Now is the time we juxtapose.
I was idly flipping through back issues of Vertical Farm Daily and stopped at this headline:
“Vertical farms are not going to create venture level returns”
at the same time this from AgFunder dropped out of one of the feedreaders:
- US vertical farming startup AeroFarms has agreed a merger with Spring Valley Acquisition Corp, a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). The deal will see AeroFarms go public on New York’s NASDAQ exchange under the symbol ‘ARFM’.
- The transaction could allow Newark-based AeroFarms to raise as much as $357 million in gross proceeds, including Spring Valley’s $232 million cash reserves plus $125 million to be secured via a private investment in public equity (PIPE) deal from institutional investors, AeroFarms executives, and Spring Valley sponsor Pearl Energy Investments.
- The merger is expected to close in Q2 2021 with the combined company estimated to be valued at $1.2 billion.
....MORE
When the deal closes AeroFarms will become the second publicly traded indoor farm following on the heels of AppHarvest.From March 8's Vaclav Smil: "How Much Energy Does It Take to Grow a Tomato?":
....This type of analysis becomes more and more important as the SoftBanks and Jeff Bezos' of the world attempt to steer us toward food grown in greenhouses and vertical farms and we start seeing more headlines like this from Bloomberg last June: ""Pricey Greens From Indoor Farms Are Thriving in the Covid Era"" and this from February 3: "ICYMI: Indoor Farming Company AppHarvest Came Public Via SPAC (APPH)".
AppHarvest is not just any indoor farmer. Including the SPAC deal they have raised close to a half-billion dollars to build the world's largest greenhouse. To grow tomatoes.
Indoor Farning: AppHarvest Raises Another $28 Million To Fund World's Largest Greenhouse (and more)
For more on the centi-billionaire farmers:...
