February 12, 2020

By Lynda Kiernan

Containerized vertical farming pioneer Freight Farms announced it has raised $15 million through a Series B led by Ospraie Ag Science. Existing investor Spark Capital also participated in the round, which brings total funding to-date for Freight Farms to more than $28 million. 

Founded in Boston in 2010 by company CEO Brad McNamara, and COO John Friedman, Freight Farms originally focused on rooftop greenhouses, but realized that urban agriculture required a modular and scalable solution. Within two years, with the mission to democratize and decentralize the production of fresh produce, the startup developed its first vertical hydroponic farm inside an intermodal shipping container called the Leafy Green Machine.

“The earliest conception for Freight Farms was back in 2009-2010 when my co-founder Jon and I were consulting in greenhouse design and implementation,” McNamara explained to GAI News in 2017.  “Our initial concept was centered around creating a system that anyone with a standard level of education could use to create an ecosystem of food independence while cutting down on the environmental costs of food production and distribution. Back then, no one was really using the term “agtech.” We realized that no one was taking advantage of the progression of LEDs and putting it together in a way that was focused on making more people into farmers.”

Integral to the Leafy Green Machine is Farmhand, its integral IoT data platform that allows hydroponic growers to control aspects of growing, automate tasks, and analyze growing data, and that launched a new category of agricultural production. Farmhand was key to making Freight Farms into the largest network of IoT-connected farms in the world, but in 2019 Freight Farms released Greenery, further advancing IoT systems for containerized agriculture, and bringing the most progressive, accessible, and scalable technology to a diverse range of hydroponic growers. 

“With the Greenery and Farmhand, we’ve created an infrastructure that lowers the barrier of entry into food production, an industry that’s historically been difficult to get into,” said Jon Friedman, COO, Freight Farms.

“With this platform, we’re also able to harness and build upon a wider set of technologies including cloud IoT, automation, and machine learning, while enabling new developments in plant science for future generations.”

Today, Freight Farms has customers in 44 U.S. states and 25 countries ranging from small farming businesses, to corporate, hospitality, retail, education, and non-profit enterprises. The startup has been integral to scientific and academic research in partnership with leading organizations. In collaboration with NASA, the company explored self-sustaining crop production, and with Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory studied the integration of CRISPR seed genetics and vertical farming to create commercial opportunity.

Joining the Portfolio

Ospraie Ag Science (OAS) is an investor targeting opportunities in the agtech space supporting sustainable solutions that improve the quality of life for both farmers and society. This investment in Freight Farms is the latest in a string of investments made by the fund in innovative solutions since September 2019, adding the startup to a growing portfolio of innovators of cutting edge ag technologies.

September saw Ospraie involved in two deals, the first was leading a $4 million Series A for AgroSpheres, a Virginia-based developer of a novel system for crop protection products based on Minicell technology,  a natural fermentation product that encapsulates and delivers both biological and synthetic pesticides.

The second round that Ospraie led that month was a $45 million Series B for Terramera, an emerging cleantech startup with the goal of reducing synthetic chemical usage in global agricultural production by 80 percent, and increasing productivity by 20 percent by 2030.

Two months later in November, Ospraie invested $3 million in Plant Health Care, a North Carolina-based provider of patented biological products that improve the  health, vigor, and yield of major field crops such as corn, soybeans, cotton, and rice, as well as fruit and vegetable specialty crops.

“Freight Farms has redefined vertical farming and made decentralizing the food system something that’s possible and meaningful right now, not in the ‘future of food,’” said Jason Mraz, president, Ospraie Ag Science.

“Full traceability, high nutrition without herbicides and pesticides, year-round availability – these are elements that should be inherent to food sourcing. Freight Farms’ Greenery makes it possible to meet this burgeoning global demand from campuses, hospitals, municipal institutions and corporate businesses, while also enabling small business farmers to meet these needs for their customers.”

The capital raised through this round will be used by the company to continue to advance the technological potential of its platform through further innovation, and with the introduction of new services designed to benefit its growing global network of farmers and corporate partners.

“It’s a big step forward for the industry when financial markets recognize and champion the value of creating a distributed food system,” said McNamara. “Aligned on mission-driven growth as a team, there is a massive opportunity before us to scale across global markets, propelling meaningful technology that’s already doing good.”

– Lynda Kiernan is Editor with GAI Media and daily contributor to the GAI News and Agtech Intel platforms. If you would like to submit a contribution for consideration, please contact Ms. Kiernan at lkiernan@globalaginvesting.com.