Freight Farms, the world's leading manufacturer of container farms, announced today its $17.5M Series B3 funding round co-led by Aliaxis SA, a world leader enabling access to water and energy through inventive fluid management solutions; and Ospraie Ag Science, a leading investor in cutting-edge AgTech companies providing smarter, more sustainable agriculture solutions. The funding will support Freight Farms as it expands its mission to empower anyone to grow food anywhere through its line of versatile, modular, and easy-to-use container farms and farm automation software. The round was also supported by Spark Capital, Stage 1 Ventures, and Alkaline Partners.
Freight Farms develops vertical hydroponic farms in shipping containers, with the goal of creating resilient and self-sufficient communities that can grow fresh, local, and healthy food 365 days a year. As a provider of farms for independent purchase and ownership with containers currently operated by customers across 39 countries, the company has created the largest connected network of farms in the world. Freight Farms' global customers range 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 better 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. The company's growing technology gives communities like these access to fresh produce while offering a more sustainable, higher-yield growing method compared to traditional agriculture.
"These investments from leading AgTech investors further reinforce the importance of Freight Farms' mission to use container farming technology to address systemic challenges within our food and agriculture systems and their repercussions on our environment," said Rick Vanzura, CEO of Freight Farms. "We are honored to have the continued financial support of Ospraie and a new strategic partner in Aliaxis, both exceptional leaders in sustainable solutions."
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.
In addition, these funds will drive personnel growth in key departments to ensure Freight Farms' ongoing success. Priorities will be placed on a stronger Customer Experience team to ensure long-term success of farmers, an expanded Engineering team to drive product development, and a more robust Sales and Marketing team to deepen presence in high-need sectors such as nonprofits and education.
"By investing in Freight Farms, we are delivering on our Growth with Purpose strategy to help produce affordable, fresh, and locally produced food with much less water," said Eric Olsen, CEO of Aliaxis. "Freight Farms is at the forefront of innovation of vertical farming. This market is growing at more than 25% of compound annual growth rate (CAGR) and is expected to be superior to a $10bn market by 2026."
"We're very excited to partner with Aliaxis on supporting the future growth of Freight Farms, already one of the leading turn-key production systems and software management platforms in controlled environment agriculture," said Dwight Anderson, CIO of Ospraie Ag Science. "Freight Farms continues to beat milestones both in sales and in satisfying customers worldwide because of strong unit economics, consistent product innovation, and the incredible 50+ strong team, without whom none of this would be possible."
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.