Greenhouse company AppHarvest soars 44% in SPAC debut

Shares of AppHarvest Inc., the first greenhouse company to go public via reverse IPO, soared 44% in trading Monday. The company APPH, -4.28%, whose goal is to operate a dozen greenhouses by 2025, is focused on producing tomatoes, berries, leafy greens, and cucumbers. “We want to build a better food company, one that is …

Ag Lending Update: Fewer New Loans to Farmers

Fewer new loans to farmers continued to drive a pullback in agricultural lending activity. A historically low number of new loans contributed to an increase in average loan size and drove a slight decrease in the overall volume of non-real estate loans at commercial banks in the fourth quarter. Stronger …

Gro Intelligence Raises $85 Million in Series B Funding

microscope

Gro Intelligence announced today that it has raised $85 million in Series B funding. The round was co-led by Intel Capital, Africa Internet Ventures (a strategic partnership between TPG Growth and EchoVC), and the family offices of Ronald Lauder and Eric Zinterhofer. They were joined by previous investors DCVC and …

There is abundant liquidity but a lack of solid business cases

Jobbe Jorna

“I come across many vertical farming concepts. There are some very interesting developments going on in the market. Especially for investors, because vertical farming is future-focused,” says Jobbe Jorna, Founder and Managing Partner at Upstream Capital. The Amsterdam-based organization advisory boutique is specialized in helping companies realize their full potential …

2020’s Indoor Farm Venture Capital Bonanza

In the face of a dismal year, indoor agriculture saw record fundraising from venture capital and other private investors in 2020. The industry raised US$565mm in 2020.  This figure excludes several notable rounds where the amounts raised were not publicly disclosed.  New Jersey-based vertical farmer AeroFarms was one of four …

Vertical farms are not going to create venture level returns

Sonia Lo

“There is a theory that we have enough food and produce enough food on the planet to feed 10 billion people. The problem is that people don’t know where to put it at what time. I think that the technology that we can bring to bear is all about growing …

CubicFarms announces $15,000,000 equity financing to support global growth

lettuce

“Dave Dinesen, CubicFarms’ CEO comments, “We believe that food security is in a global crisis, and COVID-19 has certainly accelerated this crisis. CubicFarms ag-tech solutions can help break this cycle of long global food supply chains, which would allow local chain agriculture to take place nearby where food is consumed. …