The farming technology company, Plenty Unlimited, announced in a company press release that it has secured $140m in a Series D funding round which was led by existing investor Softbank Vision Fund 1 and had participation from new investor Driscoll’s.
The farming technology company wrote that the investment will be used to fuel its growth which includes finalising its recently announced commercial collaborations with Albertsons and Driscoll’s, and the development of its new farm in Compton, California.
Matt Barnard, co-founder and CEO at Plenty explained how the company is now an intelligent and scalable platform by saying: “Plenty has built an intelligent, scalable agriculture platform that delivers unprecedented flavor, purity, consistency and yield. The recent disruptions in the global supply chain caused by the West Coast wildfires and COVID-19 have highlighted how quickly our access to quality produce can be thwarted. Plenty’s controlled and resilient farms and local distribution made it easy for us to scale quickly, even during the pandemic, demonstrating that our indoor, vertical farm flourishes under environmental pressures and delivers delicious greens along with the sales that come with it.”
The pandemic has shown the world how distribution lines for what can be classed as essential items are liable to be put under strain with food shortages happening in supermarkets across the world when the pandemic was bringing stricter measures.
It’s not just shortages from the demand that have increased the risk of supply shortages, but also natural events that have happened during the pandemic such as wildfires that happened across Australia and in California, America.
With the farming technology company highlighting that it aims to free agriculture from the constraints of weather, seasons, time, distance, pests, natural disasters, and climate, there are companies such as Omdena who are using collaborative AI solutions to detect wildfires. This could potentially be a great partnership to get data patterns for where food shortages are more likely to happen due to natural disasters such as wildfires, floods, or earthquakes.
It’s also not just natural disaster events that can cause supply chain issues as well with an increasing amount of people requiring food and water. The United Nations has predicted that by 2050 there will be an estimated 9.7bn people living on the planet.
Although the out-of-this-world action plans for living in space and/or Mars by Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk could potentially alter these predictions, drastically.
Jeff Housenbold, Managing Partner at Softbank Investment Advisors commented on how the need for food and water is increasing by saying: “In just 30 years time, the world will need 70% more food than we currently produce, requiring more efficient use of land and water.”
The farming technology company wrote that its vertical design allows it to produce up to 400 times the yield of traditional field farming, producing more food with less water and land with the added benefit that its current farm claims to use 100% renewable energy.
Plenty’s vertical design allows the company to grow 1500 acres of produce in a building the size of a big-box grocery store while saving what it claims to be over a million gallons of water per week.
Plenty claims that its farm delivers produce year-round and describes the food it grows as tasting like it was picked fresh from the garden. It’s current ‘menu’ available for purchase includes baby arugula, baby kale, crispy lettuce, and mizuna mix.
J. Miles Reiter, Chairman and CEO at Driscoll explained why the team decided to invest in the farming technology company by saying: “We looked at other vertical farms, and Plenty’s technology was one of the most compelling systems we’d seen for growing berries. We got to know Plenty while working on a joint development agreement to grow strawberries. We were so impressed with their technology, we decided to invest.”
Plenty claims that its farm delivers produce year-round and describes the food it grows as tasting like it was picked fresh from the garden thanks to using a combination of technological capabilities.
Using data analytics, machine learning, and customised lighting, the farming technology company is able to iterate at what it writes as being unprecedented speed by leveraging the more than 200 years worth of growing data the platform generates annually.
Plenty explained in the press release that the advanced agri-food platform that it utilises has allowed it to witness over 700% yield improvement in leafy greens in the past 24 month period while allowing its products to maintain its unique flavor and quality.
Housenbold added why the team at Softbank Investment Advisors decided to invest in the farming technology company by saying: “Without innovation in agriculture, this demand will be impossible to meet. We believe Plenty is transforming the way food is made and are pleased to continue supporting their mission to build sustainable, intelligent farms that deliver healthy, safe produce with a focus on premium flavor.”
The announcement of the fresh funding comes as the farming technology company revealed it now has a number of collaborations in the works.
These 2020 collaborations from Plenty include a joint development agreement with Driscoll’s to grow Driscoll’s proprietary flavorful strawberries year-round in Plenty’s vertical indoor farm, and an agreement with Albertsons to bring Plenty greens to 431 of its California stores.
This Series D funding round brings the farming technology companies total raised capital from funding rounds to over $500m to date.
