September 21, 2020

Photo credit: Infarm

By Lynda Kiernan, Global AgInvesting Media

Berlin-based urban farming startup Infarm has had a first close at $170 million for a Series C round of funding that is expected to exceed $200 million. 

This funding, which lifts Infarm’s total capital raised to-date through a mix of equity and debt financing, to more than $300 million, was led by LGT Lightstone, and included Hanaco, Bonnier, Haniel, and Latitude, as well as existing Infarm investors Atomico, TriplePoint Capital, Mons Capital, and Astanor Ventures.

“We are big believers in vertical farming as we see the traditional industry going through (much needed) rapid disruption these days,” said Pasha Romanovski, co-founding partner, Hanaco Ventures.

”We were deeply impressed by Infarm’s founders and management, with their ability to move fast and execute. What is extremely appealing about Infarm is their innovative and modular approach, using cutting-edge technology that unlocks added value throughout the supply chain, benefiting both the retailers and end-customers. 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.”

Founded in 2013 by Osnat Michaeli and the brothers Erez and Guy Galonska, InFarm has pioneered an urban production model that combines modular in-store micro-vertical farming units with IoT technologies and data science that are located in supermarkets, restaurants, and distribution centers. By integrating each modular unit with InFarm’s central farming platform, the company can collect data on each location and create optimal growing environments that tailor light, temperature, pH, and nutrients.

“The coronavirus pandemic has put a global spotlight on the urgent agricultural and ecological challenges of our time,” said Erez Galonska, co-founder and CEO, Infarm. “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.”

Operating in 30 cities across 10 countries, Infarm harvests more than 500,000 plants per month, which are grown using 99.5 percent less space, 95 percent less water, and 90 percent less transportation than traditional agriculture. Infarm’s growing system is also free of pesticides, and uses energy that is 90 percent renewable toward a goal of zero emission food production next year.

Each of these controlled environment growing units are connected to a central cloud-based “farm-brain” which collects more than 50,000 data points over the course of each plant’s lifespan. Over time, the platform “learns”, adapts, and improves so that each harvest is better than the one before.

The company stated that it is this “modular, data-driven, and distributed approach – a combination of big data, IoT, and cloud analytics, in addition to rapid growth at a global scale”, that sets it apart from its rivals. 

Growth and scaling are key objectives for Infarm. Currently the company is scaling to 5,000,000 square feet in farming facilities across Europe, North America, and Asia by 2025, and over the past 12 months has formed a string of important partnerships with some of the world’s leading retailers including Albert Heihn in the Netherlands, Aldi Süd in Germany, COOP/Irma in Denmark, Sobeys, Safeway, and Thrifty Foods in Canada, Kinokuniya in Japan, Kroger in the U.S., and Marks & Spencer and Selfridges in the UK.

These new partnerships have driven market expansion beyond Germany, France, Luxembourg, and Switzerland into the UK, U.S., Canada, Denmark, Japan, and the Netherlands. 

“As we scale to 5,000,000 sq ft in farming facilities across Europe, North American and Asia by 2025, this investment will help us make a truly global impact through our network, preserving the thousands of acres of land, millions of liters of water and ultimately change the way people grow, eat and think about food,” said Galonska.

On an operational level, this investment will be used by the company to develop infrastructure, advance its R&D, and to expand its team to drive global growth.

“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,” said Dharmash Mistry, partner, LGT Lightstone.

“Fresher, tastier and healthier food using 95 percent less land and water, no pesticides and 90percent less transport. With over $1 billion of customer demand, partnerships with 17 of the top 50 global grocers, Infarm is set to revolutionize the market behind a unique ‘demand led’ modular business model. We look forward to working with Erez, Guy and Osnat to create a better, healthier, and tastier future.”

– Lynda Kiernan is editor with GAI Media, and is managing editor and daily contributor for Global AgInvesting’s AgInvesting Weekly News and  Agtech Intel News, and HighQuest Group’s Oilseed & Grain News. She is also a contributor to the GAI Gazette. She can be reached at lkiernan@globalaginvesting.com.