Investment in indoor farming totaled nearly $1.2 billion worldwide in 2021, and the field has already attracted over $800 million this year. The global indoor farming VC deal activity is showcased in the scheme below.
Agtech investors are targeting innovations such as vertical and indoor farming as the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine expose and exacerbate the vulnerabilities in the global food supply.
Against this backdrop, startups such as San Francisco-based Plenty, which raised $400 million in January, and Germany-based Infarm, which raised $200 million in December, are using a combination of internet-of-things technology, robotics, and data science to reduce waste, save labor costs and create new economies of scale.
With the agricultural sector facing unprecedented challenges in the near future, the industry could rely on technology like indoor farming to help future-proof the global bread basket.
Source: Pitchbook