by Lynda Kiernan
São Paulo-based Pink Farms has raised R$2 million (US$532,000) in early-stage funding from agribusiness-focused venture capital firm SP Ventures and seed venture fund Capital Link to develop vertical farming in Brazil.
Founded in 2016 by engineers Geraldo Maia, and Mateus and Rafael Delalibera, Pink Farms is one of the first indoor farming operations in Latin America. The pair were witness to the lack of efficiency in the country’s traditional farming value chain, which drives post-harvest losses of up to 40 percent.
“Looking at the market and the vegetable production chain in Brazil, we had very negative surprises, mainly due to the chain’s low efficiency, with post-harvest losses of up to 40%. That is, every 100 kilos of edible leaves, only 60 kilos are consumed,” said Geraldo Maia, co-founder of Pink Farms.
The startup’s production model uses 100 percent artificial lighting throughout multi-level structures with no air-exchange with the external environment. All factors contributing to crop growth – temperature, humidity, and airy quality – are highly controlled; water usage is 95 percent less than conventional farming, and there is a 50 percent reduction in the use of fertilizers, resulting in a reduced environmental footprint. Combined, these efforts produce up to 100 times more food than open-field production.
“We also use the farm to table concept to reduce the number of intermediaries, time, losses and impact generated by the chain, always bringing a much fresher product to the consumer,” said Maia. “It is possible that the product is consumed on the day it was harvested, eliminating post harvest losses and increasing the shelf life by more than 100 percent.”
“Consumers are increasingly looking for products with higher quality and in organizations that are concerned about the environment,” said Francisco Jardim, founding partner of SP Ventures. “Therefore, we analyzed Pink Farms’ proposals and decided to invest in its development.”
The startup plans to use the funds to construct its first large-scale farming facility to serve São Paulo. And with further R&D and advancements to its technology, the company plans to expand its portfolio to include strawberries and tomatoes, among other crops.
Although vertical farming is a nascent industry in Latin America, Pink Farms is not alone. Vertical-Farming,net explains how Pablo Bunster and Cristian Sjögren knew the veracity of certain trends: population growth will continue, food demand will be a constant, and climate change is worsening. Knowing this, the partners went on to co-found AgroUrbana in Chile, a startup they claim is the first indoor vertical farm in South America.
Between March and September 2018 the pair raised seed funding to build their first scalable production farm, or what they call, “a large-scale pilot”, according to Vertical Farming.net. Initially the partners want to use this facility to learn about and prove their concept, economics, technology, and market, before building a second facility that is 10 times its size.
“To us, we believe [vertical farming] is huge: it has so much to do with so many areas that need to be thought of in different ways: from land use to food, the way we eat, water use, energy use,” said Bunster. “Because renewables will be readily available, Chile actually has a head start on other regions, making it the perfect place for vertical farming to flourish.”