- CO2 Delivery Solutions help greenhouses achieve up to 30% more plant yield
- To date in 2021, has signed 14 global commercial feasibilities
- Now debt-free with a two-year financial runway
What CO2 GRO does:
CO2 GRO Inc is dedicated to increasing the growth and value of all indoor plants using its advanced CO2 Delivery Solutions.
For decades, the Toronto-based company has noted that CO2 gassing has only been used in expensive indoor sealed greenhouses that achieve up to 30% more plant yield. Higher yields are only possible if over 1,000 parts per million (ppm) CO2 levels are maintained throughout the year.
Even expensive sealed greenhouses struggle to maintain these levels consistently throughout the year, as up to 50% of the augmented CO2 gas escapes from greenhouses naturally and even more escapes when the greenhouse is vented in warmer months.
In response, the company developed its CO2 Delivery Solutions to help all greenhouses achieve up to 30% more plant yield consistently throughout the year. In addition, aqueous CO2 misting offers pathogen Perimeter Protection for plants by slowing the spread of micro pathogens such as E. coli and powdery mildew.
The company's system naturally and safely dissolves CO2 gas into water without bubbles or pressure to create an aqueous CO2 solution which is then misted directly onto the plant's leaves and shoots. The aqueous CO2 solution's microdroplets create a micro-film on the leaf surface, isolating the leaf from the atmosphere. The diffusion gradient created favors CO2 transport into the leaf, regardless of the stomata.
Its CO2 Delivery Solutions has been demonstrated on crops including cannabis, hemp, lettuce, kale, microgreens, peppers, strawberries, orchids, and other flowers. Greenhouse growers everywhere that cannot gas CO2 can now add CO2 to their crops using CO2 Delivery Solutions, increasing plant yields and profits. As carbon taxes rise, sealed greenhouse growers that gas CO2 will have to pay more for their emissions.
The system also offers these greenhouses the ability to supplement their plants with CO2 consistently throughout the year without emitting CO2 gas to the atmosphere and using up to 95% less CO2 through aqueous CO2 misting.
How is it doing:
As of September 2021, CO2 GRO has taken several steps to build upon last year’s momentum by adding additional marketing partners, new commercial feasibility studies, converting existing commercial feasibility projects into sales, and pursuing direct sales of smaller systems. It is also building up its sales force.
The company's clients range across hemp, cannabis, orchids, lettuce, peppers, tomatoes, strawberries, roses, and horticulture products, among others.
To date for the year, CO2 GRO has signed 15 commercial feasibilities in North America, the UK, Israel, Malaysia, Colombia, France, South Africa, The Netherlands, and Japan. Its most recent deal was struck in September 2021 with a major EU-based greenhouse vegetable grower. The company also has sold several commercial installations to the cannabis industry in Canada and the US and expects more deals to come.
Meanwhile, the company has ramped up efforts to target the massive Mexican and Spanish-protected agricultural markets, which are No. 1 and No. 2 in the world, respectively.
In Mexico, the company has been building a presence thanks to its partner RanchoNexo who’s tasked with marketing and supporting the company’s CO2 Delivery Solutions technology. CO2 GRO established its Mexican connections through the Canadian Technology Accelerator cohort program.
Rancho Nexo also recently become a member of the Asociación Mexicana de Horticultura Protegida and CO2 GRO has been selected to participate in a virtual trade mission to Mexico in September 2021 presented by the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade (MEDJCT) in collaboration with the Toronto Regional Board of Trade.
In Spain, CO2 GRO recently signed a non-exclusive sales partnership agreement with Jose Andres Garcia Munoz, a Spanish horticulture and berry industry veteran who has widespread contacts in the country. His expertise is in helping protected agriculture operators improve cultivation practices and yields using new technologies.
Munoz will focus on Spain's greenhouse, tunnels, shade and net house, indoor vertical and crops including floriculture, fruits and vegetables, and other protected grown value crops. He will represent the company at Spanish tradeshows and be a liaison with Ag tech demonstration centres and with local contractors to install CO2 Delivery Solutions for commercial feasibilities and sales.
On the financial front, the company generated record revenue for its second quarter ended June 30, 2021.
CO2 GRO pulled in $91,660 in revenue versus $16,597 in 1Q 2021 thanks to increases in commercial feasibilities and sales of its flagship CO2 Delivery Solutions systems. It also signed $50,625 worth of purchase orders that will be recognized as revenues when its CO2 Delivery Solution systems are installed and operating.
Looking ahead, the company anticipates “significant sales growth” in the third and fourth quarters of 2021. CO2 GRO, which is debt-free with a two-year runway, expects many of the feasibility studies to convert soon into bigger and better sales.
Inflection points:
- Expand footprint in North America, Latin America, Europe, and Asia
- Generate greater revenue in 2021
- Convert feasibility studies in sales contracts
What the boss says:
“The commercial feasibility and sales activity in Q2 is very encouraging as is the accelerated activity in Q3 to date,” said CO2 GRO CEO John Archibald in a statement. “These commercial feasibilities represent a pool of potential CO2 Delivery Solutions system sales as each commercial feasibility is completed.”
Archibald added: “For the balance of 2021, we expect more Canadian Cannabis market direct sales where our technology is being well accepted and our first vegetable greenhouse sales resulting from commercial feasibilities initiated in 2020. Over time, we believe that CO2 Delivery Solutions technology will become the industry standard for carbon to be efficiently added to plants. The global protected Ag facility market is 600 billion square feet. Of this market approximately 99% cannot use CO2 gassing but can use CO2 Delivery Solutions to significantly enhance their crop yields and suppress micro pathogens resulting in improved yields and profitability."
Contact the author: patrick@proactiveinvestors.com
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