Propagate was the first company Seb Lindner started as a formal partnership. He worked with Simon Roberts who introduced him to the concept of urban agriculture.
The idea was to make food more sustainable through technology and an efficient use of land. By using technologies like hydroponics and aquaponics to grow produce like lettuce and tomatoes, it was found that about 40x more food can be produced in the same square area indoors as could be grown outdoors. This is mainly due to the idea that you can grow vertically and use the cubed space. Furthermore, there are no pesticides used (no pests indoors), it uses about 90% less water and most importantly, it’s not reliant on the weather.
In other words, it’s a business model not dependant on an uncontrollable variable. Seb and Simon worked to source underutilised property & spaces in Melbourne and New York and raised a small amount of money for the Carlsberg Foundation.