GrowUp, the UK’s best-selling vertical farm, receives £38 million investment from Generate Capital to produce locally grown, pesticide-free greens
2024年7月17日 - 4:00PM
ビジネスワイヤ(英語)
Investment will help meet growing demand from
major UK retailers
Today, Generate Capital, a leading sustainable infrastructure
investment and operating company, and GrowUp, the UK’s best-selling
vertical farm, announced a £38 million investment to meet growing
demand for GrowUp’s popular ready-to-eat salads.
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Unbeleafable zesty baby leaves are the
latest ready-to-eat bagged salad from GrowUp, which launched in
Tesco stores in May. This is the only bagged salad available in the
UK that provides the unique mix of sorrel leaves and green and red
baby lettuce leaves, which have been grown in GrowUp's vertical
farm in Kent. (Photo: Business Wire)
Generate Capital’s investment will help expand capacity at
GrowUp’s Kent vertical farm, accelerate GrowUp's leadership of the
UK salad category, support the Unbeleafable and Fresh Leaf Co.
brands, drive R&D at GrowUp’s Leaf Lab site in Cambridge, and
increase GrowUp's influence as a certified B Corp.
This funding extends Generate Capital's existing partnership
with GrowUp, following an initial financing in 2021 that enabled
GrowUp to prove its energy-efficient growing system and start
converting a five-acre brownfield site into the equivalent of 1,000
acres of grade 1 farmland in Kent. GrowUp is the first vertical
farm to have supplied branded, bagged salads to the country’s
largest supermarket chain, Tesco, and to Iceland, SPAR, as well as
other major food service customers.
“This investment is a fantastic boost to GrowUp and recognises
the team’s passion and talent. 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,” said Marcus Whately, CEO of GrowUp.
“Consumers want UK-grown, sustainable, longer-lasting leaves –
grown without pesticides. With this further investment, we can
expand production to meet demand and continue to transform UK food
production. We've been growing for over 11 years now. We've come a
long way with Generate Capital's support, since Kate Hofman and Tom
Webster set up their first vertical farm in 2013, supplying salad
leaves to London markets and restaurants,” added Whately.
“GrowUp is one of the UK’s most exciting and innovative vertical
farming operations, experiencing nearly 800% sales increase year
over year. Their ability to quickly earn the trust of the UK’s
largest retailers shows the appeal of their product lines, the
strength of their team, and their ability to meet rising consumer
demand for healthy, locally grown food,” said Generate Capital’s
CEO and Co-founder Scott Jacobs. “We look forward to working with
them to keep accelerating the decarbonisation of the food system by
providing nutritious, affordable and sustainable greens to UK
consumers and food manufacturers.”
“Since our first investment in 2021, GrowUp’s unique approach
has demonstrated that producing superior, sustainable leafy greens
at scale and at competitive pricing is possible, unlocking the
potential to capture significant market share in the UK salad
market,” added Eduardo Clemente, a Managing Director at Generate
Capital. “In less than a year from starting operations at
industrial scale, GrowUp’s success in securing significant interest
and volumes from some of the UK largest retailers is a testament to
their value proposition.”
About GrowUp Farms
GrowUp Farms is a purpose-led, award-winning vertical farming
business and certified B Corp. It was founded by Kate Hofman and
Tom Webster in 2013 in a small unit in London where they created a
controlled environment to grow salad leaves that they supplied to
Borough Market and London restaurants.
Fast forward 11 years and over £100 million investment, GrowUp
has taken a five-acre brownfield site and has created a vertical
farm in Kent growing salad leaves 365 days a year. The farm uses
state-of-the-art technology and 100% renewable energy from the
co-located bioenergy plant to create the ideal environment for
their leaves to thrive, ensuring they receive the optimal balance
of water, light and nutrients.
Once the Kent farm is fully operational, the site will produce
1.4 million bags of salad per week. GrowUp was the first vertical
farm to introduce a branded salad into a supermarket chain in the
UK with the launch of Fresh Leaf Co. in Iceland stores across the
country in February of 2023 and SPAR in February 2024. The
Unbeleafable range launched in Tesco in July 2023. Both brands
feature different collections of leaves that are ready-to-eat,
fresher and long lasting.
For more information, please visit growupfarms.co.uk.
About Generate Capital
Generate Capital is a leading sustainable investment and
operating platform driving the infrastructure transition. Generate
aims to provide the capital and help that developers, businesses,
cities and communities need to accelerate cost savings, resilience
and decarbonization. Since 2014, Generate has invested in and
operated sustainable assets across six sectors: power, mobility,
waste, green digital, water and agriculture, and industrial
decarbonization. With more than $10 billion raised since inception,
50+ technology and development partnerships and more than 2,000
assets globally, Generate’s one-stop-shop offers proof, not
promises that sustainability pays. For more information, please
visit www.generatecapital.com.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240717534198/en/
GrowUp Angie Cronin angieloudbirdpr@gmail.com
Generate Capital Elise Benoit press@generatecapital.com