BrightFarms, a US-based hydroponic greenhouse provider backed by retailer Tengelmann, raised $30.1m on Wednesday in a series C round led by growth equity firm Catalyst Investors.
Private equity firm WP Global Partners and venture capital firm NGen Partners also contributed money to the round.
Incorporated in 2011, BrightFarms builds and operates urban greenhouse farms in collaboration with supermarkets, vendors and cities in order to make the food supply chain more efficient, scalable and environmentally friendly.
The company claims its greenhouses use 80% less water, 90% less land and 95% less shipping fuel than traditional agricultural methods, which are often practiced far from the stores they supply.
BrightFarms previously secured $14m in a November 2015 series B-1 round reportedly led by WP and backed by Tengelmann’s US-based corporate venturing unit, Emil Capital Partners, and NGen.
The company’s $7.9m series B round closed in June 2014, with Emil Capital, NGen and BrightFarms founder Ted Caplow funding the $4.9m first tranche in February 2014. BrightFarms added WP Global Partners as a lead investor and closed the round four months later.
Emil Capital, Ngen and Caplow also supplied $4.3m in series A funding for BrightFarms in 2011. The company had raised a seed round of undisclosed size earlier that same year.