Funds from Generate Capital will be used to increase vertical farm’s production capacity and grow its salad brands
Kent vertical farm GrowUp has secured £38m from sustainable infrastructure investment company Generate Capital.
The cash injection comes just over two years on from Generate Capital’s initial investment in the vertical farming business.
GrowUp said the new funding will help to expand capacity at its Kent facility and support the growth of its bagged salad brands Unbeleafable and Fresh Leaf Co.
The money will also be used to drive R&D at its GrowUp Lab site in Cambridge, and to support its work as a certified B Corp.
The investment in 2021 allowed GrowUp to start converting a five-acre brownfield site into the equivalent of 1,000 acres of Grade 1 farmland in Kent.
The funding also helped GrowUp become the first vertical farm to supply branded bagged salads to Tesco, Iceland and Spar, as well as other major foodservice customers.
GrowUp CEO Marcus Whately said: “We partnered with Generate Capital because, as a $10 billion sustainable infrastructure investor with a mission to ‘rebuild the world together’, Generate Capital aligns with our ethos.
“With Generate Capital’s support, we have proved that vertically farmed salads are sustainable, cost-competitive, and commercially viable, as well as tasty, healthy and long-lasting. Together we can unlock a new salad category and meet growing consumer demand.”
