As rain fell outside, more than 120 people filed into the Questrom School of Business auditorium last Thursday for the third annual Innovate@BU Cannabis Start-Up Competition. The popular event provides a platform for BU-led start-up teams to present their businesses in a think-tank-style competition, with a prize of $10,000 and mentoring help up for grabs.
This year’s winner was Trella Technologies, a company founded in 2016 by Aja Atwood and Andres “Dre” Chamorro III that offers an automated horizontal plant-training system aimed at easing the process of indoor cannabis production. The device uses low-stress training to “automatically train a tall plant to grow in a small space,” Atwood explained.
The system enables growers who use a vertical stacking setup to more easily manage the plants and increase their growing capacity. Trella has also developed an app that helps users track the progress of their plants. Atwood collaborated with BU alums Nina Hrebenko (CAS’13, GRS’17) and Angela Pitter (ENG’86). For Atwood, the win was a validation of her years of work.
“It means that I’m not crazy,” she said. “People understand what we’re doing and see value. The judges are highly respected in this space, so to have their input, to have their feedback, really helps legitimize the ideas that we’re trying to do. It’s the very beginning step—this will help us move on to the next stage.”
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