January 23, 2019

Ohio-based indoor vertical farming startup 80 Acres announced a “significant investment”, which was later reported to be in excess of $40 million, from Virgo Investment Group, a San Francisco-based private equity group focused on investing in companies that are disrupting high-potential industries.

Founded by Mike Zelkind and Tisha Livingston in 2015 in Cincinnati, Ohio, 80 Acres Farms is a pioneer in indoor agriculture. Utilizing proprietary technologies that include modular grow zones, customized LED lighting, precision climate controls, sophisticated data monitoring, and an AI-based growing system, 80 Acres grows nutritious, pesticide-free greens, fruits and vegetables that are higher quality than customary produce. And by having its facilities in Ohio, Arkansas, North Carolina, and Alabama geographically situated in proximity to its customers, the produce grown by 80 Acres Farms does not need to be transported long distances, drastically reducing the environmental impact of farming and food waste.

“Over the past three years we have provided our customers with fresh, flavorful and nutritious produce grown locally in our facilities with no pesticides and highly efficient usage of water and nutrients,” said 80 Acres Farms co-founder Mike Zelkind .  “We are rapidly increasing yields for our produce, while advancing each generation of our grow zone designs to lower capital costs, production costs and reduce the use of natural resources.”

Currently, 80 Acres Farms is in the process of completing its facility located in Hamilton, Ohio, which will be the first fully automated indoor farm in North America. Featuring handling robots, AI-based systems, data analytics, and 24-hour sensor monitoring and control systems to optimize each step of production, the Hamilton site will be fully automated from seeding, to growing, to harvest.

Phase I of the project, which is currently under construction is expected to be operational early this year, and the investment from Virgo will be used by 80 Acres to complete the facility.

“Our vision is to prove that indoor farming can be fully-automated, commercially scalable, higher-yielding, and profitable.,” said Zelkind.  

Therein lies the challenge – a major hurdle for vertical and indoor farming operations has been the ability to achieve commercial scale while working within a highly capital-intensive production model. And here is where 80 Acres has set itself apart from the rest – it’s ability to keep production costs down through technology.

“Virgo Investment Group joins our existing notable and experienced food industry investors in supporting the Company to rapidly commercialize the indoor vertical farming technology we have developed over the past three years,” said Zelkind. “We are optimizing every aspect of our production processes and driving down costs, which is crucial to scaling an indoor farming business like ours.”   

“We want to help accelerate the company’s growth in this multi-billion-dollar market,” said Eli Aheto, partner, Virgo Investment Group. “The 80 Acres investment is an expression of Virgo’s long-standing focus on investing in energy efficiency opportunities driven by reduced equipment costs. Virgo has completed investments in utility-scale wind, community solar, electric vehicle charging and now an LED lighting driven business.”

-Lynda Kiernan