2022 SPECIALTY CROP AUTOMATION REPORT
CEA START-UPS (GREENHOUSE AND VERTICAL FARM)
Greenhouse start-ups differ from the traditional greenhouse growers in two major ways – they employ more advanced technology, such as a high degree of automation and have increased reliance on artificial lighting. Moreover, they almost exclusively focus on non-traditional crops for traditional greenhouses like lettuce or leafy greens (as opposed to traditional
greenhouse-grown crops being primarily tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers as illustrated in Figure 2). Vertical farm start-ups are similar in terms of their focus on lettuce, leafy greens and herbs but differ in that they have a complete reliance on artificial light. Furthermore, they have much lower land footprint as compared to greenhouses.
VERTICAL FARMS HAVE RAISED MORE THAN $2.5 BILLION SINCE 2015 FROM A WIDE VARIETY OF INVESTORS
Funds raised by CEA start-ups 1 , 2015-2022 [USD million]
Latest Funds
$
941
Series E
Series D + Debt financing Series C + Debt financing
646
$
$
453
$
250
Series B
$
197
Series E
$
142
Series B
$
50
Series A
Source: Crunchbase, Roland Berger
Figure 10 (1/2): Vertical farms have raised more than $2.5 billion since 2015 1 Non-exhaustive list for major vertical farms active in the US that have raised at least $50 Million
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