H﻿ere at Ripe, we're always open to collaborations with educational institutes, because we LOVE researching new varieties and methods to grow plants indoors more efficiently.

So when National University of Singapore approached us to build an aeroponic system to grow Sweet Potatoes in the NUS Agritech Centre, you bet we were stoked to work with them!

The NUS Agritech Centre is an innovative sandpit for researchers, entrepreneurs and visionaries to present challenges, experiments, and explore market-based solutions in agriculture.

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We knew that root crops are impractical in a hydroponic system, but very well-suited to aeroponics, which is of course, our specialty. This is because the roots have plenty of room to grow and are easily accessible for harvesting, making it ideal for monitoring root crops and data collection during the growing period.

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We kicked off our collaboration with NUS with a modified aeroponics growing system, with a deeper grow chamber to accommodate the sweet potatoes. NUS also aims to grow sweet potato leaves simultaneously for consumption, hence the grow space above is also designed for optimal foliage growth.

O﻿ur team headed down to Singapore to personally install and test the system in their Agritech Centre, and here's some Behind the Scenes of how it went down!

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W﻿e're looking forward to seeing the results from this growing experiment, testing and hopefully proving that aeroponics is the superior growing method for root crops!

O﻿n the 26-28th October, the Ripe team made our way down to sunny Singapore to showcase our GrowBots at  Agri-Food Tech Expo Asia!

Agri-Food Tech Expo Asia (AFTEA) is a partner event of the annual Singapore International Agri-Food Week (SIAW) organised by Temasek, Singapore Food Agency, Economic Development Board, Enterprise Singapore, Singapore Tourism Board, Rethink Events and Constellar. 

SIAW aims to gather world’s leading players and stakeholders from the global agri-food industry to share best practices, showcase the latest technologies, to tap business opportunities, and to collaborate towards greater security and sustainability in Asia’s Agri-Food system.

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Mr Alvin Tan, Minister of State, Ministry of Trade and Industry (Singapore) & Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY) was also invited as the Guest of Honour. At the event, MOS Tan announced the launch of the Urban Agriculture Centre of Innovation, established with support from Enterprise Singapore.

We’re also proud to share that Memoranda of Understanding were inked at the forum between Republic Polytechnic & their industry partners, including us here at Ripe Fresh! This is part of the ongoing efforts to deepen #collaboration across the diverse urban agriculture landscape.

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W﻿e even got to introduce our GrowBots, HERBIE and WALLY, to MOS Alvin Tan at our booth as well!

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I﻿t was an honour to be able to exhibit again under the Thought For Food pavilion as a TFF community member, especially getting to meet some friendly faces we've met before at the MIFB expo in KLCC earlier this year! Thought For Food is a global non-profit foundation supporting Agri Food Tech startups to showcase their solutions and strengthen their connections while accelerating their impact regionally and globally.

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W﻿e had such a blast at AFTEA and made so many meaningful connections, connecting with other agri-food players in this growing industry, and working together to ensure global food security. Til next year!

W﻿e had the privilege of exhibiting at the Malaysia International Food & Beverage Trade Fair (MIFB) this year! 

It was the first time the general public got to see HERBIE, our smart aeroponic GrowBot in real life. And we were so glad to hear that other people love HERBIE as much as we do.

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We were very privileged to be invited as a community member of Thought For Food, a global non-profit foundation supporting Agri Food Tech startups.

I﻿t was a great experience being able to connect with many players in the agri-food tech industry and introduce ourselves and our GrowBots to the wonderful crowd in KLCC. 

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We're already looking forward to next year's MIFB expo!

How many of us have bought a healthy houseplant, brought it home, and unintentionally killed it? Well, you’re not alone. That’s exactly what happened to us. We were a little bit more curious though - why does this happen? Here, Ripe was born. 

We started out by trying to discover how we could make any plant grow anywhere. Our search led us to knock on the doors of Nottingham University and to collaborate with their researchers to develop a technology which would help keep plants alive and thrive! Through the expertise of engineers and plant scientists, we researched more than 60 plants, and began Ripe Labs.

