Shownotes
Prepare to set sail on a journey filled with adventure, art, and groundbreaking technology with our guest, Rob van Straten, CEO of Skytree. This episode dives deep into Rob's vibrant life, taking us from his childhood in the 80s, through his time in the army, his global sailing adventures, and leading us up to his stellar rise in the tech world. As a lover of art, Rob shares his memorable experiences from the Vermeer exhibition and the captivating stories behind some of the most iconic artworks.
We also explore the intricate path that led Rob to spearhead Skytree's mission towards ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) compliance. For those keen on understanding the inner workings of the tech industry, Rob takes us through his career, shedding light on the highs and lows of sales, leadership, and business management. He openly discusses the challenges of transforming intentions into actions, particularly in the realm of responsible business practices. Rob also sets the stage for us to understand the birth and evolution of Skytree's revolutionary CO2 scrubber technology, originally designed for space but now adapted for earthly applications.
Finally, we delve into the world of vertical farming and Skytree's pioneering CO2 capture technology. Rob paints a vivid picture of how his team has harnessed technology to offer a sustainable alternative to CO2 emissions. From capturing CO2 from exhausts to engineering a machine that directly extracts CO2 at a vertical farm's location, Skytree is redefining the game. Rob also introduces us to Skytree's Total Cost of Ownership tool, a unique approach that helps clients understand the real cost associated with CO2. As we conclude our time with Rob, he shares his perspective on the rising industry of vertical farming, emphasizing the importance of collaboration, faith, and understanding. So, come aboard and prepare to be enthralled by this riveting tale of technology, art, and innovation.
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Key Takeaways
0:00:00 - Discussion on Art and Career Journey
0:13:14 - Skytree's ESG Compliance Journey
0:28:47 - CO2 Capture Technology for Vertical Farms
0:43:26 - Insights on the Vertical Farming Industry
Tweetable Quotes
"We all know greenwashing is sort of an intermediate stage between awareness and really doing things. Oh, let's say we do this. We can defend that with a little bit of fantasy and you can criticize it, but it's also a step, a step in the right direction, and then public outcry on greenwashing will repair that soon, because that's the worst thing that can happen to your reputation."
"There's no choice. But it's difficult because of our climate issue and there's no job anymore. But the difficulty is always that it's easy to talk about what we should do. It's difficult to change your own behavior. But recently we see recognition that actually the world will survive, the planet will survive, but it's people that will be in trouble."
"I just saw the opportunity and maybe that blindsided me a little bit for the risk, you know. Then, yeah, I mean you dive into it because you think you know it's a gut feel we can make this work."
Resources Mentioned
Rob's Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/robvanstraten
Rob's Website - https://www.skytree.eu/
Rob's Email - [email protected]
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Mentioned in this episode:
2025 Precision Ag Report by iGrowNews
2025 Precision Ag Report by iGrowNews
Transcripts
$680 million poured into precision ag last year.
Speaker:Autonomous weeding robots dominated, and John Deere made 2 acquisitions in 3
Speaker:months. A food company, not an equipment maker, bought a
Speaker:robotics startup to protect its own supply chain. The deals are
Speaker:accelerating, the money is moving, and the winners are already separating from the
Speaker:pack. If you're investing, building, or buying in this space,
Speaker:you need the full picture before your competitors get it. The 2025
Speaker:Precision Agriculture Intelligence Report from iGrow News is now
Speaker:available. Get your copy today at
Speaker:igrownews.com/precision. Our next step in the
Speaker:journey is to go into other use cases that
Speaker:are also super important— production of protein or
Speaker:green hydrogen, or to contribute
Speaker:technology to all these removal projects that are now all inventing
Speaker:the wheel. So we will, in my vision, supply technology to all
Speaker:those projects as well. So I feel that it's
Speaker:important and therefore rewarding if you can contribute from
Speaker:what you're good at.
Speaker:Welcome to the Vertical Farming Podcast, weekly conversations with
Speaker:fascinating CEOs, founders, and agtech visionaries.
Speaker:Join us every week as we dive deep into the world of vertical
Speaker:farming with your host, Harry Duran.
Speaker:Vertical Farming Podcast, season 9. Regular listeners to the show, welcome back. I
Speaker:appreciate your patronage, your support. Your
Speaker:referrals, your feedback, your reviews, all
Speaker:of it is incredibly appreciated. And I thank you for supporting the show
Speaker:these past 3 years. If this is your first time listening, you just found the
Speaker:show, someone referred it to you, you just were searching for the
Speaker:topic of vertical farming, or you have a growing interest in this
Speaker:amazing, amazing industry that I've been privileged to be a
Speaker:part of, you're in the right place. Every week I interview fascinating
Speaker:CEOs and founders of the leading vertical farming companies from around the world,
Speaker:and I'm showing no signs of slowing down, having great conversations week in
Speaker:and week out. I'm your host, Hari Duran, podcasting since
Speaker:2014 with my first show, Podcast Junkies, and founder of Fullcast, our
Speaker:full-service done-for-you podcast agency. In case you missed last week's episode,
Speaker:we spoke with Raf Weir of Zaindu. We talked a little bit about his Scottish
Speaker:origins, his leadership and managing through challenging times,
Speaker:the importance of plasma technology in agriculture, which is something that was new for
Speaker:me to learn about, and it's been getting some good buzz from listeners as
Speaker:well. We also delve into what's been happening in the industry lately, the future
Speaker:of vertical farming, and an overall very engaging
Speaker:discussion with Ralph. Make sure you check that out if you have not already.
Speaker:This week we speak to Rob Van Straten. He's the CEO of Skytree.
Speaker:We dive deep into Rob's very vibrant life
Speaker:where he takes us on a journey from his childhood in the '80s through his
Speaker:time in the Army, his global sailing adventures, all leading up to his
Speaker:rise in the tech world. He shares a little bit about his love of art,
Speaker:and we talk about the path that led him to spearhead Skytree's mission towards
Speaker:ESG, which is environmental social governance compliance. And for
Speaker:those, and for those keen on understanding the inner workings
Speaker:of the tech industry, Rob takes us through his career and sheds light
Speaker:on the highs and lows of not only leadership and business
Speaker:management, but the challenges of transforming intentions into actions.
