Setup & onboarding
Unbox, pair the app, install the first trays, and tell us how onboarding actually felt.
Founder 100 Program
The first households, shaping what comes next.
We are recruiting our first Founder households. Grow with Luya X1, bring the harvest to your table and share what works, what gets in the way and what you would change. Your experience will help shape what comes next.
Apply nowFirst cohort: 20 households$899 Founder price · limited to 20 householdsIncludes 16 complimentary seed trays · random varietiesApplications reviewed for fit
Purpose
One question: can an ordinary household keep this going?
We can already grow crops reliably in conditions we control. What we do not know is what happens across many real kitchens, over months, with real schedules and real interruptions.
Founder 100 Program exists to answer that, including the uncomfortable parts.
The machine
The real Luya X-1, not a render.
The offer
$10 to apply. $899 Founder price.
Luya X1 has a retail price and MSRP of $1,099. Approved participants can purchase one system for $899 through the Founder offer, limited to 20 households.
Complete the seven Founder Missions to receive $299 back after the closing survey, bringing your effective device price to $600. If the missions are not completed, the purchase price remains $899.
Each Founder 100 Program device purchase includes 16 complimentary pre-seeded trays in randomly selected varieties.
Founder 100 Program is invitation-based and limited. We select for fit rather than order of arrival, considering household environment, intended use, and willingness to participate.
- Shipping on us
- Shipping within the US is covered by LUYA.
- Returnable
- Request a return within 30 days of delivery; the return and warranty conditions apply.
- No penalty when life happens
- A missed mission for a reasonable reason is adjusted, not punished.
- Ships Oct-Nov 2026
- September is application review and onboarding.
Founder status is tied to the invited participant: not transferable, not for resale. Founder 100 Program is for people who will actually use the product.
A quick sum
What are you spending on this already?
Your numbers, not ours. Most people have never added it up.
2 packs per week
$5 each
A 2 oz clamshell typically runs $4-6.None per month
That's about
$520a year
- $520 on fresh greens
A Founder system is $899 once, limited to 20 selected households. Whether that is worth it depends less on the arithmetic than on how often you actually want fresh greens in reach.
Complete the seven Founder Missions to receive $299 back after the closing survey, bringing the effective device price to $600. The comparison above uses the up-front price.
This compares your current spending with the one-time Founder price only. LUYA is a consumable system: replacement pre-seeded trays cost $2.99 each. Tray costs and electricity are not included in this comparison. Microgreens do not replace supplements or a varied diet.
What Founders receive
Access, influence, and a permanent place in the record.
- Founder pricing
- $899 for one system, by invitation, limited to 20 households. Retail / MSRP: $1,099. Complete the seven Founder Missions to receive $299 back.
- 16 complimentary seed trays
- Each Founder 100 Program device purchase includes 16 complimentary pre-seeded trays in randomly selected varieties.
- Your name on the machine
- Every Founder system is engraved with its Founder's name. The first hundred machines carry the first hundred names.
- A direct line to the founders
- An email address that reaches LUYA's founders directly, shared at onboarding.
- Founder 100 Program status
- Permanent recognition as part of the first cohort.
- Priority support
- Not a support queue: direct access to the product team.
- Early access
- Selected features, growing recipes and software updates before general release.
- A voice in the product
- Founder feedback drives recipe and software changes during the program.
- Founder Stories
- By mutual agreement, a chance to be featured in LUYA's customer stories.
Some benefits may change as the product and operations develop. The binding version of everything here is the Founder 100 Program Participation Terms.
Recognition
CES Picks Awards 2026 — Winner
Luya Smart Indoor Microgreens Grower, selected by the editors of TWICE, Residential Systems and TechRadar Pro at CES 2026.
Read the announcement →
Cornell Rev: Manufacturing Hardware Accelerator
LUYA is a member of the Manufacturing Hardware Accelerator at Rev: Ithaca Startup Works, a Cornell University initiative supporting hardware startups with mentorship, prototyping resources and industry connections.
Growing science: a named team
LUYA's growing recipes are developed with Dr. Zhenlei Xiao (postharvest biology), Dr. Oumayma Shaiek (nutrition and bioactive compounds) and Dr. Muhammad Asim (plant photobiology), with each person's actual scope of involvement stated.
Meet the team →In public
The machine has been out of the building.
Twice this year a Luya X-1 has run in front of strangers: at CES in Las Vegas in January, where it won a CES Picks award, and at Leap East in Hong Kong in July, where we exhibited at the organisers' invitation. Both times the same way, plugged in, doors open, crops actually growing.
This is not a customer testimonial and we are not going to dress it up as one. Nobody in these photographs has bought anything. It is simply the plainest evidence we have today that the device works somewhere other than our own bench, and the Founder 100 Program exists precisely because the next kind of evidence has to come from households.
