Stacked will use the $56 million to accelerate the establishment of its first commercial scale vertical farm, a 5000 to 7000 square metre facility that will have the largest output of leafy green produce per square metre of any indoor vertical farm in the world.Vertical farming involves growing crops indoors in vertically stacked layers, and requires vastly less water and no pesticides or agrochemicals.
Vertical farming, Stacked claims, also uses 95 per cent less water than traditional farming, less space, and can produce a crop about three times faster than traditional farming.was composed of equity, debt and convertible notes, with US-based alternative asset manager Magnetar Capital, Stratos Capital and local funds Tribeca Investment Partners and Glen Richards and Paul Wilson’s Founder Led Investments also participating.
“We’re a little bit fortunate because our business model captures the software tech piece, but also the food supply piece, so we’re a bit unique compared to other tech businesses,” he said. Tribeca Investment Partners head of research Todd Warren said they had encouraged Stacked to raise more capital and accelerate commercialisation.