Future Crops just announced a new investment round is underway with backer Tencent. The growing venture’s mission is to shape “the future of agriculture and our food system, making it more safe, resilient, and efficient,” according to a recent press release by the Israeli-Dutch venture.
Founded in 2016, Future Crops has raised more than $30 million in seed funding. The Lerman Family, well-known leaders in the American steel industry, funded construction and employees prior to this investment round.
“We are tremendously excited about this investment,” says Gary Grinspan, CEO and Co-Founder of Future Crops in the press release. “Tencent’s investment reflects the company’s focus on sustainable innovations and support for technologies, like vertical farming, which can create clean, locally grown sustainable food while helping to mitigate the negative impacts of climate change. We believe our soil-substrate-based platform is closer to nature and produces fresh, longer-lasting, higher-quality produce at improved yields, as plants grow best in soil”.
“Investments in sustainable agriculture technologies, such as vertical farm systems, align with our mission to apply technology for good” adds Ling Ge, Chief European Representative, Tencent.
Tencent is Future Crops’ first outside investor since its initial round of funding.
“The timing of this investment round is perfect for us as Future Crops has recently scaled up to mass production capacity,” says Grinspan. “We’re already supplying fresh high-quality herbs to leading European retailers, both under private label and our own brand. Currently, we market all our produce, so this investment will allow us to expand our capacities to meet demand and continue to increase our R&D capabilities and develop proprietary technology.”
Known as the “greenhouse hub” of Europe, Future Crops’ soil-based vertical farm is in Westland, Netherlands. The high-tech farm boasts nine different climate zones, over 8,000 square meters of production area, 16,000 solar panels and one of the largest test lab centers in Europe, according to their official website.
Future Crop maintains close partnerships with Israel’s Agricultural Research Organization (ARO) and Wageningen University, two leading researchers in agriculture.
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