Utopia in Georgia

 Serenbe is a thousand-acre “wellness compound.” [The Hustle]( Thur, Jan 25 Brought to you by [Fundrise]( easy real estate investing for $500. Inside Serenbe: the utopian ‘wellness community’ driving a $134B industry What began in 2004 as one man’s wish to escape “visual pollution” of society is now [Serenbe]( a 1k-acre community in the middle of a Georgia forest, designed to promote the physical, emotional, and spiritual wellness of its residents. Consisting of 300 homes with wrap-around porches and athleisure-clad inhabitants, Serenbe is leading the charge in planned “wellness communities” -- a booming market worth over $134B globally. But with its strict rules (like not being allowed to park your car outside), and the most affordable home there [starting at $359k]( we have to wonder... What’s so “utopian” about Serenbe? For one, guests literally get free bunnies at check-in. They also have a 25-acre organic farm, farmer’s market, hotel, spa, bookstore, and a New York Times-recognized “playhouse.” The community is designed to [encourage active lifestyles]( its 600 residents (including 130 “free range kids”) have at their disposal blueberry-lined trails and “medicinal landscaping” with herbs for natural remedies. It’s also home to Steve Nygren, Serenbe’s charismatic 71-year-old founder. The Sensei of Serenbe Described as having “energy rivaling a cruise ship director,” Nygren is a retired restaurateur who [bought 60 acres of land in 1991]( “on a whim.” A few years later, he quit his job and moved onto the property with his wife and 3 daughters. When asked [how he stays in such good shape]( as a 70+-year-old, he says only: “I live.” Now, Nygren’s teaching others his ways as a “wellness community consultant” -- and aspiring developers, city commissioners, and investors travel from all over the world to sop up his wisdom. Investors are starting to catch on Serenbe’s not just a pastoral utopia: it’s a lucrative investment opportunity, and plans are in place to construct 1.2k homes for 3.5k residents in the next few years. In the US alone, the wellness community market is worth [$52.5B, and globally, it’s growing 6.4% per year](. There are nearly 740 development projects in production around the world, capable of housing over 4.1m people at full capacity in the next few decades. As Nygren puts it, the utopian town “will be a niche until it’s everywhere.” “SERENBE NOW!”  Are robots the answer to the agricultural job shortage? Most conversations on workplace automation (a la the mechanical replacement of [pizza chefs]( or [cashiers]( are accompanied by an alarmist, but valid, question: “Will a robot take my job?” But in the case of the agriculture industry, robots are actually “working” jobs that don’t exist. In the past decade, fruit and vegetable growers have faced a shortage of pickers -- and now, farms across America are increasingly leveraging new technology to fill the void. Nobody wants to pick fruit The American farming industry has seen its workforce of pickers dwindle by an astonishing [20%]( since 2002. Tightened immigration and worker visa laws have crimped the flow of farm laborers from Mexico and Central America, and despite rising wages from the fallout, American workers still aren’t interested in picking fruit. AgTech companies have been working on robot pickers for years, but the machines have come with massive challenges: turns out, it’s not so easy to reliably identify fruit and remove it without causing cosmetic damage. But as tech advances, these bots are nearing reality Researchers in Washington state are [developing]( algorithm-heavy robots that are capable of “vigorously shaking” cherry trees in a way that safely extracts about 90% of the fruit. It’s not an isolated effort: [Abundant Robotics]( produces suction-based bots that “duplicate the dexterity, judgment and perception of human apple pickers.” LettuceBot automatically detects and eliminates weeds, and AgroBot picks strawberries with increasing accuracy. And at least for now, these bots aren’t replacing jobs; they’re alleviating a shortage. [Bot’s got the touch](  Google’s moonshot competition ends without a winner On Tuesday, Google ended their ambitious [$30m]( contest for a private company to shoot a robot to the moon after none of the finalist teams felt they could meet the March 31 deadline. Titled the Google Lunar XPrize, the competition was a follow-up to the Ansari X prize, a [$10m]( contest won by SpaceShipOne in 2004 for being the first non-government vehicle to make it to space.  