- Ensures peak nutrition and optimal freshness using closed-loop water-saving nutrient systems and indoor environmental controls.
- CEO’s goal is to create an environment for plants to not only achieve consistent quality and continuous supply but also produce true flavours without the use of any pesticides.
Khadija Hasan is on a mission to save the planet and tackle food security challenges in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries by using less land, less water and no pesticides for the products that we buy and eat regularly.
The CEO and founder of Dubai-based agritech startup – Krispr – said that more than 75 per cent of the food has been imported to the UAE from thousands of miles away and is grown with pesticides and other chemicals and it is a resource burden on a broken planet.
Khadija started her career as an investment banking analyst at Merrill Lynch and then moved to CitiBank before venturing into the agriculture world.
Krispr’s indoor vertical farm, located at Dubai Investment Park one, cultivates nutritious and fresh organic produce such as baby butterhead, baby kale, baby Batavia, baby frisée and basil all year round.
“The organic foods we produce can be delivered to customers within a few hours of harvest, ensuring peak nutrition and optimal freshness. Using closed-loop water-saving nutrient systems and indoor environmental controls, we can create the ideal conditions for plants to thrive, so they can grow within urban centres, even in harsh conditions,” she said.
Aeroponic indoor farming
Starting in 2020, Khadija said that the project is in the pilot stage and the products can be purchased through e-commerce platforms such as maisonduffour.com, vegberry.com, shopkitopi.com, casinetto.com and kibsons.com.
When asked why she ventured into aeroponic indoor farming, Khadija said that open farming is dependent on water, soil, air quality, temperature, humidity and sunlight.
“With vertical farming, you can control everything – water quality with reverse osmosis systems, air quality with filtration and purification, light by using artificial LEDs, humidity, temperature, CO2, and use less land space,” she said.
Moreover, she said that her goal is to create an environment for plants to not only achieve consistent quality and continuous supply but also produce true flavours without the use of any pesticides through science and technology.
Reversing nutritional decline
“In a future where water could potentially be the next scarce resource, we wanted to position ourselves to be as water-efficient as possible from the outset. People have realised the importance of organic foods and their health benefits and more people will be opting for them in the future,” she said.
Krispr, has raised $600,000 in pre-seed funding from Dubai-based family office Kaizen and is looking to raise more funding for expansion.
Initially, for sale only to the Dubai market, Krispr aims to expand its footprints outside of UAE and wants to transform agriculture and reverse the nutritional decline.