Indoor Ag-Con, the largest trade show and conference for the controlled environment agriculture sector, has announced the Day Two keynote for its February 11–12, 2026 event in Las Vegas. Titled "The State of CEA Finance: Capital Flows, Discipline, and Lessons Learned," the keynote will take place on Thursday, February 12 from 8:00 to 8:50 AM PST. It will feature a fireside chat with two major voices in CEA and agri-food finance: Dave Chen, Co-Founder and CEO of Equilibrium, and David Verbitsky, President and Managing Director of Verbitsky Capital.
As the industry moves into a more mature phase after years of rapid expansion, shifting capital trends, and tighter scrutiny on operational performance, the keynote will give attendees a clear view of the financial forces shaping CEA today. The conversation will cover how capital is moving across the CEA value chain, how financing discipline has changed since the early boom years, the risks that come with scaling too quickly, and the lessons investors, operators, and suppliers should carry forward to build resilient, profitable companies.
"Finance continues to be one of the most important and closely watched aspects of controlled environment agriculture," said Brian Sullivan, CEO of Indoor Ag-Con. He noted that Dave Chen and David Verbitsky bring perspective shaped by years of working across the broader food and agriculture investment landscape. He added that the event aims to offer attendees a grounded, practical conversation to help operators and partners navigate the changing financial environment.
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This keynote is part of Indoor Ag-Con's largest educational program to date, with 11 specialized tracks covering vine crops, mushrooms, berries, lettuce and herbs, conventional agriculture, food safety, cannabis, unique approaches, general applications, and more. Attendees will also find an expo hall featuring hundreds of CEA technologies and solutions, along with networking opportunities designed to encourage meaningful connections and industry-wide collaboration.
Dave Chen is the co-founder and CEO of Equilibrium Capital Group, launched nearly 18 years ago with a mission to build an institutional asset manager focused on sustainable infrastructure investment strategies that address climate challenges. Equilibrium invests in sustainable food and agriculture and carbon transition infrastructure, serving institutional investors from its offices in San Francisco, Portland, and London. Chen began his career at Solectron and McKinsey and later served as Chairman of the Portland, Oregon branch of the San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank from 2005 to 2012. He was a general partner at OVP Venture Partners and co-founded GeoTrust, which was acquired by VeriSign. He has also served on the board of HNCS, the early pioneer in using neural networks for real-time fraud detection. For the past 15 years, he has been an Adjunct Professor of Finance at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and Director of the Kellogg Impact Investing Program.
David Verbitsky, President and Managing Director of Verbitsky Capital, brings more than 15 years of investment banking and entrepreneurial experience. He has advised on more than $200 billion in M&A and financing transactions across the agriculture and food sector. His background includes serving as Global Head of Agriculture and Nutrition Investment Banking at Goldman Sachs, Global Head of AgTech and Sustainable Food Investment Banking at Nomura Greentech, and earlier roles in Barclays' chemicals and agriculture investment banking team. His experience spans early-stage innovators, family-owned operators, private equity, and large multinationals along the full agri-food value chain. He has also worked in venture capital, held strategic advisory roles in agri-food innovation, and served as CFO of Invaio, an AgTech start-up. Verbitsky holds an MBA from Rice University and a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from Columbia University.
Indoor Ag-Con will announce details of its opening morning keynote, focused on the state of the CEA industry from the CEA Alliance, in the coming weeks.
For more information:
Indoor Ag-Con
Email: [email protected]
www.indoor.ag
