Freight Farms, a manufacturer of container farms, announced its USD$17.5M Series B3 funding round co-led by Aliaxis SA and Ospraie Ag Science. The round was also supported by Spark Capital, Stage 1 Ventures, and Alkaline Partners.
Freight Farms develops vertical hydroponic farms in shipping containers, with global customers ranging from small business owner-operators to the corporate, hospitality, retail, education and nonprofit sectors. Compared to other major players in vertical farming, this unique distributed model allows Freight Farms to target areas where the impact of fresh food is greatest — including food deserts and challenging geographies and climates, like Alaska, the Caribbean islands, Scandinavia and Egypt.
In August 2021, Freight Farms opened its new headquarters in Boston to allow for future growth, more in-house training for customers, and a higher level of research and development, all of which will be supported through this funding. This will include a focus on both hardware and software innovation, with expanded product offerings already in development for a variety of farming needs. From new modular farm styles based on customer demand to software enhancements for higher crop quality and simpler control, more custom options are on the horizon.
Since its last funding round, Freight Farms’ revenue has increased 13 times as a result of container farm sales and other recurring revenue channels, including its farm automation software, farmhand. This award-winning, proprietary IoT software allows indoor farm operators to control temperature, lighting and other environmental variables, and is flexibly architected so that many different indoor grow setups (beyond Freight Farms’ containers) can use it. Advancements in this technology will further benefit vertical farmers around the world.
Read about how Freight Farms is partnering with the University of Arizona to explore new ways of growing food, here.
Read the SEP/OCT 2022 issue of New AG International, free to view here.
Photo ©Freight Farms