Speaker:which resonates with me always as an entrepreneur. We talk about Skytree's
Speaker:revolutionary CO2 scrubber technology, which was originally designed for space but
Speaker:now being adapted for applications in the world of vertical farming.
Speaker:Rob shares with us Skytree's total cost of ownership tool, which is a
Speaker:unique approach that helps clients understand the real cost associated with
Speaker:CO2. Very informative, very insightful conversation.
Speaker:Looking forward to sharing that with you. Remember, if you are enjoying this episode
Speaker:or past episodes, I'd love it if you leave a rating and a review at
Speaker:ratethispodcast.com/vfb. I'd love to read yours out
Speaker:Hoping to find some new podcast fans, listeners,
Speaker:and potential new guests as I get ready to head on over to
Speaker:the other side of the world. Excited to be taking part in
Speaker:Vertifarm's conference, September 26th through the
Speaker:28th in Dortmund, Germany. So it's going to be a long day of
Speaker:travel for me, but I'm excited to get reconnected with the team at
Speaker:Vertifarm and make some new friends as well. Listen out for the promo
Speaker:details about how you can score a free ticket. Remember, these episodes are always full
Speaker:of great takeaways, and I want you as a listener to focus all your energy
Speaker:on our conversation. So don't worry about taking notes. You can always visit
Speaker:verticalfarmingpodcast.com to read the full show notes for each episode,
Speaker:which includes all guest links as well. Okay, before we jump into this uninterrupted
Speaker:conversation with Rob, here are a few words from the amazing partners that support this
Speaker:show. Mark your calendars for the CEA Summit East in Danville,
Speaker:Virginia, from September 19th to the 20th, 2023.
Speaker:This 2-day event, co-hosted by Indoor AgCon and the Virginia Tech
Speaker:IALR Controlled Environment Agriculture Innovation Center,
Speaker:brings businesses and academia together to help you grow your business.
Speaker:Immerse yourself in a full lineup of research showcases, panel discussions, and keynotes
Speaker:featuring top experts, grower operators, and other thought leaders.
Speaker:Explore the latest CEA innovations from tabletop exhibitors.
Speaker:Enjoy quality networking opportunities. Don't miss this unique opportunity to
Speaker:attend a conference at a research facility where you can get a firsthand look at
Speaker:cutting-edge research projects happening right now and explore ideas for
Speaker:collaboration with Virginia Tech and IALR researchers as
Speaker:well. Vertical Farming Podcast listeners can save 10% off the standard
Speaker:passes with code VFP. Visit
Speaker:ceasummit.com for more details and to register. This
Speaker:episode is brought to you by HortiAgriNext, November 20th to the
Speaker:22nd. In this first edition of the conference, you can expect a vibrant show
Speaker:that'll bring together a portfolio of high-level horticulture
Speaker:technology to the Emirates. With the goal of aiding the Emirates to take the next
Speaker:step in becoming more self-sufficient in their food production, aligning with
Speaker:their 2051 goals. The show is expecting 8,000 to 10,000
Speaker:visitors over the 3 days and will include investors, buyers,
Speaker:curious farmers, government officials, university professors, and association
Speaker:members. Booths are still available and exhibitors are welcome. Partners for the
Speaker:conference include the Abu Dhabi Agriculture and Food Safety Authority, Dutch
Speaker:Greenhouse Delta, and Wageningen University, which will provide a
Speaker:wealth of knowledge and insights. Sessions will include a mix of Emirati and Dutch
Speaker:speakers and will highlight how these different worlds will come together in partnership.
Speaker:Based in Abu Dhabi, the agricultural hub of the UAE, the government's
Speaker:involvement will ensure that companies interested in partnering with the Emirates receive their full
Speaker:support. Co-located with VIV MEA 2023, the
Speaker:premier show in livestock production and animal husbandry, this week will provide a
Speaker:comprehensive look at the entire ag industry supply chain, both vertically
Speaker:and horizontally. So, Rob Brandt-Straten, CEO of Skytree, thank you so
Speaker:much for joining me on the Vertical Farming Podcast. My pleasure to be here,
Speaker:Harry. So where are you dialing in from? I always say dialing in even though
Speaker:it's not a phone call. I don't know, it's force of habit. I grew up
Speaker:in the '80s when people still used actual phones. Well,
Speaker:I remember those days, Harry. I'm comfortably at home here in a city called
Speaker:Hilversum, which is 20 kilometers away from
Speaker:Amsterdam. where our office is. So for the
Speaker:benefit of the listener, we do— we're planning on getting some of these now onto
Speaker:video, but a lot of people consume this on audio, so they don't have the
Speaker:pleasure of the face-to-face interaction that we're having right now. And I can't help
Speaker:but notice you've got some very interesting artwork on your walls.
Speaker:Oh, wow. Yeah. Wait till you see this. Wow.
Speaker:This is made by a Polish female
Speaker:And the blue fish, that's me. Oh, wow. That's
Speaker:beautiful. It is. Yeah, I
Speaker:enjoyed it. Are you a connoisseur, a collector,
Speaker:a fan of art? I just like art, painted art,
Speaker:modern art, but also the old masters. I had the pleasure of being at
Speaker:the Vermeer, the recent exhibition, world famous, as all
Speaker:the Vermeer paintings were brought together in the Rijksmuseum here.
Speaker:So it's just great to see how people like 100 years
Speaker:ago with the limitations of what was available to
Speaker:them were able to create such magnificent
Speaker:pictures that actually show how people lived at the time.
Speaker:And Vermeer is one of the greatest, I would say. I was in
Speaker:Amsterdam probably a long time ago,
Speaker:but I did— Rijksmuseum is in Amsterdam, is that correct? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah,
Speaker:so I did make it there. I think it was probably in the late '90s
Speaker:now, so I'm dating myself. But I had the— I was lucky enough to take
Speaker:an arts and ideas class when I first went to college and university.
Speaker:And, you know, I didn't know, and I was
Speaker:immediately drawn into just the world of all the artists,
Speaker:a lot of Dutch, very famous Dutch artists with a lot of history.
