Temperature, soil drainage, light, and moisture. These are just some of the things needed to maintain a healthy plant life. When a problem occurs, it’s hard to guess which aspect is lacking. With Flora Pods, you get real-time data on your plant’s needs. Flora founder Aabesh De pitched his product on Shark Tank and got a deal with Lori Greiner. Currently, Flora is worth an estimated $3 million.
Aabesh De’s Background
The AI-powered plant health detection device can be paired to your smartphone to give live, species-specific information. This idea was conceived by Aabesh De, who has a strong track record working in the tech industry.
Previously, De worked as a customer success account manager at Microsoft. He also held roles at Reverb.com, Othernet, Deloitte, and Medline Industries before launching Flora. In addition to his startup, he also owns Legasus Media, a digital marketing agency.
The Creation of Flora
Aabesh has admitted, he’s not best at taking care of plants and this inspired him to create Flora. During the pandemic, when demand for house plants was surging, De worked with a group of experts to develop the idea. The first batch of 1,000 plant monitors were shipped in 2022.
They were delivered to customers who pre-ordered on their website and those who invested in their Kickstarter campaign. The initial goal was $10,000, but ended up with over $54,000 from 465 backers. According to BizJournals.com. Flora raised a further $100,000 in pre-seed funding from former colleagues at Reverb.
After Shark Tank
Before the show, the company had 270,000 app users from over 200 countries. With Shark Tank’s reach, the number of users should increase by at least 20% over the next month. Currently, Flora’s already makes $150,000 in annual recurring revenue as reported by Entrepreneur Center. The deal with Lori should close soon unless it fails due diligence.
The recurring revenue aspect of the business is a key driver of growth but they’ll need to become profitable soon. You can buy the smart plant coach for $59.99 on Amazon and FloraSense.com. To take advantage of the hype, the business has a 15% discount sale on their website.
The Flora pod has 5-star ratings from 25 customers on their website, while its dedicated app has an average rating of 4.2 stars from 742 reviews on the Google Play Store. The free app can identify over 10,000 plant species but there’s an optional $20 subscription to unlock premium features.
De’s company entered the Tank in hopes of getting help to expand operations. Part of that is adding a gaming element to their app. However, the primary goal is to market Flora pods to professional gardeners and farmers.
Currently, they are working to get the patent approved for the four-layer moisture sensor. When all falls into place, Flora may find a good spot in the indoor plants market that’s forecasted to reach $27.51 billion in 2030.
