Canopii
"Grow where you sell. Keep the margin."
Oregon agtech startup building basketball-court-sized robotic greenhouses that seed, transplant and harvest organic greens, sold via franchise.
Canopii is an Oregon startup designing small, fully automated greenhouses that grow leafy greens and herbs near their market. David Ashton, a Cal Poly San Luis Obispo agricultural engineering graduate and former Sherpa Design contract engineer, launched it in 2021; 2024 press also named Justin Gravett as co-founder and CTO. The prototype stands on the Hubbard, Oregon property of GK Machine Inc., an agricultural equipment maker that builds Canopii's systems and, per GeekWire, is opening a plant for volume production. Team: six in mid-2026.
Each sealed greenhouse stands about 30 feet tall on a listed 66 x 37 ft footprint (roughly 2,500 sq ft). In the 2024 prototype Capital Press described, a carousel lifts vertical plant rows to the roof and back, past fixed robotic stations for seeding, cutting and cleaning. Later coverage adds a robot arm sowing into pucks, automated transplanting, harvest clipping into bins and washed, reused cups. LEDs top up natural light in winter; a closed-loop hydroponic system draws water from a single spigot. Official figures: 32,000 lb a year, equal to 3 to 4 field acres; 100 A, 240 VAC supply; three-month installation; installed cost under US$1 million.
Crops include lettuces, basil, bok choy, mustard greens and tatsoi, CCOF certified organic since April 2025. Units are to be franchised, with Canopii installing, training the owner and servicing; a seed round, partly on Wefunder, targets a first commercial farm in Portland's Central Eastside. Reported funding is about US$3.6 million, roughly US$2.3 million of it NSF and USDA grants and the rest from strategic and impact investors including Elevate Capital, ONAMI and VertueLab. The prototype sells to Okta, a McMinnville restaurant; a letter of intent from the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation is reported. Canopii won SEDCOR's 2024 Innovative Product of the Year award.
Primary type & automation activities this supplier delivers:
Canopii autonomous greenhouse
Sealed robotic hydroponic greenhouse that seeds, transplants and harvests greens without field labour, on one spigot.
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Contact Canopii
WEBSITE
https://canopii.us/HEADQUARTERS
United States
Company Facts
Founded
2021
Primary Role
Manufacturer
Company Size
employees 1-10
Primary Region
North America
Annual Sales
-
Funding Stage
Early-Stage VC
Funding Total
$ 3,600,000
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