Speaker:And so it was very interesting to just learn a lot. And I
Speaker:really appreciate the ability to appreciate art
Speaker:more. And then when you see it on a book, and then you have the
Speaker:ability to go into the museum and see, you know, Starry Night and
Speaker:Rembrandt in person, you know, Michelangelo's David, like,
Speaker:in person, you know, you see, you have all these experiences. It just completely
Speaker:enhances your appreciation for it once you've done a bit of background and you, you
Speaker:know, like, the background and the story of all these artists.
Speaker:Yeah, and the story of the paintings, there are often amazing stories
Speaker:behind these paintings, who bought them, where they went, and what was
Speaker:painted over because they didn't like certain elements in the painting. That's
Speaker:right. Yeah. So I'm curious
Speaker:about your experience, and you've had leadership positions in
Speaker:many companies, as I was looking at your CV. And I'm
Speaker:wondering, as you were thinking, I'm going to have you rewind the clock a little
Speaker:bit. But as you're thinking about coming out of university, were you thinking
Speaker:about if you can put yourself in that mindset of those youthful
Speaker:days, of your aspirations, of what you were planning to do? where
Speaker:you were looking to move and what you were thinking about a career at that
Speaker:point. Oh, I wasn't thinking about a career at all.
Speaker:Most of us are not. No. And my journey
Speaker:wasn't maybe a little bit atypical as I first served in the
Speaker:army and then I was a sailor for a couple of years
Speaker:wandering around the world. And then the last thing you do is think
Speaker:about a career. So, but when I
Speaker:met this beautiful young lady, I decided to stop with the sailing
Speaker:and started to look for a job. And in those days, it was a little
Speaker:bit different. You couldn't go to, you know, to job sites
Speaker:and the like. You had to go to a bureau and work your way through
Speaker:to little cards and cards that were there. And then, as
Speaker:a sort of maybe even a coincidence, I went into technology
Speaker:first as a software developer. I'm educated as a
Speaker:software developer and system analyst. But then, you know,
Speaker:soon I discovered that writing code wasn't my thing.
Speaker:So I went into sales. And then, you know, from
Speaker:sales, being a team leader, then the team got bigger, a level
Speaker:higher. And soon I became a business unit manager,
Speaker:a business manager running companies. And it sort of happened to
Speaker:me. It wasn't like I had this career path. Yeah, that's the way
Speaker:life usually goes. Is there one story from your days
Speaker:sailing that is memorable that you can remember? Oh,
Speaker:many, many stories. I'm sure you have many.
Speaker:Sharing. But yeah, so I
Speaker:was at a tanker, a small tanker, not an oil
Speaker:tanker, but we transported dangerous fluids,
Speaker:chemicals, and other stuff. And so that brought us to
Speaker:areas in the world where these products were made.
Speaker:And that's not the Western world. Yeah. You get them from very poor
Speaker:countries and then you sell them to the Western countries where they're
Speaker:used in industrial processes. So that
Speaker:brought me to extreme poor areas in the world,
Speaker:and that really opened my eyes and, you know, made me conscious of how
Speaker:this world works and how fortunate I am.
Speaker:being born in the country where I live. Yeah, I think it happens to
Speaker:many of us, especially if we've got, you know, nice
Speaker:households that we grow up in, or we grow up in a first-world country. And
Speaker:I think everyone's first experience with a third-world country, you know, is really
Speaker:shocking and jarring. And I think it sounds like that's what happened to you. And
Speaker:I remember those experiences as well, like the realization that
Speaker:we're on a planet, that we're all using the same resources, and it's a limited
Speaker:supply of resources. And I think when we're in our own bubbles, you know,
Speaker:we lose sight. We only focus on what we need for ourselves to get
Speaker:through the day. And I think it's really, it's happening more and more now. I
Speaker:feel hopeful. You know, we've gone through cycles and we'll talk about that as well.
Speaker:But I think that awareness and do you see that's what was
Speaker:happening for you sort of like an awakening to, you know, this idea that we're
Speaker:part of a bigger planet and bigger ecosystem? Yeah, it's easy
Speaker:to say that now when I look back. So, but those were
Speaker:defining experiences, and then it built up when
Speaker:I was running my own first companies. You
Speaker:know, you start to wander around bookkeeping. So we
Speaker:express value in euros or dollars, right? And then I read
Speaker:about the Treaty of Rome or the Declaration of Rome,
Speaker:where it was explained that while you use things
Speaker:that you don't account for, But that have a price, and
Speaker:somebody will pay the price in the future. And that made an
Speaker:impression on me long before the years of you
Speaker:know environmental understanding, or when it
Speaker:became like more almost fashionable. So
Speaker:but I was always convinced that there's something wrong in the way we
Speaker:value things we produce or things we make
Speaker:because we don't. count in all the costs. That's important.
Speaker:So as you were making your way through your career, which was the first
Speaker:position where you held the role of CEO? That was quite a
Speaker:while back. That was— I've been CEO a couple of times, smaller
Speaker:IT-focused companies in the time that we were building
Speaker:the internet. We were delivering the building blocks for the
Speaker:internet at internet service providers, as they were called at the time.
Speaker:So that was our own first business. We started with 5. I
Speaker:sold it off 5 years later when we were with 100. And
Speaker:I did that once more, internet security. And
Speaker:later I was CEO within a
Speaker:25,000-people company. And then I was CEO of like a
Speaker:1,000-people business unit, running my own P&L,
Speaker:but not being like, you know, the overall CEO. Yeah. I had
Speaker:CEO. business card. Then
Speaker:I was just running businesses and services, but
Speaker:not like the overall CEO position, so not accountable for the
Speaker:finance or the investor relations until recently at Skytree.
Speaker:And I came back in the hot seat, as we say. Those early
Speaker:days of the internet are always fascinating to me because I remember
Speaker:in the dot-com days, everything seemed like this
Speaker:world of possibility. I remember the first time I discovered the internet, that
Speaker:there's something beyond AOL and you're like peeking behind the curtain. It was like, whoa,
Speaker:what's this? Imagine that you would read a
Speaker:newspaper on your computer, right? Yeah. And then
Speaker:the iPhone came and I've been reading science fiction books in my younger
Speaker:years where people had devices that they can talk to each other and
Speaker:also see each other. You know, that was crazy, man. Look at
Speaker:where we are now. I think almost everything that's in Star Trek has now come
Speaker:to pass. Yeah.
