Vertical Farming Boom Continues With InFarm Raising $100 Million

(Bloomberg) --

InFarm said it raised $100 million to expand the Berlin-based startup’s portable vertical farms, as investors continue to plow cash into the sector.

The new debt and equity investment was led by London-based Atomico, with backing from fellow venture capital firms Balderton Capital, Astanor Ventures, Cherry Ventures, and TriplePoint Capital, according to a statement Tuesday. The startup had raised about $34 million before this round.

Vertical farming grows crops in controlled indoor environments, reducing waste and the use of water and pesticides. InFarm uses small, movable shelves of plants that can either sit in a supermarket aisle or a warehouse. The startup’s customers include grocery chains Casino Guichard-Perrachon SA, Intermarche, and Amazon Fresh in Europe, according to its website.

There’s been a flurry of high-profile investments in the emerging industry. U.K. supermarket delivery company Ocado Group Plc said on Monday that it bought 58% of Jones Foods Co., Europe’s largest operating vertical farm.

San Francisco-based Plenty Inc. has raised $200 million from SoftBank Group Corp.’s Vision Fund. Alphabet Inc.’s Google Ventures and Uber Technologies Inc. Chief Executive Officer Dara Khosrowshahi have also invested into New-York based urban farming startup Bowery Farming Inc.

InFarm was founded in Berlin in 2013 by Erez Galonska, Osnat Michaeli and Guy Galonska, and has about 250 employees. The company is planning to launch in the U.K. in September.

To contact the reporter on this story: Giles Turner in London at gturner35@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Tom Giles at tgiles5@bloomberg.net, Alistair Barr, Jillian Ward

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