CES 2026 · Las Vegas · January
Leap East · Hong Kong · July
Who it suits
This fits some households and not others.
- A good fit
- You have counter space, you will actually eat fresh greens, and you are willing to report problems in detail.
- Also a good fit
- You are comfortable with pre-production hardware and software that will change during the program.
- Not a good fit
- You want a finished, polished appliance today, or you want the gardening hobby itself.
- Also not a good fit
- You cannot commit to using it continuously for the length of the program.
Honest reviews
We do not ask for positive reviews.
Participation is not conditioned on liking the product. Negative feedback, bugs and failed cycles are worth as much to this program as the good runs, arguably more.
What we want is real use, real problems, real opinions.
If you post publicly about LUYA, disclose that you are a Founder 100 Program participant and received access to a special Founder price, as required by applicable law and platform rules.
The commitment
Seven Founder Missions over 30 days.
The participation period runs 30 days from the day your system is installed and activated. If a device issue, crop failure or shipping delay gets in the way, the period can be extended. Tell us.
An unboxing video
30 seconds to 3 minutes. No script and no production values required; authenticity is worth more.
Two growing cycles
Capture day 1, progress, pre-harvest, harvest, and a real meal. A failed cycle still counts if you document it.
Two honest reviews
One after each cycle: growing, plant quality, taste, the app, and what disappointed you.
Two interviews
Two ~30-minute calls, around day 7-10 and day 30. Recorded only with your consent.
Report problems
Bugs, crop failures, confusing workflows. Finding these before launch is the point of the program.
Closing survey
5-10 minutes at the end: satisfaction, value, price perception, whether you'd recommend it.
All seven complete → $299 back.
Pay $10 when applying and, if selected, $889 before shipment. After completing the seven missions and the closing survey, receive $299 back — an effective device price of $600.
Risks
What to know about early hardware.
- It is an early product
- Expect software bugs, connectivity issues, firmware and app updates, and growing-parameter changes. Some cycles will fail.
- It will change
- Features and growing recipes will move during the program, sometimes disruptively.
- Time cost
- Two cycles, two interviews, two reviews and a survey, on top of ordinary use.
- No penalty for life happening
- If you can't finish a mission for a reasonable reason, tell us and we'll adjust. Missing a mission does not by itself trigger a charge or penalty on a system you have already bought.
Process
From applying to growing.
- 1 · Apply
- Complete the short form and pay a $10 refundable deposit through Shopify. Payment does not guarantee selection.
- 2 · Review
- We review your application and contact you if we need more information. Your Shopify confirmation records your paid deposit.
- 3 · Selection
- We select for fit and variety of household, not order of arrival.
- 4 · Terms
- If selected, review the participation terms and pay the remaining $889 before shipment. The $10 deposit counts toward the $899 total.
- 5 · Onboarding
- Hardware, setup, and the feedback rhythm for the program.
Questions
Before you apply.
- When do systems ship?
- The first Founder systems are planned to ship in October-November 2026. September is application review and onboarding; that is when we talk to applicants and confirm the cohort.
- How big is the first cohort?
- Twenty households. Founder 100 Program grows in cohorts — the first cohort is 20, and terms for later cohorts are published before those cohorts open.
- What is the Founder purchase price?
- Apply with a $10 deposit, credited toward the $899 total; if selected, pay $889 before shipment. The deposit is refundable before device shipment, and payment does not guarantee selection. The Founder purchase price is $899, limited to 20 selected households. Retail price and MSRP are $1,099. Complete the seven Founder Missions to receive $299 back after the closing survey, for an effective device price of $600. If you do not complete them, the price remains $899.
- Where is Founder 100 Program available?
- The United States only, for this first cohort.
- Who pays for shipping?
- We do. Shipping within the US is covered by LUYA.
- Can I return the system?
- Yes. Request a return within 30 days of delivery. You can try the device at home; return it clean, drained and complete. Change-of-mind return shipping is paid by you, and covered defects are handled by LUYA. See the return conditions in the Founder terms.
- What happens after I apply?
- After your $10 deposit payment, we review your application and contact you with the outcome. Payment does not guarantee selection. If selected, review the participation terms before paying the remaining $889. Unsuccessful applications are refunded.
Apply with a $10 refundable deposit
Checking your application…
- Shipping on usWithin the US
- ReturnableIf it isn't working out
- No penaltyWhen life gets in the way
- Ships Oct-Nov 2026September is onboarding
If selected, you will review the participation terms before paying the $889 balance. Your $10 deposit is refundable before your device ships; paying it does not guarantee selection.
Founder 100 Program, first cohort: 20 households.
Apply now