Speaker:Do you remember your very first computer? Yeah,
Speaker:I think that was a Commodore 64. Commodore
Speaker:64. Yeah. I had to think for a few
Speaker:seconds. I think it was a Commodore. I'm pretty sure now it was a Commodore
Speaker:64. Yeah. So I remember those early days, like
Speaker:the Atari 2600 days, the Texas
Speaker:Instruments And then later on, I think that was the first one, or
Speaker:maybe, and then eventually moved into Gateway. But it was just a fascinating time. You
Speaker:know, people were just watching like the processor speeds go from like 86
Speaker:to 286, 386. That was the big deal. Like,
Speaker:yeah. I think it was called Moore's Law. I remember my
Speaker:dream, that wasn't at a Commodore 64, that was on an IBM
Speaker:mainframe. I think it was a 3080, if I remember
Speaker:well. I was working at a bank. Okay. Was that punch cards or the
Speaker:big floppy disks? Yeah, no, no, we were switching from the punch
Speaker:cards at the time and we were playing Moon Landing.
Speaker:Oh, wow. You didn't have a screen to see you actually land on
Speaker:the moon. You had like this print output, you
Speaker:know, with the feedback of the data you entered. But yeah,
Speaker:long time ago. Super early days. So as you were moving
Speaker:through your leadership roles, When did you start becoming
Speaker:aware of environmental issues? Because I know before Skytree,
Speaker:you know, you did some work with EVBox, I think it was, and also just
Speaker:kind of this understanding of the impact that
Speaker:industry and people were having on the environment. Yeah, so
Speaker:environment, you know, was a bit bigger for me as
Speaker:I've seen, or I worked at E, S, and G,
Speaker:starting at good governance. A Dutch company that was
Speaker:creating enterprise software for large companies to
Speaker:help them, you know, first of all to have
Speaker:solid accounts under Sarbanes-Oxley after the
Speaker:Enron debacle. And then the SOX, as we
Speaker:called it, the SOX controls needed to be automated. And then we
Speaker:added risks, so risk management became part of
Speaker:those type of software platforms. Forms. And then compliance came. And then
Speaker:I remember we were taken over by NASDAQ at the time. I spent a lot
Speaker:of time in with U.S. customers as well. And then
Speaker:the team became— we sort of had this thought leadership, and I,
Speaker:you know, shared with many audiences around the world: do you have to
Speaker:comply, or should you wish to comply? And
Speaker:then compliance became broader as elements were
Speaker:pulled in, like modern slavery. Or sexual
Speaker:harassment on the workplace and things of that nature. So
Speaker:then compliance became bigger as companies
Speaker:increasingly needed to
Speaker:behave in a responsible way, not only dictated by law
Speaker:but dictated by their customers, because reputational risk
Speaker:became the risk. So I moved into those type of
Speaker:topics. We also had an At another company I worked, we had
Speaker:a big education arm. We educated millions
Speaker:of people in large companies how to behave
Speaker:when you want to comply to laws, whether it's anti-bribery or,
Speaker:you know, child labor or any of these things, conflict minerals,
Speaker:or just to behave in the way that you should because you
Speaker:want to and your customers want you to. So that
Speaker:was my first experience. Then I went— that included G
Speaker:and S. And then I went into environmental by
Speaker:joining a large manufacturer of EV charging
Speaker:equipment and software to support electrification
Speaker:of transport. And all those roles were global roles, so
Speaker:I'm comfortable at the global stage. And all those roles had
Speaker:one thing in common next to the ESG focus, and that is
Speaker:extreme fast growth. That makes sense. I'm curious, when you
Speaker:start to have conversations with companies that are
Speaker:old companies that have historically, you know, not had
Speaker:concern for the environment, you know, you've seen a lot of the stories here in
Speaker:the United States, and I'm sure it's, it's global. And I think it just becomes
Speaker:almost like an awareness and this idea of like, when you know better, do better.
Speaker:And so were you encountering in those early conversations a
Speaker:lot of resistance to people in terms of knowing that they had to
Speaker:change, or through your education, were you opening people up to
Speaker:say, hey, there's a better way of doing things? And then when they see that
Speaker:way, they're like, oh yeah, you're right, maybe we should move in this direction. I
Speaker:think the first step is exactly as you said, you know,
Speaker:sort of nothing, yes, a few people in the audience, then
Speaker:more people, and then people, you know, admitting or,
Speaker:yeah, admitting that they should do something. But then it's not
Speaker:easy to change. specifically if you're not in a big company. And
Speaker:as we always said in risk management, I think that goes for all these
Speaker:ESG-related topics, it starts with the tone at the top. And then
Speaker:the tone needs to convert in being
Speaker:real about it. And we all know greenwashing is sort of an
Speaker:intermediate stage between awareness and really doing
Speaker:things. Oh, let's say we do this, we can defend that with a little bit
Speaker:of fantasy. And you can criticize it, but it's also a
Speaker:step, a step in the right direction, right? And then
Speaker:public outcry on greenwashing will repair
Speaker:that soon because that's the worst thing that can happen to your reputation.
Speaker:Yeah. So now I think, you know, increasingly
Speaker:people want to comply
Speaker:with good behavior as well as rules and
Speaker:regulations and there's something else going
Speaker:on and there's no choice. But it's difficult because of our
Speaker:climate issue and there's no choice anymore. But the
Speaker:difficulty is always that it's easy to talk about what
Speaker:we should do and it's difficult to change your own
Speaker:behavior. Yeah. But increasingly we see
Speaker:recognition that actually the world will survive, the planet
Speaker:will survive, but it's people that will be in trauma.
Speaker:Yeah, very good point. Very well said. So take us back
Speaker:to the moment when you started coming
Speaker:up with the idea for, for Skytree. Who else was involved?
