Bowery Farming, the largest vertical farming company in the U.S., has secured a $150 million credit facility managed by KKR, a leading global investment firm.
This independent, third-party funding will accelerate the expansion of Bowery's network of smart indoor farms beyond the East Coast and brings its total debt and equity capital raised to more than $647 million.
KKR's credit investment follows Bowery's $325 million Series C funding in 2021 led by Fidelity Management & Research Co.
"We're thrilled to announce our expansion beyond the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions," said Irving Fain, CEO and founder of Bowery Farming, in a statement. "KKR's support is a testament to the proven success of our business model and a strong vote of confidence in our technology leadership and ability to address critical challenges in the current agricultural system. There is enormous economic opportunity that comes with supporting our mission to democratize access to local, pesticide-free Protected Produce, and now we are ready to continue our growth more rapidly.”
The company is also building two new state-of-the-art farms serving the Atlanta and Dallas-Fort Worth metro areas. The farms will create more than 200 year-round green jobs across both markets and provide locally-grown produce to a population of 20 million and 16 million within a 200-mile radius of Locust Grove, Georgia, and Arlington, Texas, respectively. Both farms are expected to open in the first quarter of 2023.
The new farms will feature tech innovations ranging from LED lighting to water recapture to climate control, ultimately improving quality and yield, and represent a recommitment to Bowery's sustainability goals of using power from 100 percent renewable sources.
The new financing will also provide resources to accelerate advancements in farm design and the BoweryOS, its proprietary technology that is at the heart of its business model. BoweryOS integrates software, hardware, sensors, computer vision systems, AI, and robotics to orchestrate and automate the entirety of operations.
“We're excited to support Bowery's pioneering efforts in vertical farming, which are directly contributing to the resiliency of our food supply," said Michelle Hour, director at KKR, in a statement. "We believe that Bowery has the right commercial model, technology, and team to capitalize on the rapidly growing consumer demand for sustainably-sourced food, and we look forward to helping the company continue to innovate and scale to benefit communities across the United States."
Bowery has continued to grow at a significant pace and in 2021 achieved a number of milestones, including doubling revenue, opening a state-of-the-art innovation hub for plant science in Kearny, New Jersey, and expanding to more than 800 stores through a partnership with Wakefern, the nation's largest retailer-owned cooperative.
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