Inspiration – Vietnam startup develops AI to grow mushroom

The founders, Trung Võ, a Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Sydney, and Khuyên Nguyễn, a Ph.D. in Artificial Intelligence at Macquarie University, established Clever Mushroom with a unique approach to agricultural technology. The startup integrates AI, data science, and computer vision into mushroom cultivation, collecting comprehensive data on the entire mushroom development cycle. Trung Võ emphasized the global significance of agriculture, prompting Clever Mushroom to adopt a business model spanning from farms to consumers' homes.

What sets Clever Mushroom apart is its incorporation of smart technology into farming, streamlining the mushroom cultivation process. Leveraging technology, the startup enables farmers to "produce and deliver to customers without needing to know how to grow mushrooms."

Founder Trung Võ explained the simplicity of the process: All you need is a bottle to grow mushrooms like us. Use your mobile phone, download our app, and scan the QR code. The smart device can understand the type of mushroom you want to grow. You don't need to do anything else; after 5 days, you can enjoy your mushrooms.

CTO Khuyên Nguyễn highlighted the limitations in post-data collection analysis faced by current smart farms equipped with sensors measuring humidity and light. Clever Mushroom's solution involves sensors collecting data on the mushroom cultivation environment and smart cameras capturing images for cloud-based data analysis, constructing optimal models for controlling mushroom growth.

The startup's valuable resource lies in the data collected when users apply the device to the mushroom cultivation room. Utilizing this data, Clever Mushroom develops solutions on cloud computing, enabling the device to make automatic decisions. This eliminates the need for farmers to know when to adjust humidity, turn on lights, or activate ventilation fans, as everything operates automatically.

Addressing the current challenge of convincing farmers to adopt this technology due to a lack of tech understanding, Clever Mushroom established a model farm in Australia to showcase the effectiveness of its smart mushroom cultivation model.

While initially focusing on AI-based mushroom cultivation, Clever Mushroom aims to transition to other crop types in the future. Founder Trung Võ emphasized their goal to provide technological solutions for farmers rather than competing with them.

After successful negotiations with the "sharks" on Shark Tank, Clever Mushroom secured a $300,000 investment from Shark Hùng Anh in exchange for a 15% stake, along with a 6.5% advisory stake. This successful funding deal opens up possibilities for Clever Mushroom to introduce its smart mushroom cultivation technology developed in Vietnam to a global audience.