Naturethings Marrying Ai And Greenery Urban Spaces
Amid the Covid pandemic, the world was forced to adapt to a new way of life, with many people finding themselves working from home indefinitely. For fourth-generation gardener Nalini Veeraghanta, this shift brought about a renewed appreciation for nature and the outdoors. However, despite most people claiming to love plants, Veeraghanta noticed a common statement – they didn’t have time to care for plants or possess the innate talent for gardening.
“Plants are living beings, unlike a piece of furniture that we can neglect,” says Veeraghanta. “We found that service and maintenance were the biggest challenges for most people.” To address this issue, she founded Naturethings in April 2021, a “nature-as-a-service” platform that assists clients with the care and maintenance of their plants. Powered by artificial intelligence (AI), the platform caters to the needs of urban dwellers.
Initially, Naturethings used a WhatsApp chatbot to provide regular check-ups and health scans of plants. The platform later expanded to include programs that encourage daily interactions with green spaces. As the platform gained popularity and built a community of over 15,000 followers, the AI was able to learn quickly and develop more advanced features.
As more people began returning to offices after Covid restrictions were lifted, there was a surge in demand from corporates for green spaces in their offices. This prompted Naturethings to launch a B2B (business-to-business) platform to cater to the commercial sector.
With Naturethings’ evolution, others were convinced of its business model, leading to the growth of the founding team. One of the first members to join was Veeraghanta’s college friend, Ashwin Dhanasri, who came on board as the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) in 2021. Pavan Veeraghanta, Nalini’s brother and a construction and sustainability expert in UAE, quit his job to join Naturethings as the Chief Operating Officer (COO) in 2022, bringing his expertise in operations and sustainability.
Naturethings’ expansion into landscape design led to the addition of Kenneth Lim to the founding team in 2023. Lim, a self-taught landscape designer and horticulturist, also has a background in technology, making him the perfect bridge between the two fields. He adds, “Traditionally, people in horticulture know little about tech, and people in tech know little about plants. I’m the natural bridge between the tech and natural worlds.”
Lim’s interest in plants and gardens was passed down to him through generations, similar to Veeraghanta’s. Inspired by his grandfather and father, who were avid gardeners, Lim developed a passion for plants from a young age. The same goes for Veeraghanta, whose great-grandmother held a PhD in Botany, and both of her grandmothers were avid gardeners as well.
Unlike her family members, Veeraghanta opted for a different path, working in leadership roles in multinational companies before joining Antler, where she was selected as an “entrepreneur in residence” and developed the idea for Naturethings. However, the business model has evolved since then.
Naturethings has been contracted to provide landscape design and biophilic design in numerous corporate offices, such as the offices of a Fortune 500 company in Paya Lebar Quarter (PLQ) Tower 3 and Six Battery Road in Singapore. To cater to the clients’ needs and goals, the firm created a digital twin of the office space and installed sensors to monitor the plants’ health. This innovation enables clients to track everything on a dashboard and deploy optimal solutions through AI models.
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With the success of their B2B platform, Naturethings is now eyeing the hospitality sector. Lucrum Capital is in talks with Naturethings to pilot their digital twin technology to manage green spaces in the upcoming Mama Shelter Singapore hotel. Additionally, Naturethings will also manage an urban farm on the hotel rooftop, offering farm-to-table and farm-to-bar experiences.
Naturethings has even won the Insead Business as a Force for Good Award in 2024. Veeraghanta states, “As a tech company, we are a pioneer in urban nature-based solutions. We see our role as enabling a dated, fragmented industry of biophilic design and landscaping to leapfrog into the 21st century.”