Urban agriculture startup Gotham Greens closes $29 million round of funding

Date:06-28-2018

Gotham Greens, a technologically advanced urban agriculture startup, has closed a $29 million Series C financing round, bringing its total equity funding to $45 million, according to Fortune.

The Brooklyn-based company says the same investors that have backed them from the beginning continue to invest. “They’re sticking with the company. They like the profitability and the returns,” says co-founder and CEO Viraj Puri.

But a new investor, global investment company Creadev, joined the club with a “significant” investment. Creadev is funded by the Mulliez family– one of the wealthiest families in France.

Gotham Greens will use the funding to build new greenhouse facilities, invest in R&D, and expand distribution and its team.

Gotham is one of several indoor farming startups that is trying to remake the face of agriculture by improving yields and reducing the use of resources needed in food production. According to Fortune, the majority of Gotham’s competitors are vertical farms that use artificial lights in warehouses, but Gotham’s greenhouses use natural sunlight.

“The technology is robust,” Puri jokes. “The sun has been here for a long time.”

Currently, Gotham Greens operates four greenhouses in New York and Chicago and is developing another 500,000 square feet of greenhouse space across five U.S. states in the upper Midwest.

The company sells into retailers like Whole Foods under its own brand and selects greenhouse locations close to market. They also work to reuse and rebuild post-industrial sites. A Baltimore greenhouse that is currently under development will be located in the old Bethlehem Steel plant.