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Evansville-based agriculture technology startup Anu is taking the next step in the production of its aeroponic smart garden system.
The company this week announced a partnership with Goodwill of Central & Southern Indiana to manufacture compostable seed pods for its Pure Produce system at Goodwill’s facility in Bloomington.
Anu co-founder and CEO Scott Massey said the partnership, set to begin this fall, will allow the company to produce several million seed pods each year.
In an interview with Inside INdiana Business, Massey said Goodwill fit a number of requirements the company had in selecting a manufacturing partner.
“They have a fantastic reputation for high-fidelity manufacturing,” he said. “But even looking deeper into how they’re able to achieve that consistently, reliably and predictably, is their investment in people, in the community. Their focus on working with individuals who may have come from a disadvantaged background and positioning them for success and advancement strongly aligned [with] our model.”
Anu’s Pure Produce system uses rotary aeroponics technology allows crops to grow year-round without traditional farming interferences. The company has developed a residential appliance roughly the size of a dishwasher, as well as a commercial version that’s being developed in refurbished shipping containers.
Each version uses the 100% compostable seed pods that are similar to coffee pods. The system, Anu says, reduces water usage by 90% and eliminates the need for pesticides and preservatives.
Goodwill Commercial Services’ Yost Avenue manufacturing facility will add a single production line that Massey says will unlock unrestricted seed pod production capacity.
“There’s no shortage of demand in this space,” he said. “We’ve always had to be very mindful that we’re never outpacing our ability to supply this innovation to the people that need it, and Goodwill and Anu working together is that partnership to do so. So if anything, we’re now at a point that this proven model, this proven technology…can now support unrestricted growth, which is very exciting.”
Shawn Lange, vice president of manufacturing and contract services for Goodwill, said the partnership is an opportunity to further the company’s sustainable practices while creating meaningful employment for individuals facing barriers to the workforce.
“We get to focus our opportunities on individuals with disabilities, limited education and those who may have been touched by the justice system somewhere along the way,” Lange said. “Every opportunity we have to bring jobs inside that community and allow workforces like Scott’s to help us focus on our people and our community, it makes us stronger.”
Massey said the partnership is a key component in Anu’s commitment to the concept of “food is health,” both from a nutrition standpoint and an overall well-being and productivity standpoint by providing stability in the lives of the workers.
Lange noted that while production will start with a single manufacturing line, the partners plan to add more lines as demand grows. The line will start with about five employees, but Goodwill plans to add up to two more shifts over approximately the next nine months.
Massey co-founded Anu while he was a student at Purdue University before moving its headquarters to Evansville. He said finding a manufacturing partner in Indiana was of the utmost importance for him as the state has been “an incredibly fertile ground” from which he could grow and develop the company.
“We chose to stay in Indiana because of its immense insights into controlled environment manufacturing, particularly appliances,” he said. “Where Indiana really excels at a national and international level is its ability to manufacture at scale. And at the convergence of all those unique insights—the human and the intellectual capital—we found no better place than to do this here in Indiana.”
Earlier this year, Anu won Tech Innovation of the Year at the 2025 TechPoint Mira Awards.
The following month, the company announced a partnership with the University of Evansville to establish the We Grow Aces! initiative, which includes UE purchasing a Pure Produce container to teach students about nutrition, agriculture and sustainability.
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