Speaker:And share with us a little bit about that journey. Yeah, so, well,
Speaker:I have to apologize because Skytree is not my idea. I did—
Speaker:I'm not the founder of the company. All right. Yeah. So,
Speaker:but I'll tell you, quickly how Skytree came about and then
Speaker:how I got connected to it. Sure. So Skytree
Speaker:originally is a spin-off of the European Space
Speaker:Agency where there was the International Space Station.
Speaker:Um, and one of the problems to keep the astronauts alive was
Speaker:to take out the CO2 because you know what happens with people if
Speaker:there's too much CO2 buildup. Yeah, in an area and you breathe,
Speaker:so you produce CO2. And this piece of technology
Speaker:was called the CO2 scrubber. And the
Speaker:engineer that worked on that, he started Skytree
Speaker:back in the days with— through an incubator program of the
Speaker:European Space Agency. They got a little bit of money. They were young, they
Speaker:didn't need a lot of money, so strapped way
Speaker:they tried— no, I should say they brought the
Speaker:technology from space to terrestrial conditions. Now,
Speaker:imagine in space, you have vacuum, so you can move around
Speaker:gases. You don't have weight. That makes it easy
Speaker:to build a big machine. You have space, unlimited space in space,
Speaker:and only once from the European Space Agency. That's true. Yeah.
Speaker:Now, you bring it to terrestrial conditions, you have to solve all 4.
Speaker:And that took, I think, 4 or 5 years. And then the
Speaker:first DAC unit, direct air capture unit, was built.
Speaker:It was the size of a book and it did a few
Speaker:grams of CO2 per day. And then they started to
Speaker:look, okay, so what can we do with it? And then they come up, well,
Speaker:maybe we can sell it to people that own an aquarium so that they
Speaker:can bubble the CO2 in the water. And obviously you can't build a business
Speaker:on that, so they went looking for other use cases.
Speaker:And then after investigating this and that, they put their
Speaker:eyes on electric vehicles. And then the thought was,
Speaker:okay, let's build a little bit bigger system that fits in the car.
Speaker:And if you take out the CO2 from a
Speaker:car cabin, similar to a space cabin, then you don't
Speaker:need to get new air from outside. Yeah.
Speaker:Because, you know, when you drive in a car, you feel Drizzly?
Speaker:No. How do you say it? Drowsy. Drowsy, thank you. We
Speaker:say, oh, I need oxygen, but actually you need
Speaker:less CO2 in the air. Yeah, good point. That's what's
Speaker:causing the drowsiness. So, you have to take in
Speaker:air from outside, right? But then, when you take air from
Speaker:outside, you have to cool it or heat it, which costs a lot of energy,
Speaker:up to 30% of the battery of an
Speaker:electric vehicle. So hot or cold
Speaker:conditions, you could extend your range by
Speaker:17%. And Skytree created these little devices
Speaker:that were tested in many cars, and many car makers
Speaker:wanted to be involved, and they gave funds
Speaker:to Skytree as a sort of R&D extension to continue to
Speaker:develop this technology. Until the end of
Speaker:2021, when I was connected with Max
Speaker:Beaumont, the founder, the engineer that started the company,
Speaker:and he asked me for advice as I was working in the
Speaker:EV charging industry. So, well, I
Speaker:told him, you're in a dead-end street. No
Speaker:carmaker will ever buy your Filtermax because, you know,
Speaker:they will not move for the next couple of years because they're afraid
Speaker:for accidents that will happen with the CO2. Somebody dies.
Speaker:Maybe regulations first need to change. And then if they
Speaker:want to buy these small filters, they won't buy it from you. Yeah. Because
Speaker:super big elephant won't buy these critical devices
Speaker:from the mouse. Skytree were with 8 people at the time. And
Speaker:he said, yeah, I kind of know, know this, but I needed somebody to
Speaker:shout it in my ear. He also
Speaker:had, you know, another device that he's built. Years
Speaker:before. And he said, well, you know, instead of taking it out of the car
Speaker:and blowing it in the air, we can also take it out of the air
Speaker:and blow it in somewhere else. For instance, in a container
Speaker:farm, because in a container farm you have a closed environment
Speaker:and you need to supplement CO2 to make sure the plants grow.
Speaker:Visual daylight in the closed environment. And he said, we
Speaker:could develop that machine, right, and then sell it to people that Have a
Speaker:container farm. I said, yeah, for sure, but then you
Speaker:can't build a business on that, actually, because there's only so many
Speaker:containers. You need a lot of funds to build this machine
Speaker:in volume. So, but what if you buy
Speaker:machines that do 5, 10 kilos a day, or
Speaker:maybe 200 kilos a day, you make them stackable, then you
Speaker:have a global market that you do. And Max said,
Speaker:yeah, that's a great idea, and we should. But then, yeah,
Speaker:this is the very short version, but then the conclusion was that I should
Speaker:be the CEO as he didn't have a clue how to build a company
Speaker:that could do that. So we're still dear friends, but I came in
Speaker:as CEO of Skytree, unofficial for a couple of
Speaker:months, and then 1st of April last year, 2022, I was
Speaker:formally appointed as CEO, became a tiny shareholder as
Speaker:well. Yeah. And we started to grow until the Skytree
Speaker:that we're here with today. Rob, what was it about your
Speaker:conversation with Max, you said? Max Beaumont. As he's
Speaker:describing it, and you can see and probably feel his
Speaker:enthusiasm for the potential for what this could become.
Speaker:I imagine you give a lot of thought when taking over a new role, and
Speaker:especially one that's so prominent and visible like CEO. So
Speaker:What did you see in terms of the potential for the technology
Speaker:that was the turning point for you to make that decision?
Speaker:Yeah, what I liked about Skytree and the value I saw
Speaker:was that they actually had 5 working prototypes.
Speaker:And, you know, there's a lot of plans, there's a lot of publications,
Speaker:but there's not a lot of companies who are sort of advanced with their
Speaker:technology. That's only a handful in the world. And Skytree was
Speaker:already at that point. It never had any strategy to
Speaker:industrialize it, right? And to, to build an
Speaker:organization that can bring that successfully to the market and then,
Speaker:you know, service it and build channels and what have you. So
Speaker:I thought, well, that's the easy part, that's what I do. But,
Speaker:you know, the technology was there, it was supported by— I think it was
Speaker:15 patents at the time. There was this small group
Speaker:of great scientists, PhDs, chemists,
Speaker:mostly women, by the way. And I just saw the opportunity. And
Speaker:maybe that blindsided me a little bit for the risk.
