US-based urban farm service Plenty Unlimited has raised $400m in series E funding from investors including big-box retailer Walmart and internet and telecommunications firm SoftBank, as the latter continues to invest in the space.
Investment firms One Madison Group and JS Capital co-led the round, which represents the largest yet for an indoor farming technology company, according to Plenty, while SoftBank took part through its Vision Fund 1.
Plenty is working with a network of indoor vertical farms to produce sustainable vegetables that do not contain pesticides and which are not genetically modified. The produce is delivered locally in California, where the company is headquartered, though it maintains a research facility in the state of Wyoming.
The money will be used to improve Plenty’s software platform, which helps farms sell their crops directly to retail partners. Representatives from Walmart and One Madison Group are set to join its board of directors.
Arama Kukutai, Plenty’s CEO, said: “We are pleased to work with a strong group of investors who recognise how Plenty’s proprietary approach to building and selling farms delivers a scalable, cost-efficient pathway to bringing fresh, clean produce to market 365 days a year, anywhere in the world.
“Having Walmart, as one of the world’s largest retailers, partner with us demonstrates the rising importance of indoor agriculture to the future of fresh and their belief in Plenty’s unique technology solution.”
Andrew Zloto, a Plenty board member and director at SoftBank Investment Advisers, the subsidiary that manages the corporate’s Vision Funds, added: “As the global demand for clean and sustainable food continues to increase, indoor growing is an opportunity to provide fresh and nutritious produce that is good for the people and planet.
“With support from leading retailers and growers and a new focus on selling farms directly to partners, we believe that Plenty is at a critical inflexion point that will have a lasting impact on the entire industry. We have been a long-term partner to Plenty and are delighted to continue to support them as they continue to innovate and rewrite the playbook for indoor growing.”
Softbank Vision Fund 1 led a $140m series D round for Plenty in October 2021, investing alongside fresh berry producer Driscoll’s. Undisclosed investors reportedly supplied it with $175m through a series C round valuing it at $1.05bn two years before.
SoftBank Vision Fund had already led the company’s $200m series B round, in 2017, which included existing investors Innovation Endeavors and Bezos Expeditions as well as DCM Ventures, Data Collective, Finistere Ventures and affiliates of Louis M Bacon to boost its total funding to $226m.
Plenty’s modular system differs from conventional greenhouses and other indoor plant environments by leveraging its crop management software, making it the only vertical farm operator that can grow multiple crops at one location, it claims.
In addition to funding, Walmart’s California branch and Plenty have formed a strategic commercial partnership which will entail the latter providing fresh produce to the corporate’s local stores this year.
SoftBank Vision Fund’s portfolio already features multiple agricultural and food technology developers, such as Misfits Market, Nature’s Fynd and Upside Foods (formerly Memphis Meats). Other vertical farm operators that have received corporate backing in the past year include Aerofarms, Oishii, 80 Acres Farms, Bowery Farming and N.Thing.
Image courtesy of Plenty Unlimited Inc.
