August 5, 2022

By Lynda Kiernan-Stone, Global AgInvesting Media

Japanese food tech company Spread is a true vertical farming veteran. Based in Kyoto, Spread has been in operation since 2007, gaining expertise over the course of 15 years, beginning production at its Kameoka Plant, and then through its next-generation automated vertical farm – Techno Farm Keihanna.

Today, Spread announced it has closed on a $30 million (4 billion yen) Series A backed by multiple companies and angel investors, representing the largest-ever funding round to occur in Japan’s food tech sector. 

Spread noted that, Kameoka Plant, its first farm, was the first in the world to achieve profitability, achieving an operating rate of 97 percent after six years – no small achievement in the vertical farming space, where pressure for price parity with traditionally produced foods is intense.

Striving for even greater levels of efficiency and sustainability in its systems, Spread developed Techno Farm Kaihanna, which utilized automated cultivation, precise environmental control technology, Techno Farm Cloud – an IoT-based cultivation management platform, and other cutting-edge technologies to achieve an operating rate of 99.2 percent within two years of the plant’s coming online in 2018.

Today, the company is capitalizing upon its deep well of experience, and is combining technology with cultivation processes originating from traditional Kyoto farming to expand into the production of high-quality, pesticide-free strawberries, while also launching research on the production of alternative meats.

With the capital secured through this Series A, Spread stated it plans: to develop new technologies for Techno Farm Fukuroi – the largest automated vertical farm in the world by volume; to invest in marketing of its sustainable vegetable brand Vegetus; to strengthen its R&D in the fields of strawberry and alternative meat production; and to invest in global business development.

Born of the concept of “Sustainable Vegetable”,  the cultivation of Vegetus products requires only 1 percent of the water used by conventional farming, with a product loss rate of only 10 percent, compared to 40 percent for conventional production. Further, Spread explained that less wasted food and resources aligns with consumer values, a fact reflected in the company’s sales of 90 million packs through 4,500 stores across Japan. 

Building on this success, in 2021 Spread developed the technology necessary for large-scale vertical production of pesticide-free strawberries using artificial light. Key to the process was the ability by the company to create a stable environment where bees can thrive and pollinate the plants under indoor LED lighting – another difficult achievement.

“Next step is to bring application of automation technologies and large-scale cultivation know-how to spread safe and delicious berries in Japan and around the world,” stated Spread.

The company is also aiming to reach its goal of 100 tons of lettuce being domestically produced per day by 2030, as it eyes an ultimate goal of a “Global Food Infrastructure” that eliminates food insecurity for all people.

~Lynda Kiernan-Stone is editor with GAI Media, and is managing editor and daily contributor for Global AgInvesting’s AgInvesting Weekly News and  Agtech Intel News, as well as HighQuest Group’s Unconventional Ag. She can be reached at lkiernan-stone@globalaginvesting.com.

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