With food security as one of the most pressing issues faced by the UAE and the wider region, entrepreneurs have been coming up with creative ideas to address it – from vertical farms to hydroponics.
These ideas have gotten major support from both governments and investors in recent years – and just in the first half of this year, an agritech startup staged one of the biggest funding rounds in the UAE, raising over $180 million.
Amid this active agritech environment, a new startup aims to make its mark – World of Farming (WoF), which particularly wants to address the UAE’s reliance on fodder, or livestock feed, imports.
“The UAE imports 80 to 90 percent of the food it consumes, including livestock feed,” Walid Saad, the Abu Dhabi startup’s founder, said.
WoF plans to build a circular hydroponic fodder farming methodology – currently patent-pending – to give local farmers a more cost-effective alternative to international imports. It claims to use up to 90 percent less water and land compared to traditional farming methods.
“Our vertical farms will completely eliminate local farmer’s need for international import to feed their livestock. They will also enjoy the cost saving benefits while minimizing nutritional losses due to long term storage, or logistics and storage costs,” Saad told Arabian Business.
WoF’s technology will “use data to monitor and adjust farming parameters to identify the ultimate environment for optimal farm output,” he explained.
“The vertical farm will track crops during their growth cycle using AI and imagery to determine health, rate of growth and detect diseases,” Saad added.
They already have a first customer in the UAE, Saad said, and they are looking to inaugurate the circular farm soon. When it opens, the farm will have a total output of 3,000 metric tons of animal feed annually.
The startup will look to secure more funding later this year, and potentially bring the technology to other countries in the region, including in Saudi Arabia.
“With more farmers adopting our farming approach locally, our ultimate goal is to enhance the agricultural sustainability of livestock ranching and supply chains, and the customers they serve on the regional and global scale,” Saad said.
The WoF co-founder said although there is a growing investor appetite in the agritech startup scene, “there are still several challenges to overcome along the way, such as access to capital and structured financing.”
Launching a sustainability-focused startup
A climate action-focused venture builder is backing WoF – Abu Dhabi-based Hatch & Boost, which is also working to grow seven portfolio startups this year in sustainable mobility, femtech, and foodtech.
“We started hatch & boost two years ago with this goal in mind and we set up a model that serves to de-risk early-stage startup development in order to scale more climate action driven ventures in the region,” its chief executive officer Faris Mesmar told Arabian Business.
He said their approach leverages environmental, social, and governance principles in building startups, making it a critical element of the startups’ business models – even up to reporting back to potential investors and shareholders.
The venture builder has its own team of designers and developers who would work in the initial development stage. Once a startup generates traction and product market fit, it partners with a co-founder to further scale the startup, Mesmar explained.
He claims this model bridges the gap in early-stage startup development and building, where risks are more likely to derail potential scale and growth.
“By accelerating the growth of startups through the hands-on support of our shared pool of talent, ensuring capital efficiency and speed of execution to generate traction and sustainable growth,” he said.
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