BrightFarms Launches Multimillion-Dollar R&D Hub in Greater Cincinnati

By Liz Engel - Staff reporter

June 24, 2021

An indoor farming company is investing millions in Ohio with the debut of a new research and development hub.

BrightFarms, a New York-based grower of indoor leafy greens since 2013, is forming BrightLabs, a new innovation and research hub, at its Wilmington greenhouse. BrightLabs, overall, will represent a tenfold increase in the company’s research capabilities, while increasing profitability and delivering new product innovations.

Steve Platt is the CEO of BrightFarms. (Jenn Erickson)

CEO Steve Platt declined to disclose the exact investment but told me it’s in the multimillions. The project is being launched as part of the company’s $100 million Series E funding round in October led by media conglomerate Cox Enterprises.

“BrightFarms as a company has been growing very consistently, and the indoor farming industry is at an inflection point,” Platt said. “We’ve perfected how we grow – among competitors, we’ve developed the most profitable model for the production of indoor leafy greens – but now’s the time to invest behind R&D to secure an advantage for the future. It’s essential to stay ahead of the curve.”

Like others in the indoor farming space, BrightFarms lauds the fact that its lettuce is healthier, tastier, looks better, is more nutritious, and, particularly for customers in Ohio, fresher than field-grown produce hauled in from states like California and Arizona. Today the company’s five greenhouses in Ohio, Virginia, Illinois, Pennsylvania produce 9 million pounds of produce each year. 

But unlike several outfits, particularly vertical farms that use purple-hued LED lighting, BrightFarms leverages natural sunshine. Its souped up, high-tech greenhouses grow spinach, romaine, arugula and more using a hydroponic system, or water instead of soil.

Wilmington, which celebrated its first harvest in 2018, isn’t the company’s largest greenhouse in terms of size or production, but Platt said it made a good host for the innovation hub because of its centralized location. It’s close to customers and easily accessible from its other farms. He also credited the workforce and level of academic talent available from universities nearby. 

BrightFarms celebrated its first harvest in Wilmington in 2018. BrightLabs is investing millions to build out an innovation and research hub at the site. (Brian Mollenkopf)

Phase one for BrightLabs includes a new, approximately 1,350 square foot lab that has been built at the Wilmington greenhouse site. BrightFarms will also dedicate space on the farm for the BrightLabs team to work. 

Platt said BrightLabs will focus on three key areas:

• Biotech. BrightFarms wants to study the environments in which plants grow to increase yield, flavor, and texture.

• Agtech. BrightOS, the company’s proprietary AI software system, acts as the company’s central nervous system, Platt said, collecting millions of data points from its fives farms to streamline operations. How can the company improve that technology?

• Product innovation. BrightFarms recently launched NutriGreens, a new lettuce packed with antioxidants – double the amount, Platt said, found in a serving of blueberries. BrightFarms wants more advances like that.

BrightLabs itself will be led by Matt Lingard, a former Bayer plant scientist and Ph.D. with over 15 years of experience, who joined BrightFarms in May as its VP of agriculture and science. Platt said the BrightLabs team will include four employees to start.

“We’re the leading grower of indoor spinach – in the U.S. we grow 90% of the indoor spinach that’s sold – but we want to double our production on that. How do we come out with new types of spinach that can grow even better in a hydroponic system?” he said. 

“We’re taking on a massive industry and a complicated, broken system – where greens are grown all in one location, shipped thousands of miles across the country, generally with pesticide reside, there’s a food-borne illness, and the product isn’t that good,” Platt added. “We have a simpler system and a better product, but we need to deliver that at a price point and at a volume that competes with what’s coming out of California. If we’re trying to unseat this big gorilla, we can’t be this niche that’s only affordable to people who drive Teslas.”

Overall, there’s billions being invested in the industry. New York City-based Bowery Farming, in late May, announced a $300 million funding round with a $2.3 billion valuation. Kentucky-based AppHarvest merged with a special purpose acquisition company in February, an IPO approach that’s gaining ground in 2021, and is now worth $1.5 billion. 

BrightFarms, with its Series E, has raised more than $200 million in total. In addition to launching BrightLabs, it plans to use the funds to expand its network of regional indoor farms – new farms are currently under development in Massachusetts and Texas – and grow its retail footprint. Locally, BrightFarms is available at Sam’s Club, Walmart and Pipkin Produce as well as Food Lion and Kroger in other markets.

The company said by the end of 2021 its leafy greens will be available at over 3,500 stores.

“It’s amazing. Even when I joined the company two years ago, we were convincing people this was the future. Now customers are coming to us saying, ‘We want to replace field grown with indoor-grown,’” he said. “We think the future is here.”

Lead photo: BrightFarms grows leafy greens like spinach, romaine, and arugula in high-tech, computer-controlled greenhouses.

Singapore's Temasek Bets on 'Skyscraper Farms' As Growth Market

Joint Venture With Bayer To Develop Seeds

To Boost Food Security In City-State

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TAKASHI NAKANO, Nikkei staff writer

September 10, 2020

SINGAPORE -- Singapore's state-backed investment group Temasek Holdings has extended its business portfolio into urban farming, a concept that will aid the city-state in its quest to become more agriculturally self-sufficient.

Temasek and German pharmaceutical major Bayer established Unfold, a 50-50 joint venture, last month. The company will develop and market seeds for vertical farming both in Singapore and at its California headquarters.

Singapore produces less than 10% of the food it consumes. The government plans to raise the ratio to 30% by 2030.

Vertical farming, officials believe, is crucial to attaining that goal. The technique grows agroponic layers of crops under artificial light inside skyscrapers. Because the plants are not dependent on weather, the method is expected to generate large yields in a relatively quickly.

"Temasek is recognized as one of the leading investors in the food and agriculture segment," said Jurgen Eckhardt, head of Leaps by Bayer -- an investment arm of Bayer. "They have investments in, and relationships with, a range of vertical farming companies."

Bayer will provide plant genetic data to Unfold, which will first develop new varieties of lettuce, spinach and tomatoes, among other crops. The company will sell seeds to food producers.

Temasek will introduce companies to the technology and expertise at Unfold and other investment targets. Temasek holds a stake in Sustenir Agriculture, a Singaporean urban farming company, providing a channel for Sustenir to cultivate Unfold's high-yield seeds.

Vertical farming is projected to grow into a $12.77 billion market in 2026, according to Allied Market Research, up from $2.23 billion in 2018.

Temasek invested 3 billion euros ($3.7 billion) into Bayer in 2018 -- funding which helped Bayer complete the acquisition of U.S. seed producer Monsanto.

The company anticipates further investments in the agricultural sector.

"Whether it's in the area of an alternative protein, aquaculture, or crop science, it's an area that requires actually more capital," said Temasek International CEO Dilhan Pillay Sandrasegara. "So far it's done well for us and we're still keen to invest more in it."

Temasek has expanded its portfolio of life sciences and agribusiness investments. Allocation in the domains stood at 8% at the end of March, or five points higher than five years earlier. The size of the holdings is about $17 billion.

The coronavirus pandemic has heightened concerns over food security. Thailand and other trading partners temporarily imposed restrictions on exports. The Singaporean government doled out 30 million Singapore dollars ($22 million) in subsidies this April to help companies produce more eggs, leafy vegetables and fish.

"In Singapore, with less than 0.8% arable land, vertical farming innovation is critical," said Unfold CEO John Purcell.

This year, Temasek has invested in startups that develop meat and fish substitutes, as well as plant-based milk. GIC, another Singaporean state investor, in May picked up shares in Apeel Sciences, a U.S. company that developed an artificial peel for fruits and vegetables to extend shelf life.

The less-than-stellar portfolio performance has also factored in Temasek's investments into agribusiness. For the year ended March, the company reported a return of minus 2.3%, the first negative result in four years. Declining stock values of domestic companies such as the banking group DBS Group Holdings and the conglomerate Sembcorp Industries were behind the setback.

When Singapore Airlines sought to raise up to S$15 billion in rescue funds this March, Temasek was the first to indicate it would sign on in light of its status as a major investor in the carrier. Saddled with its role as a financial provider of last resort, the state investment group's ability to reap returns from investments in agriculture and other growth sectors will sway its performance.

Temasek has also stepped up investment in advanced medical fields such as biopharmaceuticals in the past year, with stakes in 10 companies revealed in 2020 so far.

Vertex Venture Holdings, a Temasek unit that oversees a fund specializing in the medical field, has invested in more than 20 healthcare-related startups, including American drug developer Elevation Oncology in July.

"COVID-19 has shone a light on the importance of continued R&D investment," said Lori Hu, managing director of Vertex Ventures HC. "It has revealed critical unmet needs in the health care industry. We continue to actively look at new deals."

Leveraging its broad network, Vertex took a stake in Israeli telemedicine platform operator Datos Health in April and invested in India's IVF Access Hospitals, which specializes in infertility treatments, two months later.

Through its investments in the medical field, Temasek is also involved in the global race to develop coronavirus treatments. It was part of a group of investors to pour $250 million into Germany's BioNTech, which is jointly developing a COVID-19 vaccine candidate with Pfizer. South Korean drugmaker Celltrion, in which Temasek holds a roughly 10% stake, has brought a diagnostic kit to market in the U.S. last month.

Investments in biopharmaceutical developers carry high risks, but the payoff can be large when a treatment successfully reaches the market. Holdings in unlisted companies accounted for 48% of Temasek's portfolio as of March-end, up six points from a year earlier.

Lead photo: Courtesy of Unfold - Vertical farms use hydroponics to grow crops inside buildings.