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Plants can speak using electricity, so this startup built an AI model to decipher their language
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3 min read
Electric Plant, a startup founded by CEO Justin Mast and neuroscientist Lee von Kraus, has raised an $11.2 million seed round to commercialize sensors and an AI model that interpret electrical signals inside plants. Onto Ventures and Climactic led the round, with participation from Ponderosa, Endeavor Catalyst, Ludlow, Michigan Rise, The Fund, Schox VC, and Dug Song. The company has spent three years collecting plant data for Bombadil, a model trained to interpret signals from roughly 125 species, including ferns, redwoods, tomatoes, and dahlias. Its sensors attach to plants with stainless-steel screws that reach the cambium, a living tissue layer beneath bark, to detect microvolt-scale electrical changes. A low-power wireless network sends the sensor data to a base station, after which Bombadil processes it in the cloud and returns recommendations to growers. Mast said Electric Plant needs only a few sensors per acre and prices them in tens of dollars, compared with existing agricultural monitoring equipment that can cost thousands. Customers could use the output to adjust irrigation or fertilizer schedules. Mast claimed the system can increase yields while cutting water use by 20% or more. Electric Plant has not disclosed its initial customers.