Speaker:Yeah. You know, then, yeah, I mean, you dive
Speaker:into it because you think, you know, it's a gut feel.
Speaker:We can make this work. And so fast forward to present
Speaker:day, you recently raised your— was it the seed or A at $6
Speaker:million? Seed of $6 million, still pre-revenue.
Speaker:We will be announcing a Series A in a couple of weeks from now,
Speaker:and that's the only letter that we want to see in fundraising. So
Speaker:we should be cash positive after the next round. And yeah,
Speaker:I mean, that was great as our lead and co-lead investor come
Speaker:from the agritech environment. So our lead
Speaker:investor is a Dutch firm called Horticoop. They are
Speaker:collectively owned by 400 Dutch greenhouses.
Speaker:So that's the next market we will enter into after vertical
Speaker:farming. And then the co-lead was The Yield Lab,
Speaker:also agritech early-stage investor.
Speaker:And, you know, they clearly recognized the value that we could bring to the
Speaker:sector, and they've got an excellent network
Speaker:including hundreds of potential clients. So that was a
Speaker:great round. And I think, you know, the next round, we will be
Speaker:looking more at bigger VCs, potentially also in
Speaker:the US. Okay. Congratulations on that, because I know in
Speaker:this environment, it's not an easy task to do. A lot
Speaker:of hard work, I can tell you. So
Speaker:for, you know, we've been talking a lot about the origin company of the company.
Speaker:And, you know, for many folks, this may be their first engagement with Skytree. I
Speaker:saw that you had a table at Indoor AgTech NYC. I didn't get a chance
Speaker:to connect with the team, but I saw that and I was like, oh, I'm
Speaker:looking forward to my conversation with Rob coming up soon. So is that going to
Speaker:be part of the outreach, a bit of the outreach strategy to just make more
Speaker:of an appearance at some of these indoor farming shows? Yeah, that's spot
Speaker:on, Harry. Until a few weeks back, we operated in
Speaker:what we call stealth mode. So we had this like this
Speaker:not so super clear website and, you know, we
Speaker:didn't have any materials to share. And so we've been preparing
Speaker:that behind the scenes. And a couple of weeks back, we launched our new
Speaker:website and we started to attend conferences, speaking at
Speaker:conferences, exhibitions, being out there
Speaker:connecting to potential clients. I was interviewed by
Speaker:TechCrunch, which was nice, nice article, by the way,
Speaker:with the editor Tim. And then we sent out a press release on our
Speaker:successful closing of the funding round. And that all happened in one
Speaker:week. And then in that same week, we were at the
Speaker:Green Tech— and the Green Tech is often referred to as
Speaker:the controlled environment agriculture innovation
Speaker:conference and exhibition— over 500 exhibitors there,
Speaker:very international, right here in Amsterdam. And we
Speaker:won the Concept and Innovation Award. So, that was really the
Speaker:icing on the cake. Since then, it's been busy.
Speaker:Yeah, yeah, I imagine. That's great. Yeah, I'm definitely noticing more and more
Speaker:visibility for the company, especially in the news. I know iGrow
Speaker:featured you as well. So, for the listeners that are new to
Speaker:this technology to understand the benefits,
Speaker:who is an ideal client for Skytree?
Speaker:And, in terms of— and maybe you can explain some of the different ways
Speaker:farms or anyone who could be a potential client to think about how to apply
Speaker:this in their environment? Yeah, so our beachhead market, as we
Speaker:call it, is vertical farming, which will be followed
Speaker:by greenhouses. The difference is vertical
Speaker:farming is more closed than a greenhouse, and in
Speaker:vertical farming, we have artificial daylight. But, in most
Speaker:greenhouses and almost all vertical farms, CO2 is
Speaker:supplemented to the growth area to stimulate
Speaker:plant growth. Often a need-to-have, sometimes a
Speaker:nice-to-have. And currently all that supply
Speaker:of CO2 is coming from CO2
Speaker:that's captured in an exhaust of a large industrial
Speaker:facility or refinery, fertilizer plant.
Speaker:So it feels like that's a good thing, right? So the CO2 is not emitted,
Speaker:the CO2 is Captured and then used in a vertical
Speaker:farm. But if you think of it, so the CO2 is not
Speaker:emitted to the atmosphere. Okay, that's a good start.
Speaker:Then it's captured. The capturing costs energy. There are
Speaker:machines that capture that CO2 that have been
Speaker:made, manufactured, which is a carbon footprint.
Speaker:Then the CO2 is a bit toxic, so it has to be cleaned and
Speaker:purified. Then it has to to be liquefied, then it has
Speaker:to be loaded on a truck, and the truck will bring it to the vertical
Speaker:farm. And, what I found in my conversations with vertical farms who
Speaker:want to be very sustainable and are good people is
Speaker:that they use the worst emissions that there are
Speaker:directly from an oil company. Yeah. And then, that's
Speaker:CO2 molecules on the way until it goes into the plants and
Speaker:through the plants people, it comes in the atmosphere. So these are
Speaker:postponed emissions. And when you make people aware of
Speaker:vertical farming, they say— often say, you're right, or I never thought about
Speaker:it, or but what's the alternative? And what we do is we
Speaker:provide a machine that you can put on site next to your farm
Speaker:that takes the CO2 out of the ambient air right there
Speaker:at the location as an alternative supply. That
Speaker:CO2 will come back in the atmosphere, of course, But now it's not
Speaker:emissions anymore. Now it's a circular CO2 supply.
Speaker:How much of this is an education process for vertical
Speaker:farms, or do you feel like most owners and operators
Speaker:understand the concepts and then are seeing this as a great opportunity
Speaker:to do their part for the environment as well? There
Speaker:are 2 topics that are immediately coming up in any
Speaker:conversation. One is Pleasant— people are pleasantly surprised.
