Edwin Alias and Ebin Elias

We’re shining the spotlight on GCU alumnus Edwin Alias and his brother Ebin Elias, cofounders of Ufarms.io Ltd. Ufarms provides an intelligent automation and monitoring system for controlled-environment agriculture, including polyhouses and hydroponic farms.

Edwin and Ebin were inspired by seeing the impact that small, avoidable issues had on crops.

“Too often, farmers were forced to make decisions by guesswork or constant manual checks, leading to wasted water, electricity, nutrients, and even food itself.”

Their background in engineering and electronics provided the knowledge and skills required to create a solution to make farming smarter, easier and more sustainable. Combining smart hardware, real-time sensors and a cloud-connected mobile app, Ufarms helps farmers monitor their farms in real time and automates routine tasks, alerting them when action is truly needed. Reducing instances of manual intervention, leads to increases in productivity and savings in time, energy and operational costs.

“Farmers can produce more food with less effort, helping both people and the planet.”

In 2023 Edwin and Ebin were awarded a UK Startup Visa, and Ufarms was selected as a Top 100 startup by Santander X. They have since secured the Innovator Founder Visa, with Ufarms being named in the 2025 Top 50 of Santander X UK.

“Our startup was selected for prestigious accelerator programs including STAC IoT Cohort, Barclays Eagle Labs, TechScaler and Converge. We have an active partnership with SRUC, and we are in discussions with James Hutton University to extend our research and impact.”

Building a hardware-focused agritech startup comes with unique hurdles. Developing reliable hardware takes tim, and sensors often fail under extreme climatic conditions.

“Finding the right collaborators and proving the value of our technology in research and commercial environments has been difficult, and we are still actively pursuing new opportunities. Despite these challenges, these experiences have strengthened our resilience and refined our approach to scaling sustainable farming solutions.”

Edwin and Ebin have found that GCU Entrepreneurial Hub offers a highly supportive ecosystem for early-stage startups, highlighting access to workspaces, mentorship and resources has been invaluable.

To find out more about Edwin, Ebin and Ufarms, visit their website https://ufarms.io.

Membership of the GCU Entrepreneurial Hub is open to all current students, staff, and graduates. Find out more: www.gcu.ac.uk/entrepreneurialhub.