PODCAST: Is This The Fastest-Growing Vertical Farming Business In The World?
March 11, 2021
Indoor agriculture is competitive. While there is so much whitespace for vertical farms and high-tech greenhouses to grow and sell produce regionally, those that are VC-backed seem to have been fighting for investor attention for years – with big announcements often lacking substance. So who is really leading the race?
When I returned from maternity leave in January, I reached out to my good friend Henry Gordon-Smith from urban ag consultancy Agritecture to find out what I’d missed and what sort of traction these highly-funded startups were really getting.
When thinking about which company was making the greatest strides, Henry highlighted Infarm – the Berlin-based vertical farming group with more than $300m in funding under its belt.
Infarm’s global footprint has expanded rapidly in recent months. Its in-store units have been cropping up across the globe – including in Japan, one of the longest established and most developed indoor agriculture markets. It’s also expanding into new crops, a welcome addition to the leafy green focus so many of its peers continue to have. And, since we recorded this podcast — yes that’s how fast they’re moving — they announced the roll-out of new modular ‘Growing Centers’ and added yet more funding.
So we decided to co-host an episode with Infarm’s two co-founders — and brothers — Guy and Erez Galonska, to dig into this growth.
Expect to hear about Infarm’s surprising commitment to sustainability; the focus on their core customer -the retailer; the expansion of their plant science team; and the evolution of their differentiated business model. Enjoy!
Lead photo: Image credit: Infarm