GrowRay Technologies Highlights Sustainability Investments
GrowRay Technologies, a cannabis technology company owned and operated by licensed cultivators, works to increase efficiency, productivity and sustainability for horticulturalists. During its first full year of operations in 2020, GrowRay collaborated with its parent company NOBO Inc, its investor Sente Foundry on its AgTech program, and other cannabis industry leaders to further the impact of sustainability-focused lighting and technology solutions.
GrowRay’s signature industrial-grade LED lighting system is designed specifically for cannabis by a PhD-driven team of biophysicists, lighting engineers, and photo-biologists. The lights provide substantial cost savings and significantly increase crop yields, according to GrowRay.
Getting its start as an LED lighting manufacturer, the expert team at GrowRay has the knowledge and experience to craft fully integrated systems and technology solutions for grows and seeks to expand its scope of offerings to become an international end-to-end lighting and technology solution provider that is also a producer of cannabis products.
Collaborations and Innovation
NOBO Partnership
A subsidiary of NOBO, a Colorado-based, vertically integrated cannabis company and multi-state operator (MSO), GrowRay develops and tests its lighting solutions in its parent company’s cultivation facilities, providing proof of concept and allowing for efficiency of innovation.
The partnership between NOBO and GrowRay represents one of the first MSO/Technology Company collaborations and allows the partners to develop sustainable, low energy use and environmentally proactive cultivation strategies based on the whole-systems integration and development of high-efficiency cultivation technologies.
In late 2020, NOBO opened its flagship cultivation facility, which boasts 35,000 square feet of cultivation and extraction space in Benton Harbor, Michigan. The facility proves that cannabis can be grown successfully with increases in both quantity and quality with a very low carbon footprint impact. NOBO recently opened their first of five retail, provisional stores, in Michigan as well.
“The Benton Harbor facility is a huge success story for both GrowRay and NOBO,” said Ash Ganley, CEO of GrowRay. “Our joint venture allows us to offer turnkey sustainable cultivation solutions to indoor and greenhouse cultivators worldwide.”
Sente AgTech Investment Program
Through a partnership with GrowRay investor Sente Foundry in Chicago launched in 2020, GrowRay is developing ancillary products to promote and develop technology for the horticulture industry. The joint venture, an AgTech investment program, featured an intense set of activities to analyze and evaluate cannabis technology startups, connect them with projects with indoor and greenhouse customers, and introduce them to an ecosystem of indoor AgTech investors and service providers.
Chosen startups work with the Sente and GrowRay team using a structured process that better prepares them to attract serious investors and customers and places them in a fast-moving, talented ecosystem of indoor agriculture entrepreneurs.
“Through AgTech 2020, we identified and engaged some incredibly innovative and promising young technology companies,” said Ganley. “These startups integrate perfectly into our vision of a whole systems/data and efficiency-focused technology future for the cannabis industry.”
Board of Directors Additions
In 2020, GrowRay added Sente Foundry Founder Serhat Cicekoglu and march5 founder Yoon C. Lee to its board of directors to serve alongside NOBO Founder and President Alan Bonsett.
Since 2012, Cicekoglu has worked with over 450 start-ups and growth companies in varying roles to provide mentorship and guidance regarding business modeling, incubation, and fundraising. He brings leadership and expertise in growing companies across industries to the GrowRay team. Lee, the former vice president of product innovation for Samsung, also brings a wealth of experience to the GrowRay team that will help the company grow its products into a turn-key technology solution for cannabis companies internationally.
Bonsett, a veteran of the regulated cannabis industry with substantial experience in cultivation, product development, manufacturing, retail, and build-out, has expertise that will help expand GrowRay’s impact on the cannabis industry.
“We are thrilled about the additions of Serhat and Yoon to the GrowRay board,” says Bonsett. “Their knowledge and experience of growing tech companies will be invaluable to our success.”
Don Carlos Collaboration
GrowRay also partnered with West Coast-based reggae star Don Carlos in 2020, outfitting his Northern California greenhouse with GrowRay TR6 supplemental lighting fixtures.
“Making a connection with musicians and a community of people who celebrate the positive impact of cannabis is an important piece of our culture at GrowRay,” said Ganley. “This promotional collaboration also gives us a chance to showcase our lights in a greenhouse in one of the largest cannabis counties in Northern California.”
