AmplifiedAg Inc. Completes $40MM In Capital Raise, Expanding Global Technologies And Vertical Roots Indoor Farms Across The Southeast

August 9, 2021

CHARLESTON, S.C., /PRNewswire/ -- AmplifiedAg Inc.™, fast-growing agtech industry leader on a mission to provide global access to safe food, announced today that the company has completed $40 million in equity financing. The funding will support the continued expansion of the company's world-leading hydroponic container farm, Vertical Roots and further development of the company's holistic operating system, AmpEDGE™, which uniquely combines environment monitoring and controls with business operations for end-to-end indoor farm management.

"Our demonstrated ability to scale our indoor farms and technology is leading to discussions with strategic and financial partners, and we expect to consummate additional financing later this year to further accelerate Vertical Roots' presence across the Country," said Don Taylor, CEO of AmplifiedAg.

Vertical Roots' rapid success exemplifies the time, profitability, operational growth efficiency, and superior product quality AmplifiedAg farms and technology achieve. In less than four years, Vertical Roots has grown to be the largest hydroponic container farm in the world growing multiple varieties of mature, fresh leafy greens. The company currently operates three farm sites in Charleston, S.C., Columbia, S.C., and Atlanta, Ga. with produce available at 1,700 major grocery stores across 12 states including retailers such as Publix, Harris Teeter and Whole Foods, as well as schools, universities, and restaurants.

The current round of funding will support the installation of farms in north and central Florida, extending Vertical Roots' dominant position as the leading CEA and vertical farming business in the southeast market.

AmplifiedAg implements a distinctive strategy to operate Vertical Roots farms directly at distribution facilities, eliminating a massive leg of produce transportation in order to reduce emissions and provide communities with fresh, locally grown produce. Vertical Roots current focus is on nutritious, mature lettuce varieties that are celebrated for their flavor, freshness and being 100% pesticide-free.

Taylor added, "We're dually focused to deploy Vertical Roots farms across the country as close to the point of consumption as possible, while advancing and expanding AmplifiedAg's global network of proven technologies and farms to others in the CEA industry."

About AmplifiedAg, Inc.

AmplifiedAg, Inc.™ is an agtech industry visionary on a mission to provide global access to safe food. The company manufactures indoor vertical container farms, hydroponic systems, and disruptive seed-to-sale SaaS-based technologies. AmplifiedAg provides holistic indoor farming solutions to sustainably grow and distribute food anywhere in the world. 

AmplifiedAg owns and operates Vertical Roots, the largest hydroponic container farm in the World with produce in over 1,700 grocery stores nationwide. Learn more at www.amplifiedaginc.com. Growing Food for a Growing World.

Infarm’s Hamilton Growing Facility is Expanding to Become its Largest Vertical Farm in North America

By Jeremey Kemeny

July 27, 2021

Greens grown at an indoor farm right here in Hamilton are about to become more accessible at area grocery stores, following an expansion of Infarm’s vertical growing centre.

The company’s facility near the airport is set to dramatically grow over the next several quarters, a spokesperson for the company said.

It’s part of a national expansion, following a deal strengthening Infarm’s relationship with grocery store chain Sobeys Inc. That deal expands the company’s reach to grocery stores in all ten Canadian provinces.

Infarm moved into its facility on Aeropark Boulevard, off Upper James Street, in the last quarter of 2020, said Infarm global communications director Emmanuel Evita.

The Hamilton facility is expected to be Infarm’s largest growing centre in North America, following the expansion, with a growing capacity of 37,000 square feet.

Founded in Berlin, Germany, in 2013, Infarm touts its advancement of modular farms, allowing for growing leaf vegetables in any available space.

In a video, co-founder Osnat Michaeli lauds the efficiency of the vertical growing technology and food waste reduction by farming in proximity to where the food is consumed.

Infarm Co-founder and Chief Brand Officer Osnat Michaeli explains how we're building a global network of vertical farms to grow and distribute fresh produce in cities. Infarm’s modular, cloud-connected system enable us to scale and deploy urban farms fast, growing tasty and nutritious produce more sustainably than traditional agriculture. Our modular technology is at the core of a sustainable global urban farming network that is up to 400 times more efficient than soil-based farming, using 95% less land, 95% less water, and requires 90% fewer food miles to get to consumers.

Infarm’s hyperlocal approach includes growing facilities in stores, restaurants or distribution centres.

Here in Hamilton, they plan to transform their warehouse farm into a high-yield facility.

Each 10-metre-high module at the Hamilton facility will “take just six weeks to build and (yield) a crop-equivalent of up to 10,000 square metres of farmland,” Evita said.

He said they’re expecting the production capacity and the number of locations served by the Hamilton facility to greatly expand, following the outfitting of the facility.

Evita says Infarm expects to expand its Canadian workforce by 50 per cent before the end of the year. It’s not yet known how many of those employees will be in Hamilton.

“Infarm is already offering fresh, local produce grown directly in Sobeys retailers or supplied from our Hamilton location,” Evita says, “with much more to come.”

Martha Stewart, J.D. Vance And Impossible Foods’ David Lee Join Board of AgTech Leader AppHarvest

The company adds executives from The Carlyle Group, Impossible Foods and raises new round from sustainability-focused investors such as Jeffrey Ubben and James Murdoch as COVID-19 heightens need for more resilient domestic supply chains

View fullsize

AUGUST 6, 2020 – MOREHEAD, KENTUCKY – AppHarvest announced today that food entrepreneur and icon Martha Stewart, Impossible Foods Chief Financial Officer David Lee, and best-selling author and investor J.D. Vance, have joined the company’s Board of Directors as it prepares to open one of the world’s largest indoor farms this fall in Morehead, KY. Starting with non-GMO tomatoes, AppHarvest’s farms will provide freshly grown American fruits and vegetables for national grocers, meeting the enormous and growing demand for locally grown produce amidst the supply chain challenges created by the current COVID-19 pandemic.

