Boston-based Shipment Farms Boosts USD 15 Million in Series B Round of Financing

The firm was established in 2010 by CEO Brad McNamara and COO Jon Friedman and debuted with the first vertical hydroponic farm constructed inside an intermodal shipping container-the Leafy Green Machine-with the task of democratizing and decentralizing the local production of fresh, healthy food.

FREMONT, CA: Containerized vertical farming startup Freight Farms raised USD 15 million in a Series B funding round led by Ospraie Ag Science, an investment enterprise committed to supporting sustainable solutions that improve the quality of life for both farmers and society. The Series B round was also partaken by existing investor Spark Capital, taking the company's aggregate raised capital to USD 28 million.

"It's a prominent step forward for the industry when financial markets realize and champion the worth of producing a distributed food system," said Brad McNamara, Freight Farms CEO. "Aligned on mission-driven growth as a gang, there is a huge opportunity to scale across global markets, pushing meaningful technology that's already doing good." Freight Farms' Greenery produces over 500 types of crops like calendula at a commercial scale throughout the year, all while using 99.8 percent less water than traditional agriculture. The company uses a technique to place four rows of panels on an adjustable moving rack system, accommodating over 8,000 living plants at once. Using this way, the company creates a dense canopy of fresh crops.

The proceeds from the fresh round will advance the technical possibility of Freight Farms' platform through continued innovation, with new assistance designed to benefit its growing international network of farmers and corporate partners. "Freight Farms has redefined vertical agriculture and made decentralizing the food system something that's feasible and influential right now, not in the 'future of food,'" said Jason Mraz, President of Ospraie Ag Science. "Full traceability, increased nutrition without herbicides and pesticides, year-round availability - these are factors that should be ingrained in food sourcing. Freight Farms' Greenery makes it achievable to meet this burgeoning global demand from campuses, hospitals, municipal organizations, and corporate businesses while also encouraging small business farmers to meet these necessities for their customers." The investment round comes soon after Freight Farms' strategic national collaboration with Sodexo to develop food onsite at educational and corporate campuses nationwide, which will back ongoing assistance to collaborative research projects and partnerships.

The company was launched in 2010 by CEO Brad McNamara and COO Jon Friedman and debuted with the first vertical hydroponic farm built inside an intermodal shipping container-the Leafy Green Machine-with the task of democratizing and decentralizing the local presentation of fresh, healthy food.

"With the Greenery and farmhand, we've assembled an infrastructure that lowers the barricade of entry into food production, an industry historically challenging to get into," said Jon Friedman, Freight Farms COO. "With this platform, we're also competent to harness and build upon a wider set of technologies including cloud IoT, automation, and machine learning, while enabling new expansions in plant science for future ages."