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LONDON, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Vertical Future, which grows
crops without soil and with artificial light, said on Tuesday it
had secured 21 million pounds ($29 million) in what it said was
Europe's largest ever "Series A" fundraising in the emerging
vertical farming sector.
Vertical farming produces crops on a series of stacked
levels and has been promoted as a sustainable way of growing
vegetables closer to the point of consumption without pesticides
and using less water.
Vertical Future develops and deploys vertical farming
hardware and technology. It has a range of projects in the
United Kingdom and overseas, including in Ireland, Italy and
Singapore.
"The company’s farms will eventually dwarf the scale of
those seen and imagined so far for indoor agriculture," it said.
The company, founded in 2016 by husband-and-wife Jamie and
Marie-Alexandrine Burrows, said investors in the fundraising
included Pula Investments Ltd, environmentalist Gregory Nasmyth,
Nickleby Capital, Dyfan Investment and existing shareholder SFC
Capital.
Vertical Future is in talks with several major British
retail and logistics brands to further accelerate growth.
"Unlike others in the vertical farming sector whose
technologies and ambitions are restricted to growing only
premium-priced salad and microgreens for a premium domestic and
restaurant market, we are aiming to feed everyday working
families with fairly-priced, higher-quality produce," Jamie
Burrows said.
In 2019, British online supermarket Ocado, invested
17 million pounds into vertical farming, forming a joint venture
called Infinite Acres with U.S. based 80 Acres Farms and Dutch
company Priva Holding. Ocado also acquired a 58% stake in
vertical farm operator Jones Food Company.
Last year, Tesco, Britain's biggest supermarket
group, was supplied with strawberries vertically-grown by Direct
Produce Supplies Ltd.
Production required 50% less water than everyday production,
had a 90% lower carbon footprint per kilo of strawberries and
yielded five times more fruit per square metre than existing
methods.
($1 = 0.7310 pounds)
(Reporting by James Davey. Editing by Jane Merriman)
