©Plenty Unlimited
Plenty Unlimited has raised $140 million in a Series D funding round, bringing the total amount raised to date by the vertical farming company to over $500 million.
With its vertical design, Plenty claims to be able to produce up to 400 times the yield of traditional field farming, without the use of pesticides.
The company, which uses data analytics, machine learning and customised lighting to grow produce all year round, says that its farms are designed to use less than 5% of the water used by conventional methods.
The round was led by existing supporter Softbank Vision Fund 1 and was also backed by new investor Driscoll’s.
According to Plenty, the capital raised will be used to fuel the company’s growth, including the development of its new farm in Compton, California.
The new investment will also support the execution of recently announced commercial collaborations with Driscoll’s and Albertsons.
Plenty has secured a joint development agreement with Driscoll’s to grow the company’s strawberries in its vertical indoor farm, as well as an agreement with Albertsons to bring Plenty greens to 431 of the retailer’s California stores.
“Plenty has built an intelligent, scalable agriculture platform that delivers unprecedented flavour, purity, consistency and yield,” said Matt Barnard, co-founder and CEO of Plenty.
“Plenty’s controlled and resilient farms and local distribution made it easy for us to scale quickly, even during the pandemic, demonstrating that our indoor, vertical farm flourishes under environmental pressures and delivers delicious greens along with the sales that come with it.”
Miles Reiter, Driscoll’s chairman and CEO, added: “We looked at other vertical farms, and Plenty’s technology was one of the most compelling systems we’d seen for growing berries. We got to know Plenty while working on a joint development agreement to grow strawberries. We were so impressed with their technology, we decided to invest.”
© FoodBev Media Ltd 2024