Healthy Garden, a City AgroTechnologies franchise, has raised $405,500 from Mikhail Bolotin, a Russian entrepreneur and the founder of Tractor Factories Concern, Rb.ru reported.

The project developer wants to use the investment to launch the franchise at full throttle and also create a virtual training class for business people to learn how to use artificial intelligence to control hydroponic systems.

Healthy Garden offers a fully automated AI-enabled hydroponic technology solution for herb, greens and foodstuffs vegetation. All a user will need to control growth and freshness parameters is a smartphone with an iOS or Android app.

A competitive advantage is new approach to making vertical farms which makes it easy to position the hydroponic systems on irregularly shaped cellars, in basements, or in other unused places.

The Healthy Garden solution is expected to primarily benefit SMEs.

A spokesperson for Mr. Bolotin was quoted as saying that the franchise has already received orders for the new city farms from entrepreneurs in Perm (the West Urals), Ivanovo (Central Russia), and Moscow.

“Today, 90% of greens and herbs in Russia are imported, each batch taking an average of seven days to deliver. That’s more than enough for such delicate produce as salads or greens to not only lose its consumer attractiveness outwardly but also lose part of its nutritious value. Building hydroponic systems in cities where the majority of consumers live, can reduce delivery time by up to 14 times,” the spokesperson was further quoted as saying.