TORONTO, July 30,
2024 /CNW/ - Elevate Farms Inc. ("Elevate
Farms" or the "Company") is happy to provide this
corporate update on the Company's current position and matters
related to expanding production worldwide. Widely recognized
as a world leader of vertically stacked quiet-technology for crop
production, and having built farms in Toronto, New
Jersey, and Wellington, New
Zealand, Elevate Farms is closing in on finalizing large
scale farm projects in Switzerland, as well as Pennsylvania and Arizona. These new facilities are in
partnership with existing local customers who see the benefit in a
local, sustainable, and resilient vertical farming partner.
Elevate Farms continues on its path to "elevate agriculture" –
closing a US$2.5 million pre-series B
round and building a US$10 million
construction consortium of financial and operating partners for its
vertical farming expansion in Europe and the
United States. Alongside participation from early investors
Brightspark Ventures, Elevate's growth partners now also include
private investors with a track record in food / AG-tech investments
and operation, as well as AG-tech focused funding including Orange
Ridge Capital and local Swiss strategic partners.
"The initial hype for vertical farming was exciting, but reality
was always going to catch up to the fact that most of the
technology was not market-ready", reflects CEO and co-founder
Amin Jadavji. "At Elevate
Farms we've tried to keep our head down and focused our efforts on
optimizing efficiency and scale. For the industry to live up to the
potential of building a more sustainable and resilient way to grow
food, we have to find a way to compete at market prices. We have
accomplished this with large format autonomous vertical farming,
building on a strong base of photobiology research as we turn to
commercializing our scalable technology globally."
Mr. Jadavji continued, "Since opening its first farm in
Ontario, Canada in 2020, Elevate
Farms has built a total of 10,000m2 of growth space across
Canada, the United States and New Zealand, producing both herbs and leafy
greens. An additional 7,000m2 of growth space is currently
under construction in New Zealand,
bringing Elevate Farms' total growth space to 17,000m2 or 4.2 acres.
"Elevate Farms sells its produce to retail and wholesale
customers at mainstream prices, thanks to a growth system with
proprietary lighting, patented automation, and top in class
photobiology technology that drastically lowers energy consumption,
labour costs and overall land requirements. At an industry leading
growth space productivity yield of 151kg/m2 and
vertically stacking 11 or more growth layers, Elevate Farms reduces
the footprint required to grow its produce by more than 18x when
compared to high-tech greenhouses and more than 500x when compared
to traditional agriculture systems."
Nikolas Oetker, CMO at Elevate
Farms, explains why the time is right for building strategic
funding and operating partnerships: "There is enormous potential
for vertical farming to sit alongside regenerative fields and
high-tech greenhouses as the pillars of an agricultural system that
stays within our planetary boundaries, but to do so we need to look
at each farm as a separate business. There needs to be a
product/market fit, affordable, asset-backed financing and a
commercial and operational team with local roots to run the farm
profitably."
About Elevate Farms
Elevate Farms was founded with the purpose to 'elevate
agriculture'. Our mission is to design, build and operate vertical
farms that grow incredibly flavorful, highly nutritious foods, and
to do so at scale and in a way that contributes positively to our
planet.
Elevate already has facilities in Canada, the US and New Zealand and is now entering its second
phase of expansion by expanding its US footprint and entering the
European market.
SOURCE Elevate Farms Inc.