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Optimal
Autonomous sustainable greenhouses
- 1-20 employees
- B2B
- Lifestyle
- Sustainability
- Food
- Deep Tech
- Agriculture
- Hammersmith, London, UK
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Company mission
To grow safer, healthier food by deploying autonomous, sustainable greenhouses outside every city on earth.
Our take
Producing larger quantities of food will only become increasingly necessary as the global population grows and is expected to hit 10 billion people by 2050. Consequently, we will need to produce 70% more food to feed them. Optimal is an early-stage ag-tech startup that believes high-tech greenhouses are the future of agriculture and will help solve this pressing problem.
Optimal's greenhouses use the land effectively, secure the food system against extreme weather conditions, and are working towards being fully autonomous. Through doing so, they can produce large quantities of food in comparison to traditional agriculture.
The company consists of a team of engineers and scientists from top institutions. Moving forwards, they are focused on developing their combination of machine learning and modern control systems in order to operate/manage greenhouses at scale. The next step for the company is to expand internationally.
Kirsty
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Benefits
- A competitive salary and benefits package, including share options so that you are rewarded as we succeed
- £500 annual budget for training and personal development to attend conferences or courses, or spend on books or coaching etc
- Regular social events paid for by the company e.g., board games night, wine tasting.
- 25 days holiday (plus public holidays)
- A set of benefits to help you look after your physical and mental wellbeing
Company values
- Mission - we are determined to build a more sustainable way of growing food
- Learning - working to improve at what we do and being open to feedback
- Trust - we think a high performance team requires trusting each other to deliver
Funding (1 round)
Sep 2020
$1.7m
GRANT
Total funding: $1.7m
This company has top investors
Leadership
David Hunter
(CEO)Studied Computer Science at the University of Oxford. Previously Royal Air Force Pilot Training at Royal Air Force and Head of Algorithmic Trading Product and Quantitative Strategies at Deutsche Bank.
People progressing
Richard holds a PhD in Control Theory from Oxford and has startup experience via a YC fellowship and EF. Having joined Optimal as a Senior Engineer he progressed to Product Lead and then CTO.
Graeme is a fully chartered engineer with a PhD in applied control from the University of Cambridge. After joining the company as a Senior Engineer he was promoted to Lead and then Principal Engineer.
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion at Optimal
- At Optimal, our people are the key to our success and we believe that a great workplace is one that is diverse and inclusive, where everyone can thrive. Whatever your gender identity, race, nationality, sexuality, disability or any of the other things that makes you who you are, we will treat you equally before and after you join Optimal