Telecoms giant Vodafone has awarded £45,000 funding to agritech company LettUs Grow.
The Bristol firm is developing aeroponic and vertical farming techniques and won £35k as part of Vodafone’s Techstarter awards along with £10k from its Techstarter Champions award.
Jack Farmer, co-founder and operational lead at LettUs Grow, said: “We are seriously excited to be working with Vodafone.
“As much as the funding is incredibly useful, we are particularly keen to collaborate with them from a technical and a commercial standpoint. That mentorship is really going to help us to develop our business.
“We are looking to work with Vodafone and a number of other key partners this year, to implement our hardware and software and deliver profitable pilot farms – both greenhouse and vertical – before then working with these partners to scale nationally and internationally.
“We are very excited technically to work with Vodafone on both our communications platform and also the application of data analysis in large scale farms.”
Nick Jeffery, chief executive at Vodafone UK, said: “The range and calibre of the Vodafone Techstarter winners show that the UK is home to a thriving social tech sector.
“We believe some of the biggest challenges in society can be addressed using technology and innovation.
“These awards are just one way we can recognise, celebrate and support start-ups developing and using technology as a force for good.”