Ripe Labs started in 2018 to bring theories to life. We researched farming in 3 conditions: Tropical, Temperate and Mountainous. Results from these experiments were unlike anything we’ve seen before; Leafy Vegetables grew 50% faster with an astounding 58% higher yield. Strawberries grew 30% faster, basil, coriander and mint flourished in our lab. And get this - it all used 90% less water. Now that’s a big win for our planet! 

Our use of aeroponics, which was developed by NASA, made crops grow 60% faster, 3x bigger, and 90% less water compared to conventional farming. Throughout our research, we sensorised our labs, collated the data and pushed the recorded data into our machine learning algorithms. This engine works by learning the best growing environments for various plants. As we continue to grow more, the machine continues to learn and optimise the best growing conditions for each plant. Likewise, if something undesirable starts happening to a plant, the machine learns from the collected data to come up with countermeasures to improve the plant’s environment.

Ripe Technology uses minimum resources for maximum yield by utilising sensors and machine learning to monitor and maintain humidity, temperature, CO2, pH and light to optimize the environment for the plant. Through AI, our technology will be able to predict the optimum time for harvest, detect diseases and deficiencies all while sending updates over the air.

We continue to push the boundaries of urban farming by continuously researching and testing lights, pumps, irrigation systems, robotics and cameras with the best companies in their industries. We project to bring down current electricity usage of urban farms by 75% within the next 3 years.

Remember our house plant problem? You don’t have to worry about that anymore. Through Ripe Technology's data collection and cloud technology, we aim to make home appliances which will help everyone to have fresh, healthy plants, vegetables and fruits - even those that are not native to the current environment. As we like to say, “strawberries in Dubai, edamame in the Arctic.”

For those who prefer to purchase their greens instead of growing them, Ripe Farms will serve the needs of the community by harvesting them fresh from our nearest farm, directly to you.

We feel strongly towards our responsibility in reducing and ultimately eliminating the use of plastic from production to packaging. We will exhaust every alternative and pioneer new methods to be 100% sustainable and as carbon positive as possible. 

We pledge to give top quality, highly nutritious, freshly harvested fruits and vegetables to our customers at competitive prices. We will use no pesticides, no harmful chemicals, and modularly built precision farms in cities for the freshest harvests. 

At every step of the way, we will strive to fulfil our promise of sustainability. Our appliances will be made using recycled ocean plastic, our veggie packs will be sold using little to no plastic packaging, and we will use compostable growing materials in our farms. 

We aim to provide fresh food to everyone as we believe that it is a RIGHT and not a PRIVILEGE.

Pandemics, climate change and pest outbreaks are changing the global food chain.

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With Ripe, let’s grow anything, anywhere. 
The more we grow, the better we get. 
Create a world without seasons with us.

I﻿n partnership with Republic Polytechnic Singapore, the Ripe team built two of our Aeroponic Growing Systems to be displayed in the upcoming launch of Republic Polytechnic's new Greenhouse.

T﻿he first growing system we built is installed in their upcoming Greenhouse, a single-layer Aeroponic system with two separate reservoirs, timer-based aeroponic sprays, and 4 chambers of growing space.

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T﻿his system is optimised for growing aeroponic vegetables supplemented with natural light from the Greenhouse, hence the single-layer orientation. This is our first time trying out a system without artificial lights as well, so we're excited to see the outcome from this too.

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N﻿ot only that, we also built another system to be installed in their Agriculture Technology Innovation Lab! A multi-layer Indoor Aeroponic Vertical Grow Rack, equipped with artificial lights that can be adjusted to suit different plant varieties' light requirements.

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W﻿e were super excited to also be featured on Channel News Asia during Republic Polytechnic's official Greenhouse Launching as well!

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W﻿e hope the students at RP will have a productive research growing with our Aeroponic systems, and we're looking forward to seeing the results of their research too!

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