Speaker:They say, oh, that's cool. Yeah, I should switch, right?
Speaker:And then quickly it comes to, hey, what are the costs? Yeah.
Speaker:So, and to help people understanding their
Speaker:current costs, we usually ask a few questions like,
Speaker:what are you paying currently for your CO2? Well, pay
Speaker:50 cents, $1, up to $8. in remote
Speaker:areas. And then they ask us, and what do we pay for
Speaker:kilos of CO2 with you? And then we say, well, first,
Speaker:is that all you pay? If you look at your invoice,
Speaker:you know, oh yeah, no, you're right. No, we need to rent a tank
Speaker:or we need to rent— oh, we pay for the transport as well.
Speaker:Okay, so what's your real price? Okay, so the real price is down.
Speaker:And then how we answer our price per kilogram
Speaker:CO2, we say, you know, we don't sell CO2, we sell you a
Speaker:machine and you generate your own CO2 and you take it from
Speaker:the air. So it depends on, you know, your years of
Speaker:machine depreciation in your P&L, what your price per
Speaker:kg is. But you should think differently. But hey, if you want
Speaker:to calculate it back to a price per kilogram, here's a nice
Speaker:little tool. Fill in your data. and then it calculates
Speaker:your price per kilogram CO2 based on the values you
Speaker:put in, what you currently pay, your length of depreciation, and all
Speaker:those good things. That is your data. We just sell
Speaker:you the machine. Yeah, what I've seen with services like this is
Speaker:providing people with the tools to educate themselves, calculators to
Speaker:figure out the real cost for these, because there's a lot of numbers tossed around
Speaker:in this industry about benefits and, you know, coming back to the
Speaker:greenwashing as well. So, you know, I think a lot more companies are being careful
Speaker:about what they promise in terms of— and as opposed to, you know, what's being
Speaker:delivered? 100%. And that's really in the
Speaker:culture of Skytree. We're very down-to-earth people here,
Speaker:a lot of very smart and young people. They are truly
Speaker:purpose-driven, so they wouldn't feel comfortable if we would take the
Speaker:marketing route. But we're not— yeah, we're business people as well,
Speaker:so we need to sell our equipment. So we provide
Speaker:like these little instruments like we call it the TCO tool,
Speaker:total cost of ownership, that we just spoke about. And the other tool
Speaker:that we're soon introducing is the carbon footprint tool.
Speaker:So you can fill in your current supply chain,
Speaker:you get our data, our LCA, life cycle analysis
Speaker:data, and ours is scientifically referenced and backed.
Speaker:It's made by scientists, not by salespeople. So
Speaker:people the carbon gain if they would switch
Speaker:from their current fossil fuel-based CO2 supply to
Speaker:taking CO2 from the ambient air. What would it do for their carbon footprint?
Speaker:So we help them with that. Obviously, some— for some folks, it's a
Speaker:lot of education process. So are you getting good conversations and the
Speaker:feedback from your team in these conferences as people come to the booth and they
Speaker:learn more about what Skytree does? It's very positive. It's like a
Speaker:warm bath. Every conversation we have People understand.
Speaker:You just need to make them aware, as we just spoke about. And
Speaker:increasingly people are aware, so they approach us, and
Speaker:because they've heard about us, I've seen it. And it's, yeah, it's
Speaker:almost, you know, if you pay less per kilogram
Speaker:CO2, if you improve your carbon footprint and you don't have to
Speaker:order these cylinders anymore and offload them and connect them, so it's
Speaker:more convenient, there's no reason to not switch.
Speaker:Yeah, makes a lot of sense. Talk a little bit about
Speaker:the roadmap. You know, I'm sure some of this stuff, you know, you'll have to
Speaker:release when it's ready for public consumption. But what can you talk about in terms
Speaker:of what you have planned for, you know, everything moves so fast in this
Speaker:industry. So I'll just have you go out maybe 6 months, you know, to a
Speaker:year. What are you thinking? Yeah, a year is a long time, but 6
Speaker:months we have visibility on. Yeah, 6 months.
Speaker:Yeah, in a couple of months we will open shop, as we say. We will
Speaker:start selling as we're ready for it and process
Speaker:purchase orders for our 10-kilogram-a-day unit. And
Speaker:you can stack them if you need 20 or 30. Then we will
Speaker:start delivering from production, from volume
Speaker:production, at the end of this year. And there's
Speaker:healthy appetite from both vertical farms as well as
Speaker:the turnkey providers to vertical farms.
Speaker:And some of the leading companies there will
Speaker:integrate Skytree units in their farm concepts
Speaker:instead of designing it to take these metal cylinders that we
Speaker:were talking about. That makes a lot of sense. So I ask this
Speaker:question and I always get a different answer depending on where the company is
Speaker:in the moment, but what is a tough question you have had to ask
Speaker:yourself recently? Well,
Speaker:what the hell I was doing here when we met another roadblock.
Speaker:You know, when we look back, we always laugh about it and we became more
Speaker:confident, but we had like these 6 or 7 roadblocks.
Speaker:We call it, you know, the filter lifetime panic or the ammonia
Speaker:crisis. You know, we all gave it names. Then, you know,
Speaker:we do simulations, build prototypes. and pilot units, and then we
Speaker:come across a new roadblock that we didn't see coming. And then
Speaker:sometimes, yeah, you get a little bit desperate. And my wife
Speaker:knows, she knows when there's something. Oh yeah. Oh yeah.
Speaker:So then I have to confess. You
Speaker:can't hide it. Yeah. And
Speaker:then, you know, a couple of weeks later you can, you know, announce
Speaker:that this is another hurdle we took. So for the Model 10
Speaker:that we're introducing, all roadblocks been jumped over.
Speaker:So, we're moving to production, and then there's a bigger model,
Speaker:and then the journey will start again. Yeah. You have to come up with more
Speaker:creative names for those roadblocks when they happen.
