Tech startups are getting deeper into urban agriculture and food. Boston-area companies like Freight Farms and Grove Labs are building businesses around apps and sensors that can monitor growing conditions in indoor spaces like homes and shipping containers. The idea is to grow vegetables using less water and land than a traditional farm. Now the jury’s still out on whether the sector will really take off beyond niche applications and high-end supermarkets. But the potential is there to provide more locally grown produce---and, eventually, to help feed more of the world’s growing urban population.
In other innovation news:
— Tokai Pharmaceuticals is the latest biotech to file for an IPO. The Cambridge company, which has raised more than $85 million in venture funding, is developing an oral pill to treat prostate cancer.
— Our deal of the week is a $16 million funding round for Seventh Sense. The Harvard and MIT startup is getting money from Novartis and others to develop a new way of doing blood tests without needles or pain.
— And lastly, what went wrong with MIT fuel-cell spinout Lilliputian Systems? The 13-year-old company is shutting down after raising $150 million, because it got bogged down in delivering its product---and the consumer electronics market shifted. So, despite its name, Lilliputian may have been thinking too big.
