The company has developed a method to improve cannabis plant yield through lighting and software control.
Group 1607, which develops technological solutions for cannabis farming and also has its own independent growing and processing facilities, has raised NIS 10M to finance its activities. The company has created a system of control and automation for greenhouses, which makes possible to increase yields by 30% and improve the plant’s quality while saving costs and energy consumption. The technological solution is based mainly on changes in lighting, which accelerate the plant life cycle.
The company intends to sell to implement its solutions in own farming facilities as well as to send them to other growers. GROUP1607 is currently working on receiving the approval of the NII.
"Our business lies in a very unique field that connects engineering and agronomy," - notes Michael Naich, a technology developer and a professor of physics and electricity at Tel Aviv University. "It is easy to illustrate the technology’s principle by comparing it to the dairy farming technologies. The technologies I’m talking about have made Israeli cows the most productive in the world and twice as profitable as the European ones, for example. We believe that our solution will make Israel the global leader of cannabis production. "
The company’s main investor is international businessman Daniel Levin. Levin (46) is an Israeli-Russian entrepreneur who has now returned to settle in Israel, after spending a few years in Canada. Levin is a partner in Hanaco Venture Capital that invests in Israeli entrepreneurs aiming at significant markets.
The name GROUP1607 is derived from the fact that both co-founders – Michael Naich and investor Daniel Levin – were accidentally born on the same date - July 16.
The chairman of the company, Anatoli Levin, Daniel Levin’s father is the only Israeli whose name was given to a square during his life, for his extensively help with returnee absorption from the Soviet Union to the State of Israel. He is an entrepreneur and a key figure in the Russian immigration and the Russian culture preservation during the late 80-s:
“The technology of Group 1607 is amazing as it allows all types of plants to grow more quickly and increase the production quality and volumes. I believe that with this unique technology it will be possible to reduce hunger in developing countries in future”.
The Group 1607’s solution is currently being introduced in several large countries around the world and tested in the company's US, Canadian and Israeli labs.