FYTA: A green thumb for everyone
Meet Claudia, Sylvie and Alexander. With their indoor gardening IoT commerce platform, anyone can grow plants at home, learn more about them, and be part of a community of living room gardeners
During the pandemic, many of us spent more time than ever before in our living rooms. A team led by Italian researcher Katia Perini from the University of Genoa has made an exciting observation during this time: people with houseplants have found the contact restriction measures in spring 2020 less stressful. Plants are good for human health, as many studies show. In hospital rooms with plants, for example, patients recover more quickly than in rooms without plants.
Indoor plants do not only look beautiful, but they make our homes more liveable. Indoor gardening is a fulfilling hobby because people are taking care of another living being, strengthening the perception of self-efficacy. And more people in urban areas have a living room rather than a small plot or a garden out front. But the catch is — not everyone has a green thumb. Many people know the feeling when the gardening experience fails to bear fruits — and the most beautiful houseplant degenerates into a sad, withered eyesore in the apartment after just a few days.
FYTA provides data-driven plant care combined with knowledge, inspiration and community
Claudia Nassif, Sylvie Basler and Alexander Schmitt are working to make it possible for everyone to become a successful gardener in the comfort of their own home — with their start-up FYTA, an IoT commerce platform for home gardening. Their platform combines a self-developed state-of-the-art IoT sensor for plants that measures humidity, amongst others, sends the data to the smartphone and is modularly expandable. The mobile app analyzes the data and, with the support of machine learning, helps people take care of their plants, giving them useful tips and bringing together hobby indoor gardeners with a community tool. “Growing a plant indoors is harder than growing it outdoors,” says Sylvie. “FYTA helps to keep the plants alive — and provides knowledge, inspiration and fun with additional features.”
The team of Claudia, Sylvie and Alexander is united by the fact that they themselves are passionate hobby home gardeners. They are convinced that gardening is a fantastic way to experience and get to know nature and believe in the soothing powers of plants. Their mission: they want people to be able to experience nature in their everyday lives, even if they don’t have a garden or a green thumb. “It would be wonderful if FYTA could create millions of gardens in people’s homes around the world,” Claudia says.
An economist, a fashion designer and a developer who took the leap for their idea
That’s why the three of them are now bringing their soft spots for data and science, design and technology together at FYTA — and have left their previous career paths to do so. Claudia has worked as an economist for the World Bank all over the world, among others in Afghanistan, Sylvie was a fashion designer and brand strategist in an upper management position of a fashion corporation, and Alexander is a full-stack developer who worked as a sales expert for hardware and software companies before joining FYTA. Following their founding in 2018, 25 people now work at FYTA.
They plan to launch their product in time for the next indoor gardening season in the fall of 2021 — and APX is helping them to get there. “The great thing about APX for us is that it’s just a very large pool of knowledge,” Alexander says. “Young people, experienced founders, and a super diverse environment keep giving us exciting input from different areas that helps us and our plants to grow.”
Follow FYTA’s journey on Instagram, LinkedIn or explore their website.
