our small grant. So we didn't really have any money. During the one year of product development, we did everything ourselves with the support of Filip's cousin: cutting the wooden housing to size with a laser in a garage and soldering for all we were worth. In this setting, we felt a little bit like Steve Jobs. :) As we not only wanted to garden simply, but also cleanly without a lot of mud or sand, we were thrilled when we came up with the idea of PlantPlugs.
Today, the GreenBox has a microprocessor integrated into the handle that controls all electrical processes, so that the "cargo part" of the GreenBox only contains the water tank and plants. At that time, the space between the tank and the wooden wall still contained a considerable tangle of cables, which of course had to be minimized. But in principle, the GreenBox worked. "Who dares, wins!" we thought to ourselves and began to present our proto-type at various trade fairs.
And suddenly the center of attention
The big moment came in the fall of 2020: as a tech startup, we had a stand at IFA, the International Consumer Electronics Fair, a major electronics and high-tech trade fair. Life in pre-pandemic Germany was still 'normal', as we would later look back longingly on the time before coronavirus. But the virus was already wreaking havoc in the Asian hotspots of the electronics industry.
As a result, far fewer exhibitors presented their world firsts at IFA in fall 2020, which left room for ours. At the same time, the IFA certainly attracted media attention. As a result, reporters who usually only cover the big players had an eye for our small start-up. In general, our tech stand with the wood and various plants stood out, as the usual setting of the trade fair was characterized by speakers in all sizes and TV sets in XXL format - in other words, by metals and plastics. With its combination of light, plants and smart electronics, our GreenBox exuded a certain magic. In any case, it was something completely different.
Thanks to the media interest, we soon appeared - it felt like - everywhere: in Bild, the China Morning Post, rbb, techradar ... Interest in our product grew in an instant: suddenly there were 500 pre-orders in our inbox, which we wanted to fulfill before Christmas 2020, i.e. in less than three months. How were we going to manage that? The only thing we had was our Proto type.
How are we supposed to manage that?
As already mentioned, we were the grateful recipients of a small grant at the time, but it was not designed to finance the production of 500 indoor gardens. So the logistical challenge of producing a large volume of 500 GreenBoxes in a short space of time was compounded by the search for funding. Fortunately, the business angels turned out to be helpful small investors, whose investment we were able to supplement with the advance trust of our first customers. With the proceeds from the pre-sales and the money from the investors, we were able to start the first series production of the GreenBox.
Off to the Mecca for Berlin hardware start-ups!
We had no time to lose! First of all, we needed a place where we could produce the 500 GreenBoxes. Our path led us to Berlin's MotionLab, a former East German machine factory and now a kind of open-plan workshop for various hardware start-ups. The mechanical infrastructure that still exists there, such as the metal workshop or the laser cutter, is worth its weight in gold, especially for product development.
BERLIN GREEN - the team finds itself
In addition, the location with its open kitchen and communication rooms offers plenty of space for exchange among like-minded people. We benefited greatly from the fact that the MotionLab community has a lot of brainpower and talent of various kinds: we found an electrical engineer who was able to develop our first circuit boards for the GreenBox's microprocessor and water level sensor. After all, we wanted to make the electronics of the GreenBox as compact as possible for easy handling. On the other hand, we met the software developer for controlling the smart features such as light control and water level management, which was to run via the GreenBox app.
A friend introduced us to the French DJ Sybille, our current product manager. This all-round talent introduced us to a whole host of other French DJs, who quickly expanded their portfolios and joined us as craftsmen. In just a few weeks, our team grew from 2 to 15 people.
We go into series production
Our production process improved from day to day; our one table at the TU Berlin became ten tables in a MotionLab garage. Which meant we had created an assembly line! A number of production steps had to be carried out, such as cutting the wood, sanding, assembling, installing the electronics, testing the GreenBox and finally packaging everything with care. "As we hadn't yet entered into a partnership with DHL, but the parcels had to be posted, I drove the truck to the collection point myself," Filip recalls. "Thanks to our great team, we did it! 500 GreenBoxes in less than three months!"
Better, faster, more!
Christmas 2020 marked a major milestone for us. Our sales figures for last year 2021 show that home offices can be greener and brighter: we were able to scale up our production from 500 to 3,000 GreenBoxes. This was again accompanied by the well-known search for investors, who this time placed their financial trust in us via the Seedmatch platform. Over the course of these productions, we have further advanced the technology and control of the imitated daylight and continue to work on the user-friendliness of our software and the GreenBox app.
Of course, the exchange with our growing network of suppliers, engineers, craftsmen and employees helped and continues to help us professionalize our local production. On the one hand, our team has become more and more professional, and on the other hand, our supply chain has become more and more optimized in terms of sustainability - which was and is very important to us. With the GreenBox, we want to enrich the market with a beautiful, high-quality electrical appliance that has been manufactured transparently, fairly and locally and has a long life expectancy. With the exception of the microprocessors and water level sensors, all materials are sourced from the EU. Even the LED technology - like the birch wood - comes from Poland. We also work together with the Berlin sheltered workshops, which are responsible for part of our production process. Incidentally, our prototype is still working. It monitors the goings-on in our Neukölln office in Niemetzstraße.
How now
We have been operating in this separate office and workshop loft since April 2021. We still love the MotionLab: We still have the garage we rented in fall 2020 as storage space for materials and tools. For the new and further development of our products - such as the brand engraving of our limited Red Hot Chili Edition - we still use the fantastic machinery offered by the MotionLab.
Projects for the near future
Our vision is to grow in two directions: firstly, we want to further develop the domestic ecosystem of indoor gardens. To this end, we have been experimenting with different seeds from the very beginning to find out which plants are best suited to growing in the GreenBox.
The GreenWall
One major project is the serial production of our GreenWall, a modular wall garden for interiors. The light line of the GreenWall can be flexibly controlled. In addition, its wooden cladding acts as a screen for light pixels that can display running graphics or text for the observer looking at it. In this way, the smart GreenWall can also provide admirers of its leaf and flower splendor with information on the weather or stock market events via the wooden screen. We already have the prototype and potential customers. As soon as the negotiations with investors and funding bodies have been completed, we'll start production!
Further sensor technology
The further development of the BERLIN GREEN hardware and software is the second part of our current work. In addition to optimizing our GreenBox app, we are currently working on the development of further user-friendly sensor technology for light and humidity. According to our vision for the future, domestic success with living and thriving greenery should not depend on the color of the gardener's thumb, even outside the GreenBox and the GreenWall.
For example, we want to develop sensors that can record the status of light and humidity in planting areas separately and battery-powered, independently of the GreenBox or wall. This technology will then guide users via the same app, integrated into a smart home concept such as Google Home or Alexa 7, on how to achieve optimum planting conditions in just a few steps.
Smart devices made from wood
With the work on the enclosures for GreenBox and GreenWall, another project is on the horizon: the sustainable utilization of our wood waste. We are striving to become a brand for high-quality indoor gardening. We also envision becoming a brand for friendly electronics: BERLIN GREEN? Aren't they the ones with the smart devices made of wood?