Auk to raise NOK 13 million in equity, loans and grants.

Auk, an Oslo, Norway-based startup working on a tech for making it easy to grow plants indoors, announced completing a financin round closed at NOK 13 million ($1.5M).

The money represents a combination of NOK 7 million ($800k) in equity raised from MP Pension, Jeremy Gerst (CFO of Airthings), and Spond founder Per-Otto Wold, a loan of NOK 4 million from DNB and NOK 2 million in grants from Innovation Norway.

Auk, founded in 2018 by CEO Didrik Dimmen and Marius Aabel, developed a tech product that automatically provides plants the right amount of light, water and nutrition, all year round, with minimal human input. The product costs around $500k a piece and the company says it already pre-sold 4,000 units. The sales process is online D2C.

Auk previously raised $1.2 million in 2021 and $220k in an investment round from StartupLab and angel investors in 2019. Investors in the company include Eirik Rime from Tise, angel network Founders & Fools led by Daniel Fossum, Christian Rokseth & Co from the Stavanger-based Sprettert, Martin Schütt via Askeladden & Co, Per Haug Kogstad a co-founder of the video conferencing company Pexip, Finn Gjedebo / Sobra AS as well as Truls Brataas, founder and general manager of the backpack manufacturer Douchebags.