US indoor ag firm debuts alternate financing for indoor farmers

Indoor agriculture - the practice of growing in warehouses, containers and greenhouses using hydroponic, aquaponics and aeroponic techniques - is one of the fastest-growing parts of global farming. It is drawing new participants as diverse as multinational companies and serial entrepreneur Kimbal Musk as capital costs fall and consumer demand for fresh, local produce year-round increases.

Newbean Capital, a registered investment adviser that manages early stage venture capital mandates, has a particular interest in the sector as it owns Indoor Ag-Con, one of the industry’s leading events businesses. Its work has provided several of the industry’s “firsts” over the past five years, and it is building on this heritage through three major announcements this morning.

Firstly, Indoor Ag-Con has partnered with Pegasus Agriculture, one of the Middle East's largest greenhouse growers, to collaborate on an event in Dubai. The event will take place in November 2017, and will focus on food security. The partners anticipate announcing more details of the event in Spring 2017.

After several years of research, Newbean Capital announces the launch of its alternate finance arm, Contain Inc. The venture has partnered with leading indoor agriculture technology provider Bright Agrotech to pilot lease financing for ZipFarms and is currently in the process of executing its first lease agreement with a future Upstart Farmer, as Bright Agrotech's 150+ strong community of commercial farmers are known. Contain Inc. is the first alternate financing firm dedicated to the burgeoning indoor agriculture industry, and looks forward to scaling its provision of multiple forms of alternate financing alongside the rapid growth of the industry once its pilot phase is complete.

Finally, Indoor Ag-Con has partnered with the Japan Plant Factory Association to create a Japan Pavilion at its Indoor Ag-Con Asia event on January 24-25, 2017. Professor Toyoki Kozai of the Japan Plant Factory Association and Professor Emeritus of Chiba University will also be a keynote speaker at the event.

For more information:
indoor.ag/dubai
contain.ag
indoor.ag/singapore