What did they have to do for GLXP? To win top honors, one of the 5 teams would’ve had to successfully build and land a spacecraft on the moon, travel at least 500 meters, then transmit video and images in HD back to Earth. While officials reportedly had high hopes for a few teams in the competition, GLXP’s founders ultimately called it off, explaining that, “due to the difficulties of fundraising, technical and regulatory challenges, the grand prize … will go unclaimed.” AKA, space travel is really friggin hard The trials and tribs of space travel highlight the incredible uphill climb facing even the most well-funded private space programs in the world. Even giants like SpaceX and Boeing have recently experienced ‘[major delays]( battling technical issues and a grueling regulatory process as they try to help NASA fly its astronauts to space. Meanwhile, private spaceflight companies like Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin and other [smaller]( contenders continue to come out of the woodwork -- each hoping to push the boundaries of humankind. [But I wanna go to space nooowww](  Are ‘smart’ doorbells really a thing? At the beginning of last year, Ring -- the “As Seen on Shark Tank” video doorbell and security startup -- raised [$109m]( in a Series D round, following an already impressive [$61.2m]( round in 2016. Fast forward to 2018, and Ring has raised a whopping [$209m]( in total funding, valuing them at close to [$1B](. That’s ample cash to pursue their noble goal of keeping already wealthy neighborhoods safe... And that ain’t it, people Ring’s immense success is thanks, in large part, to the [recent rise]( in smart home products like doorbell cameras, package delivery locks, and other tech that capitalizes on society’s obsession with security. Ring’s financiers now include [Richard Branson]( and Goldman Sachs -- and Shaquille O’Neal partnered with the company to help bring the technology to Georgia homes. But even smart doorbells aren’t immune to controversy.... Welcome to Doorbell Wars In the wake of Ring’s success, a competing smart doorbell company, Skybell Technologies, [filed a lawsuit](. They claim Ring copied their tech after receiving a link to Skybell’s patent portfolio, and started using the technology after their failure on Shark Tank led to a rebrand. When reached for comment, all Skybell’s founder, Andrew Thomas, maintained was that he “will continue to defend [his] IP” in the midst of open litigation. [It’s gettin’ ugly out there](   things you should... LOOK THROUGH: Goodr Sunglasses, $25 The team at Goodr was sick of overpaying for sunglasses that always fall off your head and break. So they designed inexpensive, stylish sunglasses that stay on your head even when you move around a lot. 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THE FINE PRINT: You have to be 18 or older to enter. Sorry kiddo.  This edition of The Hustle was brought to you by What does $500 buy in 2018? Forget what you think $500 can buy, here’s what you can actually do with half a grand in this day in age: - Buy 1 festival ticket, use the leftover cash to buy half of an artisanal hotdog inside. - Put a ding your student loan debt (less than a dent, but more than a scratch). - Invest in a freaking [real estate]( investment portfolio with [Fundrise](. For just $500, you can set yourself up for (wait for it) a stable financial future. Fundrise is billionaire investing for the rest of us Fundrise has taken a powerful, but historically exclusive, investment and made it simple, affordable, and available to anyone. Like the Festivus of financials, it’s investing like the rich on a “99 percent-er” budget. This means your hard-earned cash can go towards investments that, until recently, were reserved for the uber wealthy – investments that earned an average 11.4% annualized return on Fundrise in 2017. With a $500 minimum, [Fundrise makes it easy]( for anyone to invest in real estate private equity, diversify their savings, and build a brighter financial future. See Millennials? Things are getting better. [Follow this link]( and put that $500 to work with Fundrise. (If you wanna read up on legal details, click right [here](. Warning: it’s a snoozer.) 0 [SHARE THE HUSTLE]( REFERRALS Lindsey Quinn MANAGING EDITOR Zack Crockett WRITER Wes Schlagenhauf WRITER Sam “Cornfed” Parr EDITORIAL EAVESDROPPER Stan Beyerman DIRECTOR OF COUNTRY MUSIC [SUBSCRIBE]( [JOBS]( [ADVERTISE]( [EVENTS]( You opted in by signing up, attending an event, or through divine intervention. 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