Pre-launch · Detroit, Michigan
Seed to
shelf
in
forty feet.
ModuNode builds modular food infrastructure. Our first unit is designed to grow, wash, pack and cold-store fresh food inside one solar-backed 40-foot container — a container that monitors its own vital signs, keeps food cold through grid outages and connects every harvest to buyers down the street.
← D1 · people inOne 40-foot container · one-way flowproduct out · D3 →
01 — The first build
Grow. Hold. Pack. Tag.
One container.
A grow room with nowhere to keep its harvest is half a business. A cooler with nothing to hold is the other half. Our first build puts both in one insulated shell, with just enough room between them to wash, grade, pack and tag what it grows — built to prove the whole loop in a single unit.
~60%
of the capital cost of building two separate single-purpose containers
~26h
of cold-chain ride-through on battery when the grid goes down
37
sensor points covering growing, cold chain, air, water, power and safety
~98%
of rooftop solar used on site, so every kilowatt-hour is worth full retail value
- ~1,150plant sites
- ~4,000seedlings per propagation turn
- 2–4 °Ccold room
- ~18,000 galof rain harvested a year
* Design targets for the proof-of-concept build, not yet measured results. We'll share validated numbers as testing progresses.
02 — How it works
People in one door.
Product out the other.
Entry and cold storage are sized by what they do; the production core between them is sized by what it grows. The zones line up in the order food moves, so nothing ever travels backwards.
← D1 · people in, seedlings outproduct out · D3 →
In · Entry
Biosecurity first.
An airlock with boot wash, hand station and positive air pressure keeps pests out of the growing hall. People only ever come in here.
01 · Propagate
Start small.
Seedlings root on heated benches, then step forward into the grow hall. Saleable starts leave by the front door — never through the cold chain.
02 · Grow hall
The heart of it.
Hydroponic channels under a full LED canopy: the largest zone, sized at the core.
03 · Pack
Minutes matter.
Wash, grade, weigh and lot-tag right against the cold room, so the gap between washing and chilling — the gap that decides shelf life — is a few steps.
04 · Cold
Chill, then ship.
A 2–4 °C cold room at the shipping end. Food enters the cold chain once and leaves through the original cargo doors, never re-entering a production zone.
Life moves pretty fast. So does field heat.
03 — Inside the box
It watches itself.
It answers to you.
Sense
Live vitals, on board.
Product temperature, humidity, door state, nutrient levels, air quality and power flows stream to an on-board tablet and to your phone. The temperature log runs continuously and exports on demand — the food-safety record, written as it happens. Critical alarms escalate from app to text.
- Cold room3.1 °C
- Humidity91 %
- Cold-room doorClosed
- Nutrient EC1.8 mS/cm
- Nutrient pH6.1
- Battery86 %
Illustrative display · simulated values
Trace
Every harvest, accounted for.
At the pack bench each harvest is weighed, labeled and logged with a lot tag, then offered to co-op grocers, kitchens and markets nearby — a farm-to-buyer connection built for the fresh-produce gap most store systems leave unmanaged.
Holy basil (tulsi)
- Net
- 2.4 kg
- Held at
- 3 °C
- Path
- Grow → Pack → Cold
Illustrative label
Endure
The cold stays on.
Rooftop solar and lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries feed a smart load center. When the grid drops, grow lights shed first — plants shrug off a day or two of darkness — while the cold room, controls and circulation run on battery for about a day.
Stays on
- Cold room
- Controls + sensors
- Circulation
Sheds first
- Grow lights
- Climate + air
- Work lights
Battery≈ 26 h
Outage priority · design intent
Human in the loop, always. Sensors monitor, log and alarm. Dosing, batch release and shipping stay human decisions — nothing on board closes a loop on its own.
- Rain catchment, filtered + UV-treated
- Reclaimed-brick rainscreen
- Continuous exterior insulation
- Cold-climate heat pump + energy recovery
- Built for Great Lakes winters
04 — The platform
One chassis.
Every mission.
Every unit shares the same container base, mounting grid and power bus. One unit can serve a single lot; several snap together into a campus — the way a mineral forms, one crystal repeated until the lattice holds its own structure.
First buildOn the roadmap
Modular. Transformable. More than meets the eye.
Built for Co-op grocersFood hubsUrban farmsSchools + campusesLand trustsCommunity developers
05 — Investors + funding partners
Help us build
the first one.
ModuNode is pre-launch and in its funding phase, so we're keeping the details close for now. We welcome conversations with investors, grant-makers and strategic partners who share the mission — the full design package is available under NDA.
- Layout + zoning
- Energy model
- Sensor schedule
- Planning-grade economics
But you don't have to take our word for it.
06 — Stay in the loop
Get on
the list.
Build updates, pilot milestones and first word when host-site and partnership conversations open. Roughly monthly. Never spam.
Who you gonna call? info@modunodes.com
MODUNODE
Seed to shelf in forty feet
“I love it when a plan comes together.”— Hannibal Smith, The A-Team · 1983