Speaker:Rob, when you think about your journey and everything that you've— all the
Speaker:paths you've taken to get you where you are today and in this
Speaker:position with this initiative, doing this work,
Speaker:You know, hindsight is 20/20, obviously, but why do you think you're
Speaker:here and why— what motivates you, like, to be here now doing
Speaker:this work? So first and
Speaker:foremost, it's the value that I can bring
Speaker:with all my experience to a company that I
Speaker:consider as an important company. Our next step in the journey is
Speaker:to go into, you know, other use cases that are
Speaker:also super important, like production of protein or
Speaker:green hydrogen, or to contribute technology
Speaker:to all these removal projects that are now all inventing the wheel.
Speaker:So we will, in my vision, supply technology to all those projects as
Speaker:well. So I feel that's important and
Speaker:therefore rewarding if you can contribute from what
Speaker:you're good at. So I'm not a CEO who wants to do everything. that
Speaker:I also can do. I want to do the things that I'm good at.
Speaker:And those are based on, you know, experience and
Speaker:ability to inspire people, help people. So
Speaker:we're a very kind environment to work in. We've got
Speaker:50 full-time employees with a 1-on-1 gender balance, a
Speaker:lot of nationalities here. Yeah. People are not working until
Speaker:11 at night. You know, they want to burn people out.
Speaker:We are not burning people out, and I'm just proud to contribute
Speaker:and you know get the reward of through the results, but
Speaker:also you know to create an excellent work
Speaker:environment for the people that work here. So
Speaker:so we don't advertise the great things we do in our company like our gender
Speaker:balance, you know because I think that's not
Speaker:what we should do, not use it in marketing. but in a more sincere
Speaker:way. Yeah. And my next step in my journey after
Speaker:I hand over the helm to somebody else is to help
Speaker:other companies to also be good companies, because I want
Speaker:to be responsible for building the company how
Speaker:companies should be. We're back to the beginning of our
Speaker:conversation. That makes a lot of sense. Thank
Speaker:you for sharing that. I appreciate that insight. I always like to leave a little
Speaker:bit of room at the end of these conversations because of the
Speaker:people in the audience that are listening. It's a lot of your peers, your colleagues
Speaker:in this space, the other founders and CEOs. What message,
Speaker:knowing that this is an audience of indoor farming enthusiasts and
Speaker:champions, you know, any thoughts come to mind for a message you
Speaker:have for the vertical farming industry? Yeah,
Speaker:I think I have one. There's similarity in the vertical
Speaker:farming industry and you know, the segment that I operate in,
Speaker:direct air capture companies. And the similarity is like
Speaker:there's a lot of initiatives that want to
Speaker:operate and want to develop technology.
Speaker:And although, you know, that's a logic thing to do in an
Speaker:immature industry, when an industry matures,
Speaker:then you will see a split into people that are great
Speaker:operators and people that are great in tech
Speaker:development. And not every vertical farm can
Speaker:develop the best tech in the world. Correct. Right. So
Speaker:there has to be more sharing of technology, and there's a lot
Speaker:of similarity in what we do and in vertical farming.
Speaker:And but that's— hang in there, that's just, you know, the next
Speaker:level of maturity. But unless you have your
Speaker:tech really under control you know, focus on being a
Speaker:great operator, understanding your customers and all those good things,
Speaker:making sure you have excellent products at an acceptable price.
Speaker:And where you're a tech developer, don't do operations. Leave the
Speaker:operations to operators and work with them, you know, to
Speaker:distribute your tech as widely as possible to drive down costs.
Speaker:So without wanting to give somebody
Speaker:advice what to do, It's just a normal pattern what's happening in
Speaker:the vertical farming industry on its next level of
Speaker:maturity. And that cycle is just starting exactly
Speaker:in the same way in the industry that I'm currently in. And it happened in
Speaker:all industries, or many industries. I think that's an incredibly
Speaker:helpful perspective and a great way to put a sort of a
Speaker:ribbon on this part of our conversation, because I feel there's going to
Speaker:be other opportunities that are coming up to talk and see what's
Speaker:happening. But I think Especially for new people coming in, I think they
Speaker:see the closings of some of these big name
Speaker:farms or the restructuring and they get a little nervous about the industry. And I
Speaker:think it's helpful to have the perspective of someone who's been in
Speaker:various industries, held leadership roles in various industries, has seen these cycles,
Speaker:boom and bust cycles. And so I think giving people, you know,
Speaker:reminding them to take in a deep breath, relax.
Speaker:Yeah. It's going to be, you know, we're headed on the right path. There's going
Speaker:to be bumps along the way, but I think, you know, to have faith that
Speaker:we're all moving towards it in the same direction. Couldn't agree
Speaker:more. So the site is skytree.eu, and
Speaker:we'll make sure all the links that your team provided, we'll put them in the
Speaker:show notes for the listener as well. Anywhere else you want to send the listener
Speaker:to connect with you and the team? No, the website is a good
Speaker:start. Okay, so we'll make sure we share that because there's a lot of good
Speaker:details there about the technology. It's a beautiful site, a lot of good
Speaker:visuals about how the technology works. So it's very impressive, and I think
Speaker:people will learn a lot. I will pass on the compliment to Estée
Speaker:Shaikin, who's our Chief Marketing Officer. She's awesome, by the way.
Speaker:And thinking of her, she will hate me if I don't share with you
Speaker:that we participate in Cultivate. Okay. In
Speaker:2 weeks' time, we're there. Our US team is there. So
Speaker:I'm glad I said that. She'll appreciate that. Rob, thank you so
Speaker:much for this conversation. I really enjoyed getting to hear your story. It's very
Speaker:inspirational, and I love to see all the different ways that people are participating in
Speaker:this industry. So I appreciate you and your time. Likewise, Hari. It was a pleasure
Speaker:talking to you. $680 million poured into
Speaker:precision ag last year. Autonomous weeding robots dominated,
Speaker:and John Deere made 2 acquisitions in 3 months. A food company, not
Speaker:an equipment maker, bought a robotics startup to protect its own supply chain.
Speaker:The deals are accelerating, the money is moving, and the winners are already
Speaker:separating from the pack. If you're investing, building, or buying in this
Speaker:space, you need the full picture before your competitors get it. The
Speaker:2025 Precision Agriculture Intelligence Report from
Speaker:iGrow News is now available. Get your copy today at
Speaker:igrownews.com/precision.
