Vertical farming company Bowery Farming raises $300m in new funding round

Bowery Farming, a US vertical farming company, has raised $300 million in its latest funding round to take its valuation to $2.3 billion.

The funding round was led by Fidelity Management & Research Company.

Bowery Farming has also secured considerable follow-on investment from existing investors – GV (previously Google Ventures), GGV Capital, General Catalyst, Groupe Artémis, and Temasek.

The funding round also saw participation from new investors – Amplo and Gaingels.

Apart from that additional individual investors such as plant-based eating advocates like Lewis Hamilton, Natalie Portman, and Chris Paul, and also celebrity chef and hunger advocate José Andrés and Justin Timberlake, a singer-songwriter.

To date, the indoor farming company has raised over $472 million in funding.

Currently, Bowery Farming is engaged in transforming an industrial site in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania into its largest and most technologically advanced and sustainable farm. The vertical farming company will also begin construction on additional large-scale commercial farms in 2021 apart from identifying new farm locations across the US, while eyeing global expansion.

Founded in 2015, Bowery Farming has developed a technology called BoweryOS for its vertical farms. BoweryOS integrates software, hardware, sensors, computer vision systems, artificial intelligence, robotics, and machine learning models for orchestrating and automating all its operations.

Vertical farming company Bowery Farming secures $300m in new funding round. Photo courtesy: Victor Llorente for Bowery Farming.

Andy Wheeler – General Partner at GV said: “Bowery’s approach to indoor farming represents a meaningful disruption to the traditional produce supply chain, and its systems-based approach to engineering and farm design is unparalleled.

“I look forward to continuing to partner with the Bowery team as they build and scale the largest indoor farming network in the U.S. and bring more sustainable produce to consumers.”

Bowery Farming plans to use the funds to continue the growth of its network of smart indoor farms across the US, further speed up its technological leadership, support its ongoing research and innovation efforts, and for hiring top talent.

Irving Fain – CEO and Founder of Bowery Farming said: “This infusion of new capital from Fidelity, other new investors, and the additional support of our long-term investor partners is acknowledgement of the critical need for new solutions to our current agricultural system, and the enormous economic opportunity that comes with supporting our mission.

“This funding not only fuels our continued expansion but the ongoing development of our proprietary technology, which sits at the core of our business and our ability to rapidly and efficiently scale towards an increasingly important opportunity in front of us.”