#StartupsEverywhere Profile: Aamar Khwaja, Founder & CEO, Modgarden
This profile is part of #StartupsEverywhere, an ongoing series highlighting startup leaders in ecosystems across the country. This interview has been edited for length, content, and clarity.
Organic Farming for the Urban Dweller
Modgarden is on a mission to provide city residents with an opportunity to take control of the way their food is grown. After food cured his own illnesses, Founder and CEO Aamar Khwaja wanted to find a way for everyone to access organic, healthy food, and built tinyFarm. We spoke to him about his background on Wall Street, the unique difficulties he faces with a hardware company, and his goals for Modgarden.
Tell us about your background. What led you to founding Modgarden?
I'm originally from New York. Unbeknownst to me, I was sick dating way back to my pre-adolescence, the symptoms of which became debilitating as I left my career on Wall Street. It was food that actually cured me. I’d get migraine headaches caused by my body’s shortage of magnesium—a mineral found in food. Around the same time, I began to investigate the U.S. agricultural system—our farming practices, what goes into our soil, etc. I was horrified to discover just how much of U.S. farmland is being treated with some sort of pesticide or chemical that could cause us harm. Additionally, I found out that the certified organic farmlands we do have are shrinking. And things only worsen as the harmful chemical concoctions we use to grow our food become more sophisticated. I want to democratize farming as it was 100 years ago, put control of food back into the hands of the people, and educate them on the effects of chemically-treated food.
What does Modgarden do?
Growing up, I lived in New York, Toronto, and London, and as an urbanite, rarely ever touched a plant. City-dwellers don't really have the accessibility of growing their own food in a garden or a backyard. So I wanted to create a food growing product that could better fit into a city lifestyle and foster better health. Our appliance, called tinyFarm, helps you grow your own organic greens and root vegetables in your own kitchen. It has the complexity of a Keurig—if you can work one of those, you can work tinyFarm. We took the guesswork out by providing seed sheets with seeds already spaced apart, and when you put that on moist soil, it dissolves away and begins to grow. Overall, it's completely foolproof with no moving parts.
The key to all of this is to re-educate urbanites on their sources of food so they appreciate what our organic rural farmers are doing. I want to bring us back to our roots again, while we populate megacities. It’s certainly a different way of living from our past, but there is no reason our food can’t be as rich nutritionally as it once was over 100 years ago. This is definitely possible.
What has your capital access journey looked like while building your company?
In a former job, I was an analyst and I structured securities so I have a lot of experience with finance. I worked closely with banks, but when it comes to raising capital for my company, none of that analytical experience has helped at all. If anything, it was my acquired confidence from my career and ability to approach everyone, no matter who they are, that has helped the most. Despite this, I've had challenges in raising money. Hardware companies represent a tiny fraction of the startup community, as the most investors today flock to software and SaaS startups. Because of this, VCs tend to be much less interested in being early investors in hardware companies, though Modgarden will get to a point of high revenue, eventually. I'm probably in my most challenging period right now, where we're just before revenue. I've scaled back our ask of $1.5 million to $500,000 to qualify for an angel round instead of a VC round.
We also received more than $300,000 in grants from the Canadian government for our soil research hardware innovation, and have been working with a university there. Though we are a registered U.S. company, I've been largely unsuccessful in obtaining similar government grants here in the U.S. In fact, I’ve been turned down by two different agencies, the U.S. Army and the USDA who, I think, could really use our innovative products. This is a problem— the Canadians seemed more cohesive and organized, and accessing programs through their website, for instance, was very easy to navigate.
Does Modgarden face any trade issues as you manufacture your hardware and source seeds for your device?
We're currently speaking with Thailand and Singapore to find a contract manufacturer for our hardware. I’m a huge believer in the “Made in America” concept, but I haven’t been able to find a manufacturer here yet. I’m hoping for our government to bring manufacturing back to the states. I think if America wishes to compete again, this is a very necessary next step, and I would love to see Modgarden be a part of that future.
Our seeds and soil will be locally-sourced, so we won’t deal with that side of trade. It’s practically impossible to import seeds, but the other reason why we’re locally sourcing is because of the importance of flavor profiles. When you go to a foreign country, say Japan, Indonesia, or Pakistan, for example, the food tastes different there. This is because local food has a different mix of microbes, and we want to honor that. So as we expand, we’re going to use local soil and seeds, wherever that may be, and come up with new programs to grow these different types of food.
What are your goals for Modgarden moving forward?
Immediately, we want to commercialize, then develop the product into different sizes for different types of plants, even dwarf trees. And then we want to work with cities to figure out how we can create closed-loop food solutions with waste regeneration to make a net-positive impact. Cities like New York City have been thinking about this forever, but we actually have a real solution that can reduce waste by 40 percent. We can take your table scraps, compost them in one day, and turn them into a usable soil ingredient to grow plants again. So as part of Modgarden’s Foundation, we’d work hand-in-hand with the policymakers to help drive some of these environmentally-friendly projects to fruition.
All of the information in this profile was accurate at the date and time of publication.
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