“The future of food will be, has to be, growing nutrient-rich and delicious produce closer to where we eat,” Stewart said. “That means food that tastes better and food that we feel better about consuming. AppHarvest is driving us towards that future and working from within Appalachia to elevate the region.”

Added Vance, “The last few months have taught us that our food system is a little more precarious than we realized. AppHarvest will change that, and it will do so by building a sustainable, durable business in Appalachia, and investing in the people who call it home.”

Added Lee, “AppHarvest’s innovative approach to agriculture has the potential to dramatically change the way we get our produce and the impact our food has on the natural environment. I’m excited to join their mission as they enter this next phase of growth.”

Anna Mason, Partner at Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund, the fund led by AOL Co-founder Steve Case to back companies outside of Silicon Valley, will also join the Board. “AppHarvest’s rapid expansion and job creation is exactly what Rise of the Rest envisioned with its focus on helping companies in Middle America grow,” Mason said.

Inspired by the belief that the technology already exists today to grow dramatically more food, with far fewer resources, AppHarvest’s indoor farms reduce the need for acreage, use no harmful pesticides, lessen fuel used in shipping, and are the first of their size that will rely entirely on recycled rainwater for all water needs. AppHarvest’s closed-loop water system eliminates agricultural runoff common in open-field agriculture. This is critical as the U.S. ramps up efforts to secure food systems that can withstand health and climate disruptions.

“It’s time for agriculture in America to change,” said AppHarvest Founder & CEO Jonathan Webb. “The pandemic has demonstrated the need to establish more resilient food systems, and our work is on the forefront of that effort. Eastern Kentucky, with its central U.S. location, provides the perfect place to build AppHarvest’s indoor farms while also providing much-needed jobs to a ready workforce.”

AppHarvest’s 2.76-million-square-foot controlled environment agriculture facility has already created 100 construction jobs and will create more than 300 full-time permanent jobs for residents of Eastern Kentucky, where 44 percent more residents are unemployed than the national average.

With its vision to create America’s AgTech capital in Appalachia, AppHarvest has been recognized for its focus on social good. The company has been certified by the independent non-profit B Lab as a
B Corporation, passing a rigorous audit of its sustainability practices.

AppHarvest is also announcing the hires of Marcella Butler as the company’s first Chief People Officer, Jackie Roberts as its first Chief Sustainability Officer, and Geof Rochester as its first Chief Marketing Officer. Butler joins AppHarvest after serving as Impossible Foods' first Chief People Officer, where she led the tripling of employees to more than 650 individuals. Prior to joining Impossible Foods, she worked at Google, first in People Operations, followed by Corporate Development, where she led global acquisition due diligence and integration activities. Roberts joins AppHarvest from The Carlyle Group, where her roles included Chief Sustainability Officer. Prior to The Carlyle Group, she served in several senior roles at the Environmental Defense Fund. Rochester, who has decades of experience in marketing and corporate social responsibility, previously served as Managing Director and Chief Marketing Officer of The Nature Conservancy with prior work at WWE, Showtime, Comcast, and Procter & Gamble.

AppHarvest’s Board and staff additions come as the company closes its $28 million Series C funding round. Combined with the company’s prior funding rounds, including project financing, AppHarvest has attracted more than $150 million in investment in just over two years.

Narya, the new venture capital firm co-founded by Vance and Colin Greenspon as well as backed by leading entrepreneur and venture capitalist Peter Thiel, led the investment round with participation from existing investors ValueAct Capital’s Spring Fund, Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund, and Equilibrium, which has provided nearly $100 million in project financing to date.

New investors include Lupa Systems, the private investment firm founded last year by James Murdoch (who along with the ValueAct Spring Fund and Equilibrium, are leading the way for venture’s expansion into sustainability-focused investments); Breyer Capital, founded by early Facebook investor Jim Breyer; food and agriculture fund S2G Ventures (Seed 2 Growth); Black Capital, led by NBA legend Kevin Johnson; and Endeavor Catalyst, the co-investment vehicle through which Endeavor invests into companies founded by its entrepreneurs. Endeavor selected Webb as an Endeavor Entrepreneur in 2019.

“AppHarvest is poised to be a leader of the modern agricultural transformation, and we’re enthused to be a part of its upcoming launch and growth phases both in the U.S. and internationally,” said Frederic Michel, Partner at Lupa Systems. “The team is developing a compelling model that can respond rapidly to the needs for efficiency, sustainability, quality, and resiliency in the food sector today.”

The Series C funding round will allow the company to continue to recruit top-tier talent from around the globe as it prepares to build additional farms throughout Central Appalachia.

About AppHarvest

AppHarvest is building some of the world’s largest indoor farms, combining conventional agricultural techniques with today’s technology to grow non-GMO, chemical-free fruits and vegetables to be sold to the top 25 U.S. grocers. The company has developed a unique system to reduce water usage by 90% compared to typical farms, as a 10-acre, on-site rainwater retention pond pairs with sophisticated circular irrigation systems. The system also eliminates agricultural runoff entirely. By locating within Appalachia, AppHarvest benefits from being less than a day’s drive to 70% of the U.S. population. That lowers diesel use in transportation costs by 80%, allowing the company's fresher produce to compete against low-cost foreign imports.