about · seattle, wa
We kept killing plants. Then we taught a camera to help.
Fernfriend started in a gray Seattle winter with a 60-plant apartment, a spreadsheet, and a question: what if the plant could just tell you what it needs?
What we believe
Plant care advice fails because it is generic. A plant does not live in “bright indirect light”; it lives by your east window, three feet back, in a damp Pacific Northwest October.
Modern vision models can finally see what a plant is and how it is doing. We are building the calm, honest companion on top of that: one that knows your plants, admits when it is unsure, and flags anything that could hurt your pets.
We work on Fernfriend full time, from Seattle.
The founders
Maya Lindqvist
Co-founder and CEO
Maya spent seven years leading consumer product teams in Seattle and kept a 60-plant apartment alive through four gray winters by keeping a spreadsheet. Fernfriend is that spreadsheet, finally grown up and able to see.
Rafael Ito
Co-founder and CTO
Rafael built computer vision systems for agricultural sensing before Fernfriend. He trained his first plant classifier on photos of his grandmother's begonias and still reviews every diagnosis prompt himself.
Company
Fernfriend Inc., a Delaware C-Corp
Headquarters
2033 6th Ave, Suite 820, Seattle, WA 98121
Founded
March 2024, team of 8 people
Stage
Pre-Seed, building AI full time
Want to grow with us? See open roles, say hello, or follow Fernfriend on LinkedIn.