New AI startup Plantista launches crowdfund for firewise landscaping

Plantista — a new AI startup out of Denver — announced it's launching a crowdfund campaign to fund the development of a firewise landscape AI model, in collaboration with fire, plant and design experts.

Firewise landscaping — also called defensible space landscaping — is a method of designing yards and gardens to reduce the risk of wildfire damage to homes and properties by:

Creating defensible space: By establishing zones around the home (typically 0 to 5 feet, 5 to 30 feet and 30 to 100-plus feet), firewise landscaping reduces fuel for fires close to structures and slows the fire's approach.

Using fire-resistant plants: Plants with high moisture content, low resin/sap and non-woody stems are less likely to ignite and can help slow fire spread.

Breaking up fuel continuity: Spacing between plants, using rock or gravel beds and strategic pruning prevent flames from traveling easily from one plant to another or from plants to structures.

By reducing the available fuel and improving the buffer zone around structures, firewise landscaping significantly lowers the risk that a wildfire will ignite or destroy a home. However, the additional rules make developing an AI firewise model more challenging than a traditional landscape model.

While firewise landscaping is not a new concept, it has traditionally only been available to those who are able to find and pay for a landscape professional trained in this type of design. By partnering fire, plant and design experts with a team of AI engineers, Plantista's goal of the campaign is to democratize access to firewise landscaping for all.

The campaign is anticipated to launch in the coming weeks on crowdfunding platform Indiegogo, with exclusive perks available to funders.

One of these perks will be access to Plantista's current Custom AI Landscape Design tools, in which users can upload a photo and design a location-specific landscape — xeriscape, pollinator or native — in 15 to 30 seconds with common plants available in their area.

"As an alum of UCLA Anderson, the Los Angeles-area wildfires — and the destruction they brought — hit very deeply for me. It was devastating to see so many homes destroyed, and I couldn't stop thinking about how Plantista could help. By bringing together our community to help build an AI firewise landscape model — in collaboration with fire, design and plant experts — we would be able to help preventatively for future fires, which is what excited us most," said Ashley Wright, Plantista co-founder and CEO.

Plantista has launched its waitlist, where people can sign up to receive alerts and exclusive early access to perks when the campaign launches.

Join the waitlist here: indiegogo.plantista.ai

Founded in 2024 by Ashley Wright (based in Denver) and Alex Tandy (based in Moraga, California), Plantista is an AI technology start-up focused on bringing AI to the green industry, including garden centers and landscape designers. With an undisclosed amount of pre-seed funding in October 2024, the company has primarily bootstrapped its growth with tools only available today through its handful of garden center and landscape design partners.

View a launch video from Plantista below: