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Gotham Greens Raises $87m Series D Funding To Decentralize Food Production
The round brings Gotham Greens’ total funding to $130 million. Although the Covid-19 pandemic made for a more complicated fundraising process, there was a silver lining, according to the startup’s CEO Viraj Puri. “It revealed opportunities in the food supply chain, which is really the core of what our mission is – to transform how and where fresh produce is grown,” he told AFN
December 9, 2020
Image credit: Gotham Greens
The indoor ag space is on fire this year and Gotham Greens is stoking the coals. The New York-based startup just raised an $87 million equity and debt round led by Colorado VC Manna Tree with participation from Florida real estate and private equity investor The Silverman Group and others.
The round brings Gotham Greens’ total funding to $130 million.
Although the Covid-19 pandemic made for a more complicated fundraising process, there was a silver lining, according to the startup’s CEO Viraj Puri.
“It revealed opportunities in the food supply chain, which is really the core of what our mission is – to transform how and where fresh produce is grown,” he told AFN.
“Supermarket retailers were facing a lot of voids on the shelf and it really provided an opportunity for us to fill some of those voids and be nimble. It was relatively easy for us to move from foodservice customers to food retail customers.”
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Founded in 2009, Gotham Greens operates a network of leafy greens-producing greenhouses across North America. It claims to use 100% renewable energy to power its greenhouses, which use 95% less water and 97% less land than conventional open-field farming.
Greenhouses vs vertical farms
There is quite a bit of tech under the greenhouse hood, as well. Gotham Greens has been ramping up its use of automation and data science in its climate-controlled greenhouses.
When it comes to tech, Puri sees a key differentiator between greenhouse operations and vertical farming businesses.
“We believe that the benefits of greenhouse farming currently outweigh those of vertical farming, which is an exciting extension of modern greenhouse farming. There are still some open questions around the technology and the financial sustainability primarily because fully indoor growing environments rely on artificial light,” he explained.
“Even though they can theoretically offer much higher yields and levels of climate control compared to modern greenhouses, those benefits will come with significantly higher capital and operating costs.”
Gotham Greens sells branded salad greens, herbs, salad dressings, and sauces. It claims to have doubled its revenue over the past year, selling its leafy greens in more than 40 US states and across 2,000 retail stores including Whole Foods, Albertsons, Meijer, Target, and Sprouts. It has doubled its capacity in the past 12 months by opening new greenhouse operations in Chicago, Providence, Baltimore, and Denver.
The new round of funding will be used to fund expansion into new channels and geographic markets, increase capacity, and development of new products. It has recently launched new products including grab-and-go salad bowls, packaged salads, and cooking sauces.
Although one may wonder how many products a startup can derive from a few core crops, Puri said there is plenty of whitespace left to explore.
“There’s channel diversification, there’s pack size diversification. There are just different ways to grow even within that category,” he said.
Can greenhouse startups keep up the pace?
There have been a slew of indoor ag fundings in 2020 despite the pandemic. Kentucky-based greenhouse tomato grower AppHarvest raised $28 million, added Martha Stewart and Impossible Foods’ chief financial officer to its board, and later went public at a $1 billion valuation. New York hydroponic greenhouse startup BrightFarms raised a $100 million Series E while Plenty scooped up a $140 million Series D to research strawberry cultivation with new investor Driscoll’s.
One cannot help but wonder whether consumers or investors will soon have had their fill of leafy greens and micro-herbs, or whether this space has some serious leg room left.
“On balance, I think the momentum is a good thing. I think we still play such a small role in the total addressable market,” Puri said. “If you look at leafy greens alone, it’s estimated to be about a $15 billion category in the US and Canada. Current indoor production is around 1% of that. I think there is a lot of room for growth and multiple winners.”
Indoor Agriculture Company Gotham Greens Raises $87 Million In Equity And Debt Capital
Gotham Greens operates one of the largest and most advanced networks of hydroponic leafy greens-producing greenhouses in North America where the demand for indoor-grown produce is rapidly increasing
By Annie Baker ● December 15, 2020
Gotham Greens — a pioneer in indoor agriculture operating high-tech greenhouses located across the United States — announced it has raised $87 million in new equity and debt capital, bringing the company’s total financing to $130 million. And the capital raise includes Gotham Greens’ recent Series D round led by Manna Tree and joined by The Silverman Group and other existing investors. Gotham Greens is known for operating one of the largest and most advanced networks of hydroponic leafy greens-producing greenhouses in North America, where the demand for indoor-grown produce is rapidly increasing.
And Gotham Greens grows and sells long-lasting leafy greens and herbs along with a line of fresh salad dressings and sauces. The brand recently launched several new fresh, plant-forward products, including new packaged salads, cooking sauces, and grab-and-go salad bowls featuring fresh Gotham Greens lettuce, Gotham Greens salad dressing and protein-packed toppings.
Gotham Greens operates one of the largest and most advanced networks of hydroponic leafy greens-producing greenhouses in North America where the demand for indoor-grown produce is rapidly increasing. And Gotham Greens grows and sells long-lasting, delicious leafy greens, and herbs along with a line of fresh salad dressings and sauces. The brand recently launched several new fresh plant-forward products, including new packaged salads, cooking sauces, and grab-and-go salad bowls featuring fresh Gotham Greens lettuce, Gotham Greens salad dressing, and protein-packed toppings.
And Gotham Greens has doubled its revenue in the past year, bringing its fresh produce and food products to retailers in more than 40 U.S. states through its network of high-tech, climate-controlled greenhouses. And the company’s expansion has driven 80% growth in retail unit sales year over year.
Gotham Greens has doubled capacity in the past year by opening new greenhouses in Chicago, Providence, R.I., Baltimore and Denver. And these facilities have expanded distribution of Gotham Greens’ salad greens, herbs, salad dressings and sauces to new regions, including the New England, Mid-Atlantic, Southeast and Mountain regions. Plus Gotham Greens products are available in more than 2,000 retail stores, including Whole Foods Market, Albertsons Companies (Safeway, Jewel-Osco and Shaw’s), Meijer, Target, King Soopers, Harris Teeter, ShopRite and Sprouts. The company’s items also are available for purchase through grocery ecommerce sites, including AmazonFresh, FreshDirect and Peapod.
KEY QUOTES:
“Given increasing challenges facing centralized food supply chains, combined with rapidly shifting consumer preferences, Gotham Greens is focused on expanding its regional growing operations and distribution capabilities at one of the most critical periods for America. We’re dedicated to changing how people think, feel and interact with their food while decreasing the environmental footprint of the traditional produce supply chain.”
— Viraj Puri, Co-Founder and CEO of Gotham Greens
“Manna Tree brings a global network of investors and shares our mission and commitment to expand access to healthy, sustainably-grown fresh produce. Our industry-leading crop yields and capital efficiency in building and operating indoor farms continues to attract strong support from both new and existing investors and underscores Gotham Greens’ value proposition and category leadership position.”
— Eric Haley, Co-Founder and CFO of Gotham Greens
“Gotham Greens is the fastest-growing indoor farming company in the United States today with a track-record of profitable, commercial-scale production. The pandemic has revealed flaws in America’s food supply chain system, particularly in the produce category, and new leaders and innovators need to emerge to ensure a stable food supply for the future. We believe Gotham Greens’ brand, highly scalable business model and leadership team position the company to be the market leader in the rapidly growing and changing landscape.”
— Brent Drever, Co-Founder and President of Manna Tree
VIDEO: How Max Chizhov, Co-Founder And CEO of iFarm Raised $4M To Build An Indoor Farming Solution Provider In Today’s Urban Environment?
The company is an indoor farming solution provider of plug and play automated vertical farms and data-driven software. Easy one-button managed farms from 50 till 5000 sq.m and a wide range of plants to grow are available for customers
Max Chizhov is the co-founder and CEO of iFarm. The company is an indoor farming solution provider of plug and play automated vertical farms and data-driven software. Easy one-button managed farms from 50 till 5000 sq.m and a wide range of plants to grow are available for customers. Farms can be set in a store, restaurant, warehouse, home, or country house. iFarm allows everyone on Earth to grow their healthy food sustainably and be independent of the supply chain.
iFarm technologies are recognized worldwide: the project is not only included in the TOP 500 food startups of the world and is a member of the EIT Food Accelerator Network; iFarm also became the best agricultural startup in Europe in The Europas Awards 2020, the winner in the category of the best social impact startup of Nordic Startup Awards 2019
In an exclusive interview with AsiaTechDaily, Max Chizhov says:
The main mistake is to lose focus. We have been there too. At first, we wanted to create a whole product line that would meet both the b2b and b2c needs: indoor farms, containers, grow boxes, etc. And in the end, we realized that this would entail additional costs and postpone the launch indefinitely. As a result, we decided to focus on one area, create a high-quality industrial technology, and then develop new formats.
Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Without them, you cannot become your best self. Also, never cease to learn. It is actually something that should be taught at school — not simply give knowledge, but teach how to find it, interpret and apply.
Read on to know more about Max Chizhov and his journey.
Please tell me about your personal background and What motivated you to get started with your company?
Max Chizhov: In 2017, I was looking for a project that, on the one hand, would be interesting for me from a professional point of view, and on the other, bring tangible benefits to society. I already had experience in the technological field, which is why I focused on that area. At that time, I also met Alex Lyskovsky, who had just finished a course at a culinary school in France. That experience left him wondering whether it was possible to grow high-quality vegetables all year round, regardless of climate conditions and with the least environmental impact, ideally making a profit. His story resonated with me, so I thoroughly researched the topic and realized that I wanted to do something; that’s how iFarm was born.
What is your current main product, and can you share any previous product pivot story to the current product?
Max Chizhov: At first, we wanted to develop as a producer of farm vegetables, herbs, and berries. But having evaluated the scaling prospects, we realized that we were not ready to wait 20 years to become a global supplier.
Then iFarm focused on developing technological business solutions for growing delicious natural products on vertical farms in today’s urban environment. Since 2018, the iFarm team has created automated vertical farms and an IT platform to manage them. We want to equip farmers worldwide with advanced growing technologies to earn by supplying fresh, tasty, and healthy products.
How much fundraising have you raised in total so far? When was the recent funding round?
Max Chizhov: This year iFarm closed a $4M investment round. The round was led by Gagarin Capital, which has previously invested in the project. Other investors included Matrix Capital, Impulse VC, IMI.VC and several business angels.
What were the internal decision processes in determining when to begin fundraising, and what were the logistics for this? And how many investors have you met so far and how did you meet these investors, and which channels worked best for you?
Max Chizhov: When we came up with iFarm, we were aimed at multiple growths. Having experience setting up several businesses with a similar strategy, we already knew how to develop companies at high speed and what to focus on. We needed venture capital investments to scale faster, improve the quality of our products and services, and strengthen the team with the best specialists.
The first investors were ourselves — the founders. We created a prototype and received the first money from the sale. Later, investments started to come from friends, acquaintances, and close associates. Thanks to this, we reached stable growth, finalized our target audience, and made the technology’s first sales. That was useful when we began to communicate with venture capital funds, who could give us additional value — help enter new markets and reach potential clients and raise funds in the next rounds.
The funds that have already invested in iFarm provide us with such assistance. We are also looking for new funds that are ready to work with us and help us accelerate the company’s development.
What are the biggest challenges and obstacles that you have faced in the process of fundraising? If you had fundraising, what would you do differently?
Max Chizhov: We made several pivots during fundraising. Initially, fundraising was different, but we changed it along the way. It was not easy, but it was a conscious decision for us. After a few experiments, we came up with the most efficient and scalable concept and business model.
Not every investor is tolerant to a sudden change of concept in a company’s development, so it was important for us to find funds that would trust us and treat such changes with understanding. Of course, any decision like that has to be supported by analytics and convincing reasoning and backed by a certain reputation of the founders in investors’ eyes.
What are your milestones for the next round? And what are your goals for the future?
Max Chizhov: We are planning to close Round A for € 5 million in the first quarter of 2021. This funding will be used to advance further in Europe and the Middle East, develop iFarm Growtune and update the library of growth recipes with new crops, expand the team, and increase sales. Next year we are also aimed at launching 40,000 square meters of vertical farms under our management.
How have you attracted users, and with what strategy have you grown your company from the start to now?
Max Chizhov: We were our own first clients because, in the first place, we were creating a technology that we wanted to use. The results allowed us to validate the quality and made it clear that we had produced the product we were willing to consume ourselves.
The next customers came through word of mouth: they contacted us through a recommendation or after tasting the products. For three years, we did not invest anything in advertising or marketing. All clients came thanks to our own activity on social networks, events, and media.
Entering new markets today, we, of course, launch a sales funnel and aim at our target groups: b2b, enterprise, city-farmers.
What do most startups get wrong about marketing in general?
Max Chizhov: The founders’ biggest mistake is to ignore their customers and end up making a product that the market does not need. The prototype must be shown to the customer as soon as it is ready, then you collect feedback and finalize the product according to it. When entering new markets, it is necessary to conduct cust dev, collect opinions on improvement and customers’ vision for further product development.
How do you plan to expand globally?
Max Chizhov: Next year we will continue our expansion in Europe and the Middle East. In 2022-2024 we plan to enter the North American and Asian markets.
What are the most common mistakes companies make with global expansion?
Max Chizhov: None of us had any experience in this area; we wanted to produce high-quality and tasty products. It was important to go all the way from the idea to the final product, to make all possible mistakes, to realize the shortcomings of the chosen business model, and finally determine that our product would be the vertical farming technology itself, and not greens.
How do you handle this COVID-19 outbreak situation for your company’s survival in the future?
Max Chizhov: Over the last few years, the overall trend in agriculture has been to localize production. This is due to the high rates of urbanization, population growth, and in 2020 the additional impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and the quarantine following it that made the problems of long supply chains and food security even more obvious.
Such conditions make growing vegetables, berries, and greens in the consumer’s immediate vicinity a necessity. Countries have begun to think strategically about food security issues, which brought us, several large customers.
From the point of view of organizing teamwork, we did not face any difficulties. Even before the pandemic, we had been building processes and implementing tools for an effective remote team’s smooth work.
What are the most common mistakes founders make when they start a company?
Max Chizhov: The main mistake is to lose focus. We have been there too. At first, we wanted to create a whole product line that would meet both the b2b and b2c needs: indoor farms, containers, grow boxes, etc. And in the end, we realized that this would entail additional costs and postpone the launch indefinitely. As a result, we decided to focus on one area, create a high-quality industrial technology, and then develop new formats.
Another mistake is to pay too much attention to details without seeing the bigger picture. For example, in the beginning, we did not think about any high-level process automation. But the further we went, the more clearly we understood the need to reduce human involvement in the production. That is why we developed special software for managing vertical farms — iFarm Growtune launched a drone and continues to create solutions that automate planting, moving trays on racks, assembling, and packaging.
What’s the best advice you’ve ever received? And What advice do you have for someone who is interested in doing similar things like yours or in a similar direction?
Max Chizhov: Launching a project, it is crucially important for the founders and early team members to share the same vision and ambition and make sure they are in tune. This will help you stay focused.
What are the top-three books or movies (TV series) that changed your life and why?
Max Chizhov: My top-3: Ray Dalio – Principles, Tony Hsieh – Delivering happiness, Daniel Kahneman – Thinking, Fast and Slow. These books help me to look at our business from different sides and make my workdays more efficient.
How do you keep yourself motivated every day?
Max Chizhov: New goals and plans, a global mission that the entire team is guided by, allow you to avoid unnecessary distractions and make sure you work towards your goals. Being involved in development in the food industry, you can see, touch, and taste your work’s tangible results. This also gives additional motivation.
What are the top-three life Lessons that you want your (future) sons and daughters to know?
Max Chizhov: Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Without them, you cannot become your best self. Also, never cease to learn. It is actually something that should be taught at school — not simply give knowledge, but teach how to find it, interpret and apply.
What would you like to be remembered for?
Max Chizhov: I would like that in a year when you hear about our company or see products grown using our technology, you would remember where we started and what mistakes we made at the very beginning, and that each mistake motivated us to move on.
You can follow Max Chizhov here.
Are you looking to secure investment for your startup or a keen startup enthusiast, keep an eye on our interview section.
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"CEA Can Increase Its U.S. Market Share By 5x Over The Next 10 Years"
Investment in CEA has surpassed $2.0B across North America and Europe spurring new start-ups, innovation and corporate engagement across the supply chain
S2G Ventures rResearches
Controlled Environment Agriculture Market:
Investment in CEA has surpassed $2.0B across North America and Europe spurring new start-ups, innovation and corporate engagement across the supply chain. With increased demonstration of the viability of controlled growing, a newly launched report predicts that CEA will support more than 10% of US vegetable and herb production by 2025 leading to significant opportunities for growers over the next decade.
The new report, Growing Beyond the Hype: Controlled Environment Agriculture, launched by S2G Ventures reveals how innovation in the field of Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA), including greenhouse and indoor farming, will lead to ripple effects across the food system and more sustainable methods of production. S2G Ventures is a multi-stage investment firm committed to advancing sustainable solutions in food and ag – its portfolio companies include Beyond Meat, sweetgreen, Lavva, Apeel Sciences and more. The report predicts the maturation of CEA will lead to differentiated, quality products, cost-competitive pricing and a more resilient, traceable and trustworthy supply chain. These new supply chains may represent a transition for the changing urban real estate landscape post-covid.
"Controlled farming has the potential to offer consumers and supply chain stakeholders resilient, sustainable, local, high-quality products," said Walter Robb, Executive-in Residence at S2G Ventures and former co-CEO of Whole Foods. "It is a growing part of our evolving food system and can work alongside outdoor production to mitigate climate risk and help solve systemic nutrition and food access challenges."
S2G Ventures expects that CEA will have far-reaching implications for the future of our food system in three key areas.
Local production and controlled environments will lead to a more resilient, traceable and trustworthy supply chain
Despite being a $1.2 trillion global industry, fresh produce faces significant supply and demand challenges resulting in a systemic lack of high-quality, affordable products reaching consumers. According to the Lancet, only 36% of the global population in 2015 had adequate availability of fruits and vegetables to meet the WHO age-specific minimum nutrition targets.
In the United States, for example, the fresh produce market is challenged by the limitations of outdoor production, including climate, field loss exposure, resource intensiveness, and limited ability to iterate or diversify, as well as geographic constraints resulting in products traveling 7-10 days on average from farm to consumer. As a result, the U.S. is reliant on other countries to meet demand with 53% of fresh fruit and 32% of fresh vegetables imported annually according to the FDA.
If just 13% of vegetables and herbs shift to local CEA production by 2025, the United States can add $2.3bn additional production capacity and reduce our need for fresh vegetable imports by 15%. Local production can save up to 9 Trillion food miles through shorter transportation routes minimizing shelf life time spent in transit and reducing the amount of food waste by retailers and consumers. Additionally, controlled environments improve food safety, traceability and consistency of production.
Technology and operations advancements drive improvements to CEA unit economics that can compete with or beat outdoor production.
In order to gain market share, CEA production must become cost competitive with outdoor production. High upfront capex costs of facilities and equipment as well as energy costs, labor and product inputs, have historically made costs of CEA growing prohibitive. But innovation of grow inputs, improved grow systems, and optimization of facility productivity are driving more cost-effective production. Those innovations combined with CEA's higher number of grow cycles, 10+ for Greenhouse and 20+ for Indoor, will enable CEA to achieve unit economics that are at cost parity with outdoor.
CEA will usher in the next wave of biodiversity, nutrient density, and flavor innovation providing retailers with differentiated, quality products.
According to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization, about 75 percent of the world's food comes from just 5 animal species and 12 plants. Almost half of our plant-derived calories come from just three foods: wheat, corn and rice. Germplasm for these plants are bred for long storage time and disease resistance, at the expense of flavor, color, and nutritional value. The lack of biodiversity and nutritional value in our global diet restricts the value that plant molecules can play in human health.
Indoor Agriculture offers new grow formats, methods and technologies that promise to increase the quality, consistency and diversity of produce. Advancements in CEA-tailored seeds bred for traits such as flavor, color, nutrient density and ripening will expose consumers to new flavors and more varied products. Ultimately, indoor agriculture will support customized grow recipes as IP, branded produce, local production of hard to access specialty ingredients, spices and superfoods and eventually inputs for food as medicine.
"Controlled growing is a critical solution to address both the current supply challenges brought to light by COVID and the pressures on outdoor growing exacerbated by climate change," said Sanjeev Krishnan, S2G Ventures Managing Director and Chief Investment Officer. "We believe CEA can grow its US market share by five times over the next 10 years in response to these pressures and continued consumer demand for fresh produce."
The report
Growing Beyond the Hype: Controlled Environment Agriculture is based on S2G Ventures desktop research and interviews with over 20 industry experts including CEA growers, systems providers, policymakers, academic institutions, outdoor growers, ag input suppliers, philanthropists, and other investors. The report outlines the opportunity for CEA to resolve the current lack of high-quality, affordable produce driven by limitations in outdoor production and customer geography and outlines three areas indoor production must overcome to take significant market share including cost, product selection and productivity.
To read the full report, download at https://www.s2gventures.com/reports
3 Dec 2020
CANADA: CEA Supplier Sustainitech Finds Capital Partner
Sustainitech's energy-efficient indoor farming system uses HIFI (High Intensity Farming Indoor) containers that realize increased crop density over industry-standard greenhouses and hydroponic vertical farms
FullCycle Climate Partners just announced their investment in Sustainitech, a controlled environment agriculture company based in Toronto. Sustainitech's energy-efficient indoor farming system uses HIFI (High Intensity Farming Indoor) containers that realize increased crop density over industry-standard greenhouses and hydroponic vertical farms. "Their technology consumes less electricity per unit of agricultural produce to achieve high crop yields at industry leading prices," they say.
"Sustainitech is an indoor farming technology developer focused on growing environments that are competitive to modern greenhouse farming. Their horizontal farming complex is designed to enable flexible and crop agnostic farming, creating the ability to grow high value produce up to 6ft tall, not possible in vertical farming," they say.
"With climate change's long-term impact on crop yield, this investment is particularly well-timed, given the new US administration's focus on infrastructure solutions to address climate change. Secular growth and political priorities are expected to have valuable implications for low-carbon technologies like Sustainitech and others in the FullCycle portfolio," they explain.
In a move expected to spur further development into the carbon-neutral economy, President-Elect Biden appointed John Kerry to lead the Presidential Envoy for Climate, and his $2 trillion clean energy investment package totals 20x the clean-energy spending in Mr. Obama's 2009 economic-recovery package.
"Climate change is a threat to global food security. The innovations pioneered at Sustainitech will allow communities to count on access to a wide variety of fresh, low-cost, and nutritious produce while reducing the climate impact from their food supply chain. We see Sustainitech playing a pivotal role in growing a wide range of crops in any climate at industry-leading costs and best in class energy usage," FullCycle Founder and Managing Partner, Ibrahim AlHusseini said in a statement announcing the investment.
Sustainitech fits well within the FullCycle portfolio. Their unit economics exceed FullCycle's IRR thresholds, and their Carbon-Return-on-Investment (CROI20) of Short-Lived Climate Pollutants (SLCP's) meets FullCycle's requirement of gigaton level carbon abatement. With this investment, FullCycle acquired substantial equity as well as exclusive rights to invest in the roll-out of Sustainitech's projects worldwide.
"As the demand for building larger facilities grows, we needed to find the right capital partner to scale us from the present through to a high growth future. Only FullCycle offers the right instruments, tools, and values to allow us to chart a path to a multi-billion-dollar horizon while keeping our focus on a sustainable future," said Sustainitech CEO Joey Hundert.
FullCycle also announced the appointment of Ann M. Veneman to their Board of Advisors. Previously Veneman was the United States Secretary of Agriculture, the first and only woman to hold that position to date. "I have spent much of my career in agriculture, and look forward to identifying promising and sustainable climate-friendly solutions," said former US Secretary of Agriculture Ann M. Veneman.
26 Nov 2020
What COVID Means For Indoor Ag Lending
Contain works with a pool of lenders to help indoor farmers find lease financing for their farm builds
By Nicola Kerslake
"This year has been strange for everyone, and lenders are no different. They live in a world of rules, and stats and data. And there’s almost no way to account for a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic in that world view," says Nicola Kerslake, Founder and CEO of Contain Inc. Contain works with a pool of lenders to help indoor farmers find lease financing for their farm builds.
"Ahead of this week’s Thanksgiving holiday here in the US, we caught up with some of those lenders to talk about surviving 2020 and looking forward to 2021," Nicola adds.
Nicola Kerslake, Founder and CEO of Contain Inc.
Nicola states that indoor farmers generally find credit from three sources: banks, private lenders and government lenders. During March and April, many lenders effectively shut up shop for new loans and leases: “we saw volumes drop by 90%” said one of the private lenders that Contain works with.
Government funding
As government funding supplied by the CARES Act kicked into action, banks were preoccupied with dispersing the paycheck protection program (PPP) loans that kept many small businesses afloat for a while, leaving less time to work on private lending. At a Brookings Institute event in April, KeyBank’s CEO said that it usually completes around 50 loans per month, but this leaped to 37,000 in the first half of April alone, thanks to the PPP program.[1] Elsewhere, several online business lenders, such as Kabbage and OnDeck, stopped initiating loans altogether.
"Now that the dust has settled, private lenders are back to business, with a few tweaks. Universally, the lenders that we spoke with saw indoor agriculture as a beneficiary of the COVID-era: “everyone has to eat, so farming looks like a better option now” one told us. They’re especially interested in seeing farms that supply to supermarket- and institutional buyers," Nicola affirms.
Other beneficiaries include testing labs and home gym equipment providers, whilst restaurants, gyms and salons were of course the worst hit. Lenders remain loath to issue new loans in these sectors, and are instead focusing on helping their existing borrowers navigate through difficult times. Nicola adds, "For instance, one lender told us he had allowed affected businesses to defer a few months’ payment to the end of their leases."
There are a few tweaks
Lenders are taking the time to check on local lockdown restrictions, concerned that unpredictable mandates could swiftly curtail farms’ ability to sell produce. Some are insisting on higher deposits for loans, and on stronger overall balance sheets. This approach is especially hard on startup farms, which generally have less capital of their own to deploy than longer-standing farms.
What will 2021 bring?
"Most of the lenders we spoke with were cautiously optimistic, citing resilient business results in areas that remain open and the promise of imminent vaccine rollouts. Across the market as a whole, rates are expected to stay low for the foreseeable future. Despite this, as one lender put it: “we’re not even going to be able to start talking about ‘normal’ again until the second quarter of next year"," Nicola says.
For more information:
Contain Inc.
Nicola Kerslake, Founder and CEO
nicola@contain.ag
www.contain.ag
Publication date: Mon 30 Nov 2020
Author: Rebekka Boekhout
© VerticalFarmDaily.com
SWEDEN: Vinnova Grants Swegreen And Research Partners 9,1 MSEK Funding For An AI-driven Vertical Farming Project
Nov 13, 2020
Swegreen, RISE Research Institutes of Sweden and Mälardalen University team up in an innovation and research cluster named AIFood - From Farm to Fork.
Swedish AgTech rising star Swegreen, together with research partners RISE and Mälardales University, secures funding from Vinnova, for a 9,1 MSEK project aiming to develop further Swegreens’ platform for AI-driven vertical farming and to evolve a digitalized supply chain from farm to fork.
The research partners Swegreen, Mälardalen University and RISE Research Institutes of Sweden, have teamed up together to digitalize the urban farming industry and restructure the urban food industry towards climate neutrality by help of Artificial Intelligence. The core for the partners research is Swegreens’ innovation for hyper-local vertical farming and building connected and circular models for integration of those facilities in host buildings.
The cluster started off earlier this year with the project ‘NeigbourFood’, funded with 2 MSEK by Swedish Innovation Agency Vinnova, to further develop a data-driven monitoring and optimization for precision farming in closed-loop indoor environment for Swegreen’s offer for Farming as a Service FaaS. The clusters' new project, called ‘AIFood’, has now been granted with 9,1 MSEK, corresponding to approx. 1 Million USD, to enhance the local and sustainable food production systems in urban environments with help of digital technologies.
– A data-driven approach on Vertical Farming has been Swegreens’ main focus from day one, and sustainability is embedded in our DNA as a greentech company, Andreas Dahlin, CEO of Swegreen, says.
– Hand in hand with our technological development, our concrete collaboration with the leading research and academic institutions of Sweden gives us the upper hand to lead this industry’s development as a spearhead enterprise – and our partnership with RISE and Mälardalen University keeps our position on the edge of the development, globally speaking, Andreas Dahlin continues.
The call ‘AI in the service of the climate’ has been launched by the Swedish Innovation Agency Vinnova to support initiatives that focus on use of Artificial Intelligence for minimizing various industries' climate-negative impact. The agricultural and food sector accounts for 30% of the global GHG emissions, and vertical farming can create urban symbiosis as a key factor for resource efficiency and integration of farming facilities into urban infrastructure for significant global greenhouse gas emission cutback.
The ‘AIFood’ project runs for two years and focuses on a proof of concept for autonomous orchestration of vertical farming facilities modeling, and on development of an AI-based platform for precision farming, integration of vertical farms into host buildings, and autonomous interaction of the production facilities with the after-harvest actors.
Dr. Baran Cürüklü, from Mälardalen University – a vibrant AI development academic center – is the Project Lead for the cluster.
– AI can go beyond narrow and specific contributions. In this project, our aim is to demonstrate that complex and intricate systems can be orchestrated by AI, and contribute to rapid transition to a more sustainable agriculture, and even innovative services connecting the whole chain from producer to citizens, says Dr. Baran Cürüklü.
The project has a close collaboration with two other national project platforms as reference groups: Sharing Cities Sweden, a national platform for sharing economy with four testbeds in Stockholm, Umeå, Gothenburg, and Lund and a cluster called Fastighetsdatalabb which focuses on data-related advancement of the real-estate sector.
Dr. Charlie Gullström, a senior researcher at RISE, Sweden’s major research institution and head of Sharing Cities Sweden’s Stockholm testbed, plays an indispensable role in this project. She convenes an interdisciplinary climate panel connected to this project including household name researchers who focus on the climate aspect of the project. Dr. Alex Jonsson from RISE is another senior researcher that attends to the needs for the project from a technical perspective.
Dr. Gullström adds:
– I believe that urban food production can speed up climate transition because it has the potential to engage citizens in local consumption and circular business models that both reduce food waste and unnecessary transports. AI allows us to explore how to complement existing agricultural systems by actively involving stakeholders in the value chain as a whole. In this way, AIFOOD really points the way to a new green deal.
Sepehr Mousavi, Chief Innovation Officer of Swegreen remarks:
– We are proud of this collaboration with leading Swedish research institutions and researchers and see it as a successful model for how a private entity could collaborate with academia and offer its assets as a research infrastructure for the good of the whole industry, in a planet and prosperity win-win model.
– This green transformation of the food sector is dependent on empowering factors such as innovation and circularity enhancement, a connectivity-based and data-driven approach through the whole chain; and the application of Artificial Intelligence as an exponential enabler. Autonomous control of the vertical farming facilities for maximum resource efficiency, scalability and preciseness of operations is of extreme and fundamental importance for both the industry and our company to move forward, adds Sepehr Mousavi.
Sepehr Mousavi
Chief Innovation Officer
+46(0)733140043
Tags#AI#SweGreen#ArtificialIntelligence#smartcities#foodtech#faas#Viablecities#RISE#MälardalenUniversity#agriculture
Swedish Agtech Startup Urban Oasis Raises €1M Funding To Build Its First MegaFarm
Swedish agtech startup Urban Oasis claims to build the food production platform for the 21st century
Swedish agtech startup Urban Oasis claims to build the food production platform for the 21st century. The company started as a pilot project in 2017 with the mission to provide the city of Stockholm with affordable and sustainably-grown food products through indoor vertical farming technology. Currently, Urban Oasis’ leafy greens such as Kale, PakChoi, and Lettuce can be found at major Swedish retailers including ICA, COOP, and online grocer MatHem.
Funding to build MegaFarm
In a recent development, Urban Oasis pocketed 10.5M SEK (nearly €1M) funding from both existing and new investors. The company plans to use the funding to build its first MegaFarm and expand its production capacity by 15-20 times. The construction work for this facility has already started and is expected to be operational by the end of 2020.
The MegaFarm will be powered by GreenOS, which is an automation software developed in-house. MegaFarm One will demonstrate the capability to optimally grow a large variety of crops in a single controlled production facility.
The investors in the company include Family Offices Pelarhuset and Anteeo, along with Yobi Partners Ltd, led by Toni Nijm and Charly Nijm.
Indoor vertical farming tech!
Urban Oasis was founded by Albert Payaró Llisterri and Lasse Kopiez in Stockholm Since its inception, the Swedish agtech startup has successfully scaled production at the pilot facility underneath an apartment complex in central Stockholm. Previously, this space was home to the Swedish Wine and Spirits Corporation’s storage and production facility. Now, it is owned by a Swedish real estate company GreenGroup, which is also an Urban Oasis partner.
“We are rethinking the way food is produced and consumed. Today Sweden imports more than 25 BSEK (€2.4B) worth of greens and vegetables from abroad. Growing produce where people live not only decreases transportation and climate impact, it also increases the freshness, taste and nutrition of the greens and vegetables. By leveraging the latest technology, we are building the food production platform for the 21st century,” says CEO and co-founder Albert Payaró Llisterri.
Main image picture credits: Urban Oasis
in (Crowd)funding, News, Startups
SINGAPORE: High-Five: Developing “The World’s First Vertical Aquaculture Farm”
Singapore-based entrepreneur John Diener is committed to developing a series of urban aquaculture facilities that are able to produce shrimp, whitefish and seaweeds in high tech five-story farming systems
by Rob Fletcher
24 November 2020
Singapore-based entrepreneur John Diener is committed to developing a series of urban aquaculture facilities that are able to produce shrimp, whitefish, and seaweeds in high tech five-story farming systems.
John Diener aims to produce shrimp, tilapia, and seaweeds in five-tier facilities that can be fitted into the footprint of a standard warehouse. © Akualogix
The last decade of Diener’s career has seen him involved in a number of aquaculture-related ventures, as well as agritech startups, and the concept of a completely novel farming system came to him in 2016 when he was researching how machine learning could benefit aquaculture during a part-time MSc in aquaculture at St Andrews University.
“I have a lot of experience in data science and I wanted to find out what would happen if you reassessed the whole concept of aquaculture,” he explains.
Diener’s research led him to believe that vertical farms using cutting-edge technologies had the capacity to produce – for their footprint – an impressive amount of seafood, making them suitable for urban settings.
Three pillars
Diener describes the development of the system as resting on three pillars – biological, mechanical and digital. The biological side relates to investigating the most productive integrated-multitrophic (IMTA) system, with vannamei shrimp as the primary species.
“The business plan has been developed around shrimp – they’re a unique product in terms of their flavour profile, much like salmon are, which makes it very hard to produce substitutes. And they can also be raised at high densities,” Diener notes.
“We’ve also incorporated a filter-feeding fish – we’re currently using tilapia because they’re very robust, but will probably trial milkfish too,” he adds.
The bottom of the IMTA pyramid is taken up by sea grapes – called umibudo in Japan, where they are considered something of a delicacy.
“These are known as ‘the green caviar’ in parts of Asia, so have the potential to be sold as food. They can also be used as an ingredient in shrimp feeds, as we’re aiming to produce our own, sustainable feeds, while they also help to remove nitrates and phosphates from the water,” says Diener.
Technology
The second pillar consists of the engineering, and Diener intends to develop raceway systems four or five levels high, which are equipped with modular autonomous devices to optimise factors such as measuring water quality. The third pillar relates to the digital side of operations.
“We’re investing time and effort to develop advanced technology to manage feeding – both in terms of studying shrimp behaviour so we know when to feed and in terms of measuring the biomass in the systems, so we know how much to feed. We will also be looking to manage the water quality by feeding information into a deep learning algorithm that can control factors like pump speeds and the addition of minerals to the water,” he says.
The digital side also covers the farm’s “Aqua OS” [operational systems], ensuring all the technology works together, to simplify the management of all the tanks, Diener explains.
Launch
John Diener, founder of Akualogix
Four years after coming up with the concept Diener launched his own company, called Akualogix, in August, after finding a suitable site for a pilot-scale facility, in a building owned by the Marine Aquaculture Centre, on St John’s island in Singapore. This will, he notes, be perfect for securing proof-of-concept, before he looks to expand into a commercial-scale facility.
Initially self-funded, by Diener and the company’s co-founder, they are now looking into securing pre-series A funding in order to build a larger scale production unit.
Funding opportunities have remained robust in the agri-food sector, despite the outbreak of Covid. And as our systems are designed for an urban environment, and food security is increasingly important in Singapore and other cities around the world, we see strong investor interest
“Funding opportunities have remained robust in the agri-food sector, despite the outbreak of Covid. And as our systems are designed for an urban environment, and food security is increasingly important in Singapore and other cities around the world, we see strong investor interest,” Diener reflects.
The current farm has – he predicts – the capacity to produce 500-600 kg of shrimp per cycle, but he’s not yet sure what the yields of the tilapia or sea grapes will be – pointing out that no one has undertaken a mass balance study in such a system.
A juvenile shrimp at the pilot facility in Singapore. © Akualogix
“Our business economics is based on shrimp – making any money from the tilapia would be the icing on the cake – but the main reason we have the fish is part of the multi-trophic system and benefit the overall environment, they’re part of the filtration system,” he explains.
We will be looking at establishing commercial farms that can produce in the region of 1,000 to 1,500 tonnes of shrimp a year. It might not sound like much compared to some of the commercial salmon RAS that are now being established, but if we’re operating 20 or 30 farms that would make us one of the biggest shrimp producers in the world
Next steps
Once the pilot facility has fulfilled its potential Diener aims to establish a farm – and ultimately a network of farms – that use Akualogix’s design and equipment, establishing partnerships in a range of countries, primarily in Asia, as the concept takes off.
“We will be looking at establishing commercial farms that can produce in the region of 1,000 to 1,500 tonnes of shrimp a year. It might not sound like much compared to some of the commercial salmon RAS that are now being established, but if we’re operating 20 or 30 farms that would make us one of the biggest shrimp producers in the world,” he points out.
Diener is also looking to develop a unique, sustainable feed that’s designed specifically for producing shrimp in RAS facilities.
“The current range of commercial shrimp feeds are not great for use in RAS, and we’re looking to produce a next generation shrimp feed using sustainable ingredients. And we’re looking for a flavour enhancing additive as a finishing diet – potentially one that comes from algae,” he says.
Given the technology involved and the emphasis on sustainable feed ingredients Diener is aware that production costs are going to be considerably higher than conventional shrimp farms.
“We estimate that our cost of production will be 40-50 percent higher than shrimp produced in a pond in, say, India. But we’re close to market and can charge a premium for a fresh product that’s so sustainably produced,” he says.
Operational experience
The pilot facility holds 30,000 shrimp per cohort and 1,000 tilapia. The former are housed in a two-stage grow-out system and he aims to take them from the end of the nursery stage to harvest in 60 days, while achieving survival rates of roughly 90 percent.
However, as Diener admits, the design concepts of the system are still evolving, and there are other issues that have caused setbacks.
“It turned out that our first batch of PL [post-larvae] had pathogenic vibrio and we started seeing mortalities related to vibriosis,” he explains.
It was an unfortunate start, but a useful reminder of the importance of biosecurity.
“We decided to implement a full biosecurity package [once operating commercially], which will include our own hatcheries to prevent the introduction of pathogens,” he says.
Should the pilot facility prove productive, and investment forthcoming, Diener then aims to roll out the concept across some of Asia’s most populous coastal cities.
“There’s currently a lot of investment in salmon RAS and I think shrimp are the next species to go in that direction. If we can be a pioneer of shrimp RAS it will be a game-changer,” he concludes.
AUSTRALIA: Roto-Gro Raises $1.53 Million To Launch Perishable Food And Vertical Farming Divisions
November 24, 2020
Roto-Gro aims to expand its presence in the vertical farming space across North America.
Agricultural technology specialist Roto-Gro International (ASX: RGI) is set to roll-out its perishable food and vertical farming divisions backed by a $1.53 million capital raising.
The Melbourne-based company this morning announced it has received firm commitments from a range of professional and sophisticated domestic investors for the placement of approximately 38 million shares at $0.04 to raise the funds.
Each share issue will have attaching options on a 2:3 basis exercisable at $0.05 and expiring at the end of 2023 (subject to shareholder approval).
Settlement of the shares is expected by month-end and Roto-Gro expects a general meeting of shareholders to approve the issue of options in the new year.
Peak Asset Management acted as lead manager to the placement and will work closely with the company to drive shareholder value.
Roto-Gro non-executive chairman Michael Carli said the raising is an “important step forward as [we] welcome a number of new shareholders to our register”.
Proceeds will be used to drive the roll-out of Roto-Gro’s perishable food division and expand its presence in the vertical farming space across North America.
Growing concept
Vertical farming is the practice of growing crops in vertically-stacked layers, often incorporating controlled-environment agriculture which aims to optimize plant growth.
An increased crop yield, the smaller unit area of land required and the ability to grow a larger variety of crops at once have seen the vertical farming concept take off in popularity.
Innovations in technology have been able to provide growers with year-round sustainability, operational efficiencies, and competitive costs of production when compared to conventional farming.
Market research shows the global vertical farming market was valued at $2.23 billion in 2018 and is projected to reach $12.77 billion by 2026, growing at a compound annual growth rate of 24.6% from 2019 to 2026.
Europe’s vertical farming market currently accounts for over one-third of current global vertical farming production.
Garden systems
Roto-Gro’s rotational garden systems are at the core of the company’s technology and lead the charge in sustainable urban indoor vertical farming.
The technology has undergone constant innovation and optimization since 2003 to become a patented, commercial-scale cultivation system designed for the consistent production of high-quality crops.
The company claims the use of its garden systems can optimize space (stackable up to three-high) and significantly increase crop yield and quality while lowering operational costs.
Swedish Vertical Farming Company Urban Oasis Raises $1.2 Million
Founded in 2017, Urban Oasis built its first indoor vertical farm underneath an apartment complex in Stockholm. The company produces a variety of leafy greens, including kale, bok choi, and lettuce, which are sold at Swedish retailers including ICA, COOP, and online grocer MatHem
Urban Oasis, an indoor vertical farming company based in Sweden, announced today that it has raised 10.5 million Swedish Krona (~$1.22M USD). Investors include Family Offices Pelarhuset, Anteeo, and Yobi Partners Ltd.
Founded in 2017, Urban Oasis built its first indoor vertical farm underneath an apartment complex in Stockholm. The company produces a variety of leafy greens, including kale, bok choi, and lettuce, which are sold at Swedish retailers including ICA, COOP, and online grocer MatHem.
With its new funding, Urban Oasis aims to build its first MegaFarm, which will expand its production capacity by 15 to 20 times, according to today’s press announcement. The new facility is controlled by Urban Oasis’ GreenOS automation software and will be operational by the end of this year for growing a variety of crops.
Funding for the controlled-environment agriculture, and vertical farming, in particular, has been downright frothy this fall. Other players in the space getting investment include Plenty, Kalera, InFarm, and Unfold. As my colleague, Jenn Marston explained last month:
Less than one year ago, the vertical farming sector was expanding, but a lot of questions remained around the scalability of the concept and how appealing it could be to investors. The nearly constant stream of funding and product announcements in 2020 has sped up that expansion. Part of this is due to, yep, you guessed it, the pandemic. Disruptions in the food supply chain due to COVID-19 have consumers more interested than ever in where their food comes from, and having it grown closer to home is an increasingly attractive option.
With the pandemic still going strong and a month in a half left in the year, Urban Oasis’ fundraise may not be the last of its kind in 2020.
FILED UNDER: MODERN FARMER VERTICAL FARMING
Urban Oasis, an indoor vertical farming company based in Sweden, announced today that it has raised 10.5 million Swedish Krona (~$1.22M USD). Investors include Family Offices Pelarhuset, Anteeo, and Yobi Partners Ltd.
Founded in 2017, Urban Oasis built its first indoor vertical farm underneath an apartment complex in Stockholm. The company produces a variety of leafy greens, including kale, bok choi, and lettuce, which are sold at Swedish retailers including ICA, COOP, and online grocer MatHem.
With its new funding, Urban Oasis aims to build its first MegaFarm, which will expand its production capacity by 15 to 20 times, according to today’s press announcement. The new facility is controlled by Urban Oasis’ GreenOS automation software and will be operational by the end of this year for growing a variety of crops.
Funding for the controlled-environment agriculture, and vertical farming in particular, has been downright frothy this fall. Other players in the space getting investment include Plenty, Kalera, InFarm and Unfold. As my colleague, Jenn Marston explained last month:
Less than one year ago, the vertical farming sector was expanding, but a lot of questions remained around the scalability of the concept and how appealing it could be to investors. The nearly constant stream of funding and product announcements in 2020 has sped up that expansion. Part of this is due to, yep, you guessed it, the pandemic. Disruptions in the food supply chain due to COVID-19 have consumers more interested than ever in where their food comes from, and having it grown closer to home is an increasingly attractive option.
With the pandemic still going strong and a month in a half left in the year, Urban Oasis’ fundraise may not be the last of its kind in 2020.
FILED UNDER:
Almost 900.000 Euro Grant For Swegreen's AI-Driven Vertical Farming Project
The research partners Swegreen, Mälardalen University, and RISE Research Institutes of Sweden, have teamed up together to digitalize the urban farming industry and restructure the urban food industry towards climate neutrality with the help of Artificial Intelligence
Swedish AgTech rising star Swegreen, together with research partners RISE and Mälardales University, secures funding from Vinnova, for a 9,1 MSEK (approx. 880.000 euro) project aiming to develop further Swegreens’ platform for AI-driven vertical farming and to evolve a digitalized supply chain from farm to fork.
The research partners Swegreen, Mälardalen University, and RISE Research Institutes of Sweden, have teamed up together to digitalize the urban farming industry and restructure the urban food industry towards climate neutrality with the help of Artificial Intelligence. The core for the partner’s research is Swegreens’ innovation for hyper-local vertical farming and building connected and circular models for integration of those facilities in host buildings.
The cluster started off earlier this year with the project ‘NeigbourFood’, funded with 2 MSEK by Swedish Innovation Agency Vinnova, to further develop a data-driven monitoring and optimization for precision farming in closed-loop indoor environment for Swegreen’s offer for Farming as a Service FaaS. The clusters' new project, called ‘AIFood’, has now been granted with 9,1 MSEK, corresponding to approx. 1 Million USD, to enhance the local and sustainable food production systems in urban environments with help of digital technologies.
"A data-driven approach on Vertical Farming has been Swegreens’ main focus from day one, and sustainability is embedded in our DNA as a greentech company," Andreas Dahlin, CEO of Swegreen, says. "Hand in hand with our technological development, our concrete collaboration with the leading research and academic institutions of Sweden gives us the upper hand to lead this industry’s development as a spearhead enterprise – and our partnership with RISE and Mälardalen University keeps our position on the edge of the development, globally speaking," Andreas Dahlin continues.
The call ‘AI in the service of the climate’ has been launched by the Swedish Innovation Agency Vinnova to support initiatives that focus on use of Artificial Intelligence for minimizing various industries' climate-negative impact. The agricultural and food sector accounts for 30% of the global GHG emissions, and vertical farming can create urban symbiosis as a key factor for resource efficiency and integration of farming facilities into urban infrastructure for significant global greenhouse gas emission cutback.
The ‘AIFood’ project runs for two years and focuses on a proof of concept for autonomous orchestration of vertical farming facilities modelling, and on development of an AI-based platform for precision farming, integration of vertical farms into host buildings, and autonomous interaction of the production facilities with the after-harvest actors.
Dr. Baran Cürüklü, from Mälardalen University – a vibrant AI development academic center – is the Project Lead for the cluster. "AI can go beyond narrow and specific contributions. In this project, our aim is to demonstrate that complex and intricate systems can be orchestrated by AI, and contribute to rapid transition to a more sustainable agriculture, and even innovative services connecting the whole chain from producer to citizens," says Dr. Baran Cürüklü.
The project has a close collaboration with two other national project platforms as reference groups: Sharing Cities Sweden, a national platform for sharing economy with four testbeds in Stockholm, Umeå, Gothenburg and Lund, and a cluster called Fastighetsdatalabb which focuses on data-related advancement of the real-estate sector.
Dr. Charlie Gullström, senior researcher at RISE, Sweden’s major research institution and head of Sharing Cities Sweden’s Stockholm testbed, plays an indispensable role in this project. She convenes an interdisciplinary climate panel connected to this project including household name researchers who focus on the climate aspect of the project. Dr. Alex Jonsson from RISE is another senior researcher that attends to the needs for the project from a technical perspective.
Dr. Gullström adds: "I believe that urban food production can speed up climate transition because it has the potential to engage citizens in local consumption and circular business models that both reduce food waste and unnecessary transports. AI allows us to explore how to complement existing agricultural systems by actively involving stakeholders in the value chain as a whole. In this way, AIFOOD really points the way to a new green deal."
Sepehr Mousavi, Chief Innovation Officer of Swegreen remarks: "We are proud of this collaboration with leading Swedish research institutions and researchers and see it as a successful model for how a private entity could collaborate with academia and offer its assets as a research infrastructure for the good of the whole industry, in a planet and prosperity win-win model."
"This green transformation of the food sector is dependent on empowering factors such as innovation and circularity enhancement, a connectivity-based and data-driven approach through the whole chain; and application of Artificial Intelligence as an exponential enabler. Autonomous control of the vertical farming facilities for maximum resource efficiency, scalability and preciseness of operations is of extreme and fundamental importance for both the industry and our company to move forward," adds Sepehr Mousavi.
For more information:
Swegreen
Andreas Dahlin, CEO of Swegreen
andreas.dahlin@swegreen.se
www.swegreen.se
41 Million Dollar Investment To Boost Abu Dhabi's Agriculture Technology
The Abu Dhabi Investment Office, ADIO, announced today individual partnerships with Pure Harvest Smart Farms, Pure Harvest, FreshToHome, and Nanoracks that will see the companies receive financial and non-financial incentives totaling AED 152 million (USD 41 million)
Three innovative agriculture companies will develop cutting-edge projects in Abu Dhabi to boost the emirate’s agriculture technology, AgTech, capabilities across land, sea, and space.
The Abu Dhabi Investment Office, ADIO, announced today individual partnerships with Pure Harvest Smart Farms, Pure Harvest, FreshToHome, and Nanoracks that will see the companies receive financial and non-financial incentives totaling AED 152 million (USD 41 million). The research and technologies developed by these companies will expand existing capabilities in Abu Dhabi’s AgTech ecosystem and promote innovation in the sector to address global food security challenges.
New partnerships
The new partnerships are a continuation of ADIO’s efforts to accelerate the growth of Abu Dhabi’s AgTech ecosystem through the AgTech Incentive Programme, which was established under Ghadan 21, Abu Dhabi’s accelerator program. The Programme is open to both local and international AgTech companies. The partnerships follow ADIO’s AED 367 million (USD 100 million) investment earlier this year to bring four AgTech pioneers – AeroFarms, Madar Farms, RNZ, and Responsive Drip Irrigation, RDI, – to the emirate to develop next-generation agriculture solutions in arid and desert climates.
Dr. Tariq Bin Hendi, Director General of ADIO, said: "Abu Dhabi is pressing ahead at full steam with our mission to ‘turn the desert green’ and solve long-term global food security issues. We have created an environment where innovative ideas can flourish and this has enabled the rapid expansion of our AgTech sector. Innovations from the companies we partnered with earlier this year are already propelling the growth of Abu Dhabi’s 24,000 farms. Partnering with Pure Harvest, FreshToHome and Nanoracks adds a realm of new capabilities to the ecosystem across land, sea, and space."
Bin Hendi continued: "We are driving innovation across the entire agriculture value chain and this is producing a compounding effect that is benefiting farmers, innovators, and companies in our region and beyond."
Pure Harvest, FreshToHome, and Nanoracks have been awarded financial and non-financial incentives to expand operations in Abu Dhabi. The competitive incentive packages include rebates on innovation-linked high-skilled payroll, high-tech CAPEX, as well as land, utility, and intellectual property support.
Since the beginning of 2020, ADIO has attracted seven AgTech companies to Abu Dhabi, each bringing a complementary skill to expand the ecosystem. ADIO’s new partnerships with Pure Harvest, FreshToHome, and Nanoracks will build on the achievements made by AeroFarms, Madar Farms, RNZ and RDI, the AgTech pioneers ADIO partnered with earlier this year to establish R&D and production facilities in Abu Dhabi.
Pure Harvest is a home-grown, tech-enabled farming venture that uses cutting-edge food production systems to grow fresh fruits and vegetables in a climate-controlled environment, enabling year-round production anywhere, while using seven times less water compared to traditional farming methods.
Pure Harvest will invest in smart farming and infrastructure technologies at its new farms in Al Ain, Abu Dhabi, to optimize growing conditions through hardware design innovations, artificial intelligence, autonomous growing and robotics, plant science research, and desert-optimized machines. The company will also progress R&D and deployment of a commercial-scale algae bioreactor production facility that will grow higher quality, healthier Omega-3 fatty acids without the limitations and challenges of traditional animal sources.
Sky Kurtz, Co-Founder, and CEO of Pure Harvest, said: "We are delighted to have received the support of ADIO to further invest in our home-grown, innovative growing solutions. It also serves as a powerful endorsement of our business case and mission as we pursue innovation to address food security locally and internationally. As one of the pioneering champions in the region’s emerging AgTech sector, this commitment will give us the resources we need to drive and expand our R&D capabilities and will position us for international expansion from our strategic base in Abu Dhabi. This partnership further demonstrates how committed the government is in supporting and enabling innovative technology companies, providing them with the tools, resources, and support to thrive and make a large-scale impact in the region."
FreshToHome is an e-grocery platform for fresh, chemical-free produce. The company maintains complete control over its supply chain, inventory, and logistics by obtaining produce directly from the source through an AI-powered auction process. ADIO’s partnership will aid the expansion of FreshToHome’s land and sea operational and processing capabilities in the UAE, bringing expertise in aquaculture, contract farming for marine and freshwater fish species, and precision agriculture to Abu Dhabi. It will also invest in innovative fish farming technologies and cold chain.
Shan Kadavil, CEO and Co-Founder of FreshToHome, said: "At FreshToHome we use cutting-edge research in AI and precision aquaculture for furthering food security in a sustainable manner while also giving better value to consumers, fishermen, and farmers. To this end, we intend to bring our US patent pending AI-powered Virtual Commodities Exchange technology, our e-grocery platform, and our nano farm aquaculture technology to Abu Dhabi, enhancing food production and distribution for the region. ADIO has been a terrific partner to us and we are thankful for their support in helping us be part of the vision."
US-based Nanoracks is the single largest commercial user of the International Space Station and is building the first-ever commercial AgTech space research program. Nanoracks’ ‘StarLab Space Farming Center’ in Abu Dhabi will be a commercial space research facility focused on advancing knowledge and technology for organisms and food produced in space and in equally extreme climates on Earth. The space-based technology will be applied to desert agriculture to address pressing environmental and food security challenges and to benefit long-term human space exploration.
Allen Herbert, SVP of Business Development and Strategy, and Head of Nanoracks, UAE, said: "Much of today’s technology used for vertical, urban and closed environment agriculture initially came from space research from 30 years ago, and Nanoracks is ready to synergize these technologies back to in-space exploration. We firmly believe that space research holds the keys to solving major challenges on Earth from climate change to food security. And our StarLab Space Farming Center in Abu Dhabi is just the beginning.
We’re building a global research and development team that will produce and commercialize organisms, technology, and innovative products that will not only revolutionize farming in Earth’s deserts and harsh environments but also change the way humans are able to explore deeper into our universe."
For more information:
www.wam.ae
11 Nov 2020
Infarm Raises $200 Million To Add “Farm” to Cities
heir environment-controlled and automated growing chambers grow food such as leafy greens inside the supermarket, so it’s fresh, without your food accumulating food miles
Infarm’s Israeli founders take on Berlin and the farm to table movement with high-tech farms.
Infarm, a company that grows fresh produce inside supermarkets, has recently announced a $170 million USD funding round to help the company expand across Europe. Their environment-controlled and automated growing chambers grow food such as leafy greens inside the supermarket, so it’s fresh, without your food accumulating food miles.
The company was founded by three Israelis in Berlin in 2013, and they announced this astounding investment achievement despite the Covid plague destroying global markets. Food, we understood, is something that must stay constant. The need for food which is grown locally, and available fresh now resonates at a time of uncertainty and the basic need for survival.
The company has raised $200 million USD total in their Series C round funding which was by LGT Lightstone, Hanaco, Bonnier, Haniel, and Latitude, Atomico, TriplePoint Capital, Mons Capital, and Astanor Ventures.
With a mix of equity and debt financing, the fresh capital brings Infarm’s total funding to date to more than $300 million, underscoring consumer and retailer appetite for Infarm’s approach to fresh, sustainable, and local food production in the wake of this year’s pandemic.
By 2025, Infarm’s farming fridge network is expected to reach more than 5,000,000 square feet to become the largest distributed hydroponic network in the world as it builds towards helping cities become self-sufficient in their food production. Competition includes Freight Farms in the US, and BrightFarms, also American.
“The coronavirus pandemic has put a global spotlight on the urgent agricultural and ecological challenges of our time,” says Erez Galonska, Co-founder and CEO of Infarm. His brother Guy Galonska is also a founder: “At Infarm, we believe there’s a better, healthier way to feed our cities: increasing access to fresh, pure, sustainable produce, grown as close as possible to people,” adds Erez.
The investment will be used to deepen the regional and local penetration of Infarm’s global farming network and complete development of Infarm’s new generation of vertical cloud-connected farms, capable of generating the crop-equivalent of acres of farmland and amplifying the diversity of produce currently available through vertical farming. Vertical farming is also known as hydroponic farming or controlled environment agriculture.
The technology has become developed and well-known over the years thanks to cannabis growers who used this energy-intensive and “stealth” mode of farming to grow cannabis with high concentrations of the active ingredient THC. When it was illegal to grow in Canada, young entrepreneurs were inspired by early blueprints from NASA and farming in space and found ways to set up a soil-less system in basements and closets. To their surprise, they could grow better quality cannabis, faster as inputs such as lighting, humidity, and nutrients could be tightly controlled.
And growing food became the next natural step for people who wanted to grow fresh food year-round even though it’s usually not cost-effective to grow tomatoes or lettuce this way unless you do it at scale.
Hydroponics and variations of it, using just water, a semi-solid coir medium or Styrofoam and/or with fish added, has become the promise for growing food in far-flung locations like Antarctica and food deserts where chocolate bars are available at bodegas, but fresh greens are not. This is according to mothers I have met in Harlem, New York. The hydroponic method is not that complicated at all in theory but in practice, it is hard to achieve good results without know-how in chemistry, engineering, and biology.
An integration of advanced engineering, software, and farming technology, the Infarm farms will save labour, land, water, energy, and food-miles, while contributing to a more sustainable food system, the company proposes.
Partnering with Aldi, Marks & Spencer, Sobeys
While companies like Farmigo founded in New York (also by an Israeli) wanted to put supermarkets out of business, in the past year Infarm has been working to keep them relevant and formed new partnerships with the world’s largest retailers, including Albert Heijn (Netherlands), Aldi Süd (Germany), COOP/Irma (Denmark), Empire Company Ltd (Sobeys, Safeway, Thrifty Foods – Canada), Kinokuniya (Japan), Kroger (United States), Marks & Spencer (United Kingdom) and Selfridges (United Kingdom).
With operations across 10 countries and 30 cities worldwide, Infarm harvests 500,000+ plants monthly, while using 99.5% less space than soil-based agriculture, some 95% less water, 90% less transport, and zero chemical pesticides. Today, 90% of the electricity use throughout the Infarm network is from renewable energy and the company has set a target to reach zero emissions from their production next year.
With the cost of lighting typically very high in hydroponics systems, I’d be curious to know how they will do that without buying carbon credits. Consider this Stanford research paper that mentioned the cost of hydroponic lettuce to be about 8KG of carbon compared to 150g if grown conventionally. The research is a few years old and certainly, there can be ways to improve energy efficiencies.
What organic farmers think?
Proponents of organic farming, regenerative agriculture, and permaculture don’t love hydroponics farming because it relies on petroleum-based fertilizers and nutrients as additives, and while there may be no or few bugs in the grow chambers, there is a risk of fungus and bacteria; in nature, there is always free natural sun (unless you are in Finland in the winter) and natural interactions between plant, soil; and even among small biota like mycorrhizal fungi which play a role in the uptake of micronutrients to the roots and the overall essence of what we call a plant. There is one school of thought that says the “organic” label can only be applied to soil-based farming. Lawyers are debating the issue now.
The answer will be somewhere in the middle. Like most things in life the middle way will help us. The dream is many one-acre regenerative farms to feed us healthily and to feed the planet too but meanwhile there is a gap. How do we feed everyone else who can’t afford to buy at Whole Foods?
We need to improve our local supply chain for food. When you live in a country like Israel, Egypt or Jordan with ample sun, growing food inside a supermarket fridge makes no sense, although hydroponics does. See this project in Jordan, funded by the USAID. Or the one that has changed lives in Harlem.
I had a hydroponics robotics venture (see this article on Bloomberg) and I took it to New York a few years ago and found myself running in circles trying to explain why eating local is good for the planet, it’s good for a circular economy that might one day be about survival. Venture Capitalists laughed at me. They said my technology and vision was a vitamin and not a bandaid –– “a nice to have” but not “a necessary to have”, especially in cities like New York. Then Covid thinking happened.
Here is what investors in Infarm say now (and kudos to the team who worked hard building physical farms and maintaining the pilots):
“We are excited to partner with the Infarm team to accelerate their urban vertical farm vision, ultimately creating a more sustainable food system for a growing population,” says Dharmash Mistry, Partner of LGT Lightstone: “With over $1bn of customer demand, partnerships with 17 of the top 50 global grocers, Infarm is set to revolutionise the market behind a unique ‘demand led’ modular business model.”
Let’s hope. Another Israeli called Benzi Ronen came from Silicon Valley and started a farm-to-table venture in New York and was on top of the world. He had just raised $26 million to grow Farmigo into the Amazon for fresh food and I spoke with him at one point when he warned me to stay in Israel and work there locally for a couple of years before moving stateside. That’s me in the biodome below, growing bok choy for future Martians on my roof in Tel Aviv. I didn’t listen.
I had a venture in robotics to help cannabis farmers (even Mars farmers grow cannabis in space – see this article in Fast Company) and city hydroponic farmers. Farmigo was trying to eliminate supermarkets, by connecting farmers to consumers at drop off points throughout the city. The model was valorous –– who doesn’t want the freshest farm picked veggies every morning? The modern CSA? And it supported local farming, just like what Michael Pollan wants us to do. And to compete with Amazon? Yes. Yes. Yes.
Farmigo raised millions and then the company’s vision to be the Amazon of fresh food could not compete with Amazon. Farmigo changed its business model and now sells software.
I saw the challenges of the business in supplying fresh food. The mechanics of the machines, the lack of willing labor, software needed, the logistics, the importance of food safety. The fungus, the bacteria. The good bacteria. The bad. The responsibility. The chemicals needed to feed the plants, to keep the systems “clean” and safe. So much is hard to control when you are talking about living things.
I always said that if hydroponics or farmers that come from Microsoft want to make city farming work the model will look like the cellphone industry: different players supplying various parts like Qualcomm, Verizon, 3M, Broadcom, and Texas Instruments does. Even to make iPhones work.
Can and will Infarm do it all?
“We see a massive demand in the market for sustainable, environment-friendly, and healthy food – and Infarm has just the right team in place to make this happen,” says Pasha Romanovski, Co-founding Partner of Hanaco Ventures.
More about Infarm
Founded in Berlin in 2013 by Osnat Michaeli and the brothers Erez and Guy Galonska, Infarm is dedicated to creating a future where local super fresh produce is available for everyone. The farms are placed in various locations in the city, like supermarkets, restaurants, and distribution centers, so that vegetables grow and are harvested close to the moment of purchase or consumption. People like Elon Musk’s brother Kimbal Musk has been doing this in New York with a project called Square Roots. They train young entrepreneurs to dream up all sorts of business models inside the shipping container farms built by Freight Farms.
Some in the VC world I have talked with question the viability of the business model of these containers. While it’s a nice idea it’s hard to get the return on the upfront investment.
But when it comes to specialty products and “farms” you can find the Infarm service model in all sorts of permutations in the United States. I got to spend some ample time in meetups with a pile of entrepreneurs building an urban farming project in New York. There I met Andrew Carter, now growing mushrooms in a warehouse in Williamsburg. There is also Farm.One which grows papalo, minutina and all the boutique and hipster greens any chef could dream up in the center of New York City. They deliver.
Lastly and most easily is to try out growing fresh greens at home without the supermarket, or less of the supermarket. I met the founder of Hamama when she was in Israel via MIT helping kids in Israel grow their own food using hydroponics at The Greenhouse. (After I wrote this story in 2008 <— kids from the US were writing me about how to donate their Bar Mitzva money to Noam Geva).
Over at The Greenhouse Camille had her head inside an aeroponics system she’d rigged up last time I saw her. She brought a few of her MIT geek friends over to my house in Jaffa and we talked about hydroponics changing the world. And now she helps people in the easiest way to grow microgreens at home. That’s a hyper simplified way to do hydroponics. She was one of the most inspiring people I met in hydroponics and urban farming.
In fact many in the business are. They are people who want to change the world. Have you met Henry?
Go out and meet someone, start a farm. Grow something. That’s how we change the world.
Now over to Infarm: good luck!
Sustainable Agriculture Opportunity Zone Fund Closes Omaha Investment
The Harvest Returns Sustainable Agriculture Opportunity Zone Fund recently funded the first tranches of an investment in a vertical farm and restaurant business that will produce locally-consumed food year-round in Omaha, Nebraska
The Harvest Returns Sustainable Agriculture Opportunity Zone Fund recently funded the first tranches of an investment in a vertical farm and restaurant business that will produce locally-consumed food year-round in Omaha, Nebraska.
The Sustainable Agriculture Opportunity Zone Fund invests to create a positive impact to the agriculture industry across economically disadvantaged regions of the U.S. The fund seeks to provide investors with tax-favorable, risk-adjusted returns in assets uncorrelated with the stock and bond markets. The fund’s investment objective is to achieve tax-advantaged capital appreciation in production agriculture projects that are economically, socially, and environmentally sustainable.
“Gather Omaha represents exactly the type of project in which we designed this fund to deploy capital,” said Chris Rawley, fund manager of the Sustainable Agriculture Opportunity Zone Fund and CEO of Harvest Returns. “The track record of the Gather management team and Omaha’s local economy makes this an appealing opportunity for investors who seek to diversify their portfolios out of volatile stocks.”
Opportunity Zones were created as part of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act to encourage investment in underfunded, low-income, and distressed communities. Opportunity Zones offer a chance for investors to earn significant returns and tax incentives, including delayed and potentially reduced taxes on capital gains.
“We are really excited to work with a fund like the Sustainable Agriculture Opportunity Zone Fund that aligns perfectly with our model of an Opportunity Zone and Urban Agrarian move,” said Graeme Swain, manager of Gather Omaha. “It isn’t too often that you find two companies aligning ideologically on such a specific agenda.”
Gather Omaha will produce locally sustainable food using a vertical hydroponic farming system. Hydroponic production uses fewer resources than traditional farming practices with 95 percent less water usage, zero pesticide use, and a carbon footprint reduction from shorter shipment distances due to local consumption. In addition, to use within their restaurant, the produce will be sold to local schools, hospitals, grocery stores, and farmers’ markets.
About Harvest Returns
Headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, Harvest Returns, Inc. is a financial technology marketplace created in 2016 by two military veterans to bring agricultural producers together with investors. Through democratizing the agriculture investment process, the online platform provides curated, diversified offerings of farms, ranches, and timberland to qualified investors.
For more information, please visit harvestreturns.com.
80 Acres Farms Raises Funding Round Led by Barclays to Accelerate Growth in Automated Vertical Farming Technolog
80 Acres Farms addresses both sustainability and food security through growing food differently with vertical farming technology and reducing water usage by 97% on less than 1% of the land, with 300x the yield
HAMILTON, Ohio - November 2, 2020 Newswire.com
80 Acres Farms, the sustainable solution for fresh, pesticide-free food, announced that it added Barclays as a strategic investor in the business, joining Virgo Investments, Orange Wings Capital, QuietStar Capital, and other family office investors.
80 Acres Farms is a 2019 fellow from the Unreasonable Impact Americas program and award winner recognized for their work addressing the global pandemic's effects. 80 Acres Farms addresses both sustainability and food security through growing food differently with vertical farming technology and reducing water usage by 97% on less than 1% of the land, with 300x the yield.
Mike Zelkind, CEO of 80 Acres Farms, said: "There has been an explosion in demand for fresh, locally grown, nutritious food, and this investment round enables us to continue to meet that demand at the right unit economics. We look forward to developing our relationship with Barclays and their global network through our shared passion for enhancing sustainability in this industry."
Andrew Challis, Co-Head of Principal Investments at Barclays, said: "80 Acres Farms can shorten the vulnerable, carbon-intensive supply chain and secure retailers and consumers with consistent, safe, fresh, sustainably grown food. This is an exciting investment proposition for Barclays as it supports our clients' and consumers' transition to a low-carbon economy and underpins our ambition to take a leading role in tackling climate change."
80 Acres Farms operates eight indoor farms in the US, including a new state of the art facility in Hamilton, Ohio - built by an affiliated company, Infinite Acres - that will deliver 10 million servings in its first year. You can find 80 Acres' product of just-picked salads, tomatoes, cucumbers, herbs, and microgreens at Kroger, Whole Foods, The Fresh Market, Dorothy Lane Markets, Jungle Jim's Markets, and key National Foodservice Distributors including Sysco and US Foods.
About 80 Acres Farms
80 Acres Farms is a vertical farming leader providing customers with the freshest and most nutritious fruits and vegetables at affordable prices. Utilizing world-class technology and analytics, the Company offers customers a wide variety of pesticide-free food with a longer shelf life that exceeds the highest food safety standards
Lead photo: 80 Acres Farms'. Fully-Automated vertical farm located in Hamilton, OH.
For further information, please contact us at:
rebecca.haders@eafarms.com / +1 513-910-9089
About Barclays Sustainable Impact Capital initiative
As part of its broader commitments, Barclays will invest £175m of its own capital, led by the Principal Investments team, in fast-growing, innovative, environmentally-focused companies whose values are aligned with those of Barclays and which target the goals and timelines of the Paris Agreement. Investments will be strategic to Barclays, its clients, and the communities it serves, with clear scalable propositions that deliver both environmental benefits and economic returns.
For further information, please contact us at:
Investment Enquiries: PITeamInbox@barclays.com
Media Enquiries: emily.stead2@barclays.com / +44 (0) 7796 706166
Related Images
80-acres-farms-newest-location.jpg
80 Acres Farms Newest Location
80 Acres Farms'. Fully-Automated vertical farm located in Hamilton, OH
Related Links
Ground-Breaking Companies Join the 10th Unreasonable Impact Program
80 Acres adds Walmart, Dole execs to leadership team as it gears up for growth
To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/67308
Building Essential Foundations to Lead Farming For the Future: Q4 and Fiscal 2020 Letter to Shareholders from CubicFarms CEO
Since our listing on the TSX Venture Exchange last July, we learned many lessons on how to be a public company, particularly the only Canadian public company in the vertical farming, controlled-environment agriculture space
VANCOUVER, BC, OCTOBER 28, 2020 – CubicFarm® Systems Corp. (TSXV:CUB) (“CubicFarms” or the “Company”) is pleased to provide the following message from Dave Dinesen, Chief Executive Officer.
Dear Valued Shareholders and Friends,
I want to thank you for your support and commitment to CubicFarms, from our earliest founding investors who saw the opportunity and potential in our small private company, to our new shareholders who have joined us after our public listing in July 2019.
Your support has helped us make significant strides since our founders Jack and Leo Benne started developing the first prototype a decade ago of what has become our patented, automated growing system for fresh produce. Today, I want to provide you with a more thorough understanding of our vision for the path ahead, what we have recently accomplished and the foundation we are laying to lead farming for the future.
The Covid-19 pandemic that dominated much of life in 2020 has greatly impacted food systems all over the world. The health crisis upended intricate food supply chains that were already inefficient. The food service industry was decimated while retail demand and food prices shot up. Transportation and distribution lines were disrupted, and border closures prevented foreign farm workers from toiling the land. Covid-19 underscored the critical need for technology to localize food production and shorten supply chains to provide more predictable and reliable food supply for our communities.
Against this backdrop, our systems continue to sell. Our customers acknowledge the value our systems bring to their operations through savings in land, labour, water and energy. Growing indoors and maximizing crop yield per cubic foot enable farmers to grow anywhere on earth, 365 days a year.
Sales highlights
In March 2020, we announced our largest ever sale of 100 CubicFarms machines to be installed in Surrey, British Columbia.
In July 2020, we announced another large sale of 16 CubicFarms machines to be installed in the Okanagan region of BC.
We reported C$5,167,488 in revenue this fiscal year from the following orders:
23 CubicFarms machines being installed in Calgary, Alberta.
Three control rooms each delivered to Terramera and a BC-based field farmer.
A HydroGreen livestock feed system delivered to our new reseller in Tokyo, Japan.
Approximately C$517,000 is attributed to recurring revenues from monthly customer support subscriptions, and sales of consumables such as seeds, nutrients and parts.
Sales orders under contract and deposit, that are pending installation, total approximately USD$18 million, representing 138 machines. Revenue from machines is dependent on the completion of the sales and delivery process – consisting of the signing of the purchase agreement, deposit payments, manufacture of machines, customer’s site preparation, shipping and installation.
Machine installation is progressing well at our customer's site in Calgary. The project is scheduled for completion in November.
Reflecting on a pivotal foundational year that positions CubicFarms for growth
Since our listing on the TSX Venture Exchange last July, we learned many lessons on how to be a public company, particularly the only Canadian public company in the vertical farming, controlled-environment agriculture space. We ramped up outreach to retail and institutional investors to tell our unique story, and it has resonated especially well with ESG-focused investors who are increasingly seeking to invest in companies that positively impact food security, sustainability and the environment.
We have strategically augmented our capitalization table with leading ag-tech investor Ospraie Ag Science and dairy entrepreneur Harry DeWit, who are equally as passionate about our technology and provide enormous value to our company through their industry expertise and network.
A company is only as extraordinary as its people, so we’ve taken steps to invest in our culture and talent. In January 2020, we welcomed Jeff Booth as Chairman of our board. Jeff is a tech visionary and thought leader who has helped drive culture from the day he got involved in the company. He leads our corporate strategic meetings every quarter, in addition to sitting on the board’s audit committee, and helps us set and achieve our goals. Chris Papouras from Ospraie Ag Science joined us last month as our newest board member. We look forward to his well-rounded expertise in manufacturing operations, finance, technology and automation as we scale the business.
We also bolstered our management team and their respective departments with appointments in key roles, including Leo Benne as Chief Product Officer, Jo-Ann Ostermann as Chief Customer Officer, Tim Fernback as Chief Financial Officer, Sandy Gerber as Head of Marketing, and Dan Schmidt as Senior Vice President of Global Sales. We’re proud to have assembled a high-calibre management team at the intersection of experience in engineering, cultivation, manufacturing, sales and marketing, to drive growth at an international level.
In January 2020, we closed our first acquisition via an all-share transaction at an implied value of C$1.50 per CubicFarms common share. The acquisition of HydroGreen, Inc. opened a new business vertical for CubicFarms, enabling us to offer a fully-automated indoor system for growing nutritious livestock feed to a new customer segment – beef, dairy, equine, sheep, goats, poultry and swine producers. Feeding animals highly digestible live, green feed produced by the HydroGreen system not only accrues animal health benefits, but also provides farmers with local, on-demand availability of fresh feed all year round, unaffected by drought, snow or rain. With the world's population nearing 10 billion people by 2050, and with grazing and arable lands under pressure and often beyond capacity, the timing is ideal to bring HydroGreen to market.
Industrial-size HydroGreen system that is being tested at our newly upgraded South Dakota manufacturing facility. This system is a significant upgrade from the largest HydroGreen system currently for sale, and will enable us to serve even larger, industrial customers in the livestock production space.
Innovation remains at the heart of our company. We continue to innovate both our machines and crops to further drive system sales. We are busy researching ways to refine our grow protocols to grow more crop varieties, as well as improve crop health and quality. We are also looking for ways to make our machines more efficient, from both a hardware and software standpoint. At the request of our customers, we developed and launched our Control Room in June 2020, which enables growers to have complete control over the growing environment that is so crucial for high yields and quality – a capability especially well suited for R&D. Inside our Control Room, the temperature, humidity, lighting and air flow can be properly calibrated to suit crop requirements. In collaboration with Terramera – another Ospraie Ag Science portfolio company – we are developing farming artificial intelligence (AI) by integrating multiple data sources, and applying machine learning and data science techniques to optimize crop yields inside our system. Look out for more updates on our R&D progress and breakthroughs soon.
R&D team members working on developing a light-sensor diagnosis tool to analyze data and simulated tests from crop trials to accelerate R&D discoveries.
This year, our Customer Experience team worked to streamline the sales process and remove customer pain points. We launched CubicFarms Garden, a consulting service for potential customers to help guide them on the economics of CubicFarms systems, including:
Financial plan: ROI calculation based on cost of inputs, financing type, exchange rate, etc.
Market assessment: Research outlining our customers’ agriculture market opportunities, size, scope, potential distributors and constraints.
Executive summary: A detailed, strategic pitch deck tailored to help customers secure financing for a CubicFarms system.
As a sales incentive, CubicFarms Garden customers can opt to apply the costs of our consulting services toward a future system purchase.
Our Customer Experience team also formalized our Farm School training program, a detailed curriculum to prepare our customers and their staff with all they need to know to correctly operate their CubicFarms system. They are trained on the machinery to assist with preventative maintenance and troubleshooting activities, machine operations, farm management, setting up quality management systems, and growing practices. Farm School also covers food safety and compliance with the tools of Good Agricultural Practices. We are excited to build out these services to support our customers in each step of their journey to commercial production.
Our Calgary customers Marc Schulz and Joy Peacock attended our Farm School in July, where they learned how to operate a CubicFarms system safely and efficiently once it is fully installed at their site.
A look ahead
We will continue to strategically build and promote our brand by differentiating our unique technology solutions that help our customers to grow sustainably and profitably. We will execute our global sales strategy of developing relationships with our distributors and dealers and tapping into their existing customer network, in addition to building our in-house sales teams.
Our dedicated R&D team is focused on expanding our unique product offerings to capture additional total addressable market share. We plan to grow our recurring revenue base by rolling out an increasing array of value-added services, such as CubicFarms Garden consulting, as discussed above. Additionally, rigorous margin expansion is an ongoing focus, by pursuing supply chain efficiencies through improved sourcing methods, and improving procurement power and reduced manufacturing per unit costs through enhancing scale.
Finally, the successful acquisition and integration of HydroGreen keeps us on the look out for other complementary businesses that have potential as strategic acquisition targets, or synergistic partnerships that could arise with other companies in the industry or Ospraie’s portfolio.
In the coming year, we expect increasingly smoother sales cycles to help provide for the capital needs to pursue our growth objectives. We diligently laid the groundwork in the past year to position our company for success. We want to continue working hard to ensure all our efforts up to this point are worthwhile.
Thank you for being on this journey with us.
Dave Dinesen
CEO
CubicFarms files fourth quarter and year-end financial results
The Q4 and year-end financial statements and management's discussion and analysis are available under the CubicFarm Systems profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com, or on the CubicFarms website at https://cubicfarms.com/investors/.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
About CubicFarm® Systems Corp.
CubicFarm Systems Corp. (“CubicFarms”) is a technology company developing and deploying technology to feed a changing world. Its proprietary technologies enable growers around the world to produce high quality, predictable crop yields. CubicFarms has two distinct technologies that address two distinct markets. The first technology is its CubicFarms™ system, which contains patented technology for growing leafy greens and other crops indoors, all year round. Using its unique, undulating-path growing system, the Company addresses the main challenges within the indoor farming industry by significantly reducing the need for physical labour and energy, and maximizing yield per cubic foot. CubicFarms leverages its patented technology by operating its own R&D facility in Pitt Meadows, British Columbia, selling the system to growers, licensing its technology and providing vertical farming expertise to its customers.
The second technology is CubicFarms’ HydroGreen system for growing nutritious livestock feed. This system utilizes a unique process to sprout grains, such as barley and wheat, in a controlled environment with minimal use of land, labour and water. The HydroGreen system is fully automated and performs all growing functions including seeding, watering, lighting, harvesting, and re-seeding – all with the push of a button – to deliver nutritious livestock feed without the typical investment in fertilizer, chemicals, fuel, field equipment and transportation. The HydroGreen system not only provides superior nutritious feed to benefit the animal, but also enables significant environmental benefits to the farm.
Cautionary statement on forward-looking information
Certain statements in this release constitute "forward-looking statements" or "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws, including, without limitation, statements with respect to financial position, business strategy, growth strategies, budgets, operations, financial results, plans, objectives and other information that is not historical fact. Such statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance, or achievements of CubicFarm Systems Corp., or industry results, to be materially different from any future results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements or information including the Company obtaining the approval of the Offering from the TSX Venture Exchange. Such statements can be identified by the use of words such as "may", "would", "could", "will", "intend", "expect", "believe", "plan", "anticipate", "estimate", "scheduled", "forecast", "predict", and other similar terminology, or state that certain actions, events, or results "may", "could", "would", "might", or "will" be taken, occur, or be achieved. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management as of the date such statements are made and they are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements or forward-looking information. See "Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information" and "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Information Form which is available on www.sedar.com for a discussion of the uncertainties, risks and assumptions associated with these statements. We caution that the list of risk factors and uncertainties is not exhaustive and other factors could also adversely affect our results. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements and forward-looking information. Except as required by securities disclosure laws and regulations applicable to the Company, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements if the Company's expectations regarding future events, performance, or results change.
Jack Ma Also Checks Out Strawberry Cultivation
On the morning of October 10th and following his visit to the Dezhou high-tech tomato greenhouses, Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba Group, went to Licheng District, Jinan City, to inspect the development of the strawberry industry
On the morning of October 10th and following his visit to the Dezhou high-tech tomato greenhouses, Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba Group, went to Licheng District, Jinan City, to inspect the development of the strawberry industry. The Licheng strawberry industry has been developing since the early 1990s and has now become one of the main production areas for strawberry cultivation in China. At present, there is over 1,000 hectares of greenhouse strawberry planting area in the whole district, the total output is 66,000 tons, the total output value is 1.25 billion RMB [187 million USD], and the derivative output value is nearly 2 billion RMB [300 million USD].
At Prandtl Agricultural Technology Co., Ltd., Licheng District, Jack Ma led a delegation to listen to the introduction of the development of the strawberry industry in Licheng District, viewed the display of strawberry related products, and learned more about the construction of seedling detoxification and rapid propagation laboratory and secondary seedling greenhouse operating situation. The company has carried out in-depth research, demonstration, and promotion of strawberry detoxification technology, soilless cultivation, and new variety cultivation. Jack Ma had in-depth exchanges and discussions with the technical staff of the company and learned in detail about the research and promotion of strawberry seedlings, especially the detoxification and rapid propagation technology.
At the Hongmei Farm in Dongjia Street, Jack Ma and his delegation inspected the construction and operation of the combined greenhouse and the winter greenhouse and asked in detail about the three-dimensional cultivation of strawberries and traditional planting. The farm’s strawberry production is supported by biological control, water, and fertilizer integration, and modern agricultural Internet of Things management systems, focusing on the application of prevention and control. Jack Ma said that the popularization and promotion of advanced planting technology will help ensure the high quality of strawberries.
At Strawberry Paradise in Dongjia Street, Jack Ma and his delegation visited the greenhouse, communicated with growers in-depth, and learned about the application of various strawberry cultivation models and market operations. Combined with the construction of a new countryside in Shiziyuan Village, it has formed an industrial system integrating strawberry planting, picking, catering, and tourism.
Jack Ma expressed his appreciation for Jinan's efforts to develop the strawberry industry and increase farmers’ incomes through cooperatives. He hopes that Alibaba Group and Jinan will further deepen exchanges and cooperation, and jointly explore new models and new paths to promote the development of Jinan's characteristic industries such as strawberry planting.
Source: k.sina.cn
Publication date: Fri 23 Oct 2020
Indoor Farming Start-Up BrightFarms Raises $100m In Funding
The start-up has raised over $200 million in funding to date, and BrightFarms claims that it will use these latest funds to invest in its current farms and retail programs and expand its network of regional indoor farms across the US
By Martin White
21 October 2020
Indoor hydroponic farming start-up BrightFarms has secured $100 million in a Series E funding round led by Cox Enterprises, which now owns a majority stake in the company, and a further investment from Catalyst Investors.
BrightFarms builds and operates indoor farms near major metropolitan areas in the US, providing supermarkets and retailers with a consistent supply of locally grown produce. It currently operates indoor farms in Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, with three new farms currently under development in North Carolina, Massachusetts, and Texas.
The start-up has raised over $200 million in funding to date, and BrightFarms claims that it will use these latest funds to invest in its current farms and retail programs and expand its network of regional indoor farms across the US.
BrightFarms claims that its growing methods “use 80% less water, 90% less land and 95% less shipping fuel than traditional agriculture”. The company claims that its indoor growing methods can provide pesticide-free packaged greens to supermarkets in as little as 24 hours after harvest.
The start-up has formed partnerships with major retailers including Ahold Delhaize, Kroger, and Walmart, distributing produce to over 2,000 stores in the US. The firm anticipates that it will expand its distribution to more than 15,000 stores by 2025.
Steve Platt, CEO of BrightFarms, said: “Our goal over the next five years is to make quality, locally-grown greens a staple on grocery shelves and in refrigerators nationwide.
“We are thrilled to have the strong financial backing of Cox Enterprises, an organization that closely aligns with our mission to build a healthier and more sustainable future and to have the additional support of our long-term partners at Catalyst Investors. Together we are ready to scale our model for local indoor farming in every major market in the US”
Korean Smart Farm Company Farm8 Eyes IPO In 2022
The firm has been seeing robust growth despite the coronavirus slump, gaining recognition for its eco-friendly agricultural cultivation and processing technologies. It is the country’s leading smart farm factory, incorporating the latest technologies including artificial intelligence and internet of things to optimize and automate the cultivation process
2020.10.23
Photo provided by Farm8
Farm8, a South Korean agricultural firm with advanced technologies in indoor farming, is seeking to go public on the main Kospi in 2022 after gaining confidence from capital investment.
Farm8’s biggest backer IMM Investment is expected to play a pivotal role in the initial public offering and likely to remain as its No. 1 shareholder to drive the company’s global expansion.
The Seoul-based alternative asset investment firm first linked up with Farm8 in 2014 by investing 16 billion won ($14.1 million) and has since been an ardent supporter of the company, backing its financing, benchmarking and promotion efforts.
In March this year, it helped pulled 10 billion in outside capital, including 5 billion won from state-run Korea Development Bank.
Farm8’s valuation is estimated at 80 billion won after its rights issue.
Farm8 posted 47.2 billion won in revenue last year, up 7.5 percent from 2018. Sales this year are estimated to jump 25 percent to 58 billion won, according to the company.
The firm has been seeing robust growth despite the coronavirus slump, gaining recognition for its eco-friendly agricultural cultivation and processing technologies. It is the country’s leading smart farm factory, incorporating the latest technologies including artificial intelligence and internet of things to optimize and automate the cultivation process.
Farm8 has installed Metro Farms in five subway stations in Seoul and is planning to build a container smart farm in South Korea’s Antarctic research station by the end of this year. It aims to triple its smart farm capacity to 9,910 square meters next year.
The firm also plans to add more value-added crops such as ginseng and strawberries and is exploring options of using these ingredients for cosmetic and medical purposes.
Korea’s smart farm market is estimated to be worth 2.6 trillion won this year, with potential to grow even further amid pledges of government support.
Farm8 is also intent on taking its business global. It said it aims to build its presence in Asian markets including Mongolia, Singapore and Japan, and eventually break into North America and Europe.
By Park Chang-young and Kim Hyo-jin