Ignite Social Enterprise is the UK’s first impact investment fund with a focus on energy. They believe that energy entrepreneurs have a vital role to play in building a better society and they are here to help them achieve their potential. They invest people and money into emerging and mature organisations that have a clear vision of how they benefit society. By focusing on energy, they are driving innovation at every point of the energy chain – from sourcing and generation through to supply, service and saving energy. And by investing in social enterprises they are making a positive impact on employment, income, housing and local communities. As well as providing capital, they work to understand the specific needs of each of their investments and help them grow through mentorship, networking and the skilled support of Centrica employees.

Ignite Social Enterprise

Generate Capital is a finance company that builds, owns, and operates sustainable infrastructure to deliver affordable and reliable resource solutions. The company operates and finances assets in energy, mobility, and water resources.

Generate Capital

GrowUp Farms

GrowUp Farms provides delicious food to consumers, retailers, and restaurants. It employs plants, science, and technology to produce the best tasting food possible, without sacrificing quality, ethics, or environmental impact. The company was established in 2013, with our main farm in Kent and R&D facility in Cambridge

GrowUp Farms is a UK-based aquaponics vertical farm which is the first to be the commercial aquaponics vertical farm that grows salads and herbs and produces fish. Aquaponics combines aquaculture (fish farming) and hydroponics (growing plants in water without soil) in a recirculating system. With production of about 20,000 lbs of fresh vegetables and 4,000 lbs of fish annually in their warehouse in Beckton, London, GrowUp is considered one of the largest vertical farms in the country.

Bringing fresh produce closer to consumers with efficient, advanced technology.

Vertical Farming

GrowUp Urban Farms

GrowUp Farms receives fresh funding for vertical farm growth

GrowUp Farms is a UK-based aquaponics vertical farm which is the first to be the commercial aquaponics vertical farm that grows salads and herbs and produces fish. Aquaponics combines aquaculture (fish farming) and hydroponics (growing plants in water without soil) in a recirculating system. With production of about 20,000 lbs of fresh vegetables and 4,000 lbs of fish annually in their warehouse in Beckton, London, GrowUp is considered one of the largest vertical farms in the country.In July 2023, GrowUp Urban Farms launched its Unbeleafable, three in range ready–to-eat salads, first-ever salad range grown by a vertical farm in the UK is expected to be sold in UK supermarkets starting from July.In April 2024, Unbeleafable rocket and baby leaves salad was named the best vegan side at the Vegan Food and Living Product Awards 2024 which is the third award for the product since its launching. In March 2024, GrowUp Urban Farms appointed Will Howards as its new UK MD and CCO. Howard expects to support the company to grow the business and sell more than one million bags of salad per week. Also, The company has been awarded the ‘Best SME of the Year’ accolade at the edie awards and this happened to be the sixth award within six months.Key customers and partnershipsIn <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/26922">February 2024</a>, The company partnered with SPAR by securing a listing for its award-winning Fresh Leaf Co. bagged salad. With this partnership, Fresh Leaf Co.'s red and green baby leaf salad will initially be available in more than 400 SPAR stores across the UK.Funding and financialsIn July 2024, The company has secured GBP 38 million (~USD 49.4 million) in venture funding led by Generate Capital, marking a significant extension of the ongoing partnership between the two companies. Previously, In <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/8622">February 2024</a>, GrowUp Urban Farms received an investment of GBP 100 million (USD 136.3 million) from Generate Capital, a California-based ‘green’ investment company, to finance the construction of a new vertical farm in Kent, UK.In November 2023, The company secured GBP 29,000 (~USD 36 300) funding from Growing Kent and Medway’s Business Sustainability Challenge’ grant to start a trial of Salinity Solutions' batch reverse osmosis technology to reduce the environmental footprint of water treatment at Pepperness, company's Kent-based vertical farm.

Based in Germany, Agrilution produces and sells small container farms (known as Plantcubes) that can be placed inside kitchens. Its growing system is suitable to grow lettuce, microgreens, and herbs. The farm can be controlled via a mobile phone.

Agrilution

Based in Belgium, Urban Crop Solutions produces growing systems inside shipping containers (called PlantFactories). The company also builds custom farms inside buildings (e.g. warehouse, basement). The company's modular " PlantFactories " are deemed ideal for highly urbanized areas, since they take up little space and can be stacked. As of March 2020, it had 28 projects in operation with its main customers located across Europe and in the US.The company launched an e-shop in February 2023 to better support existing and new customers in the day-to-day and long-term operation of their indoor farming businesses. The e-shop offers from seeds and substrates to sensors and container parts.In April 2023, the company appointed <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/17741">AlfaTech </a>, an engineering consulting firm, as the integration and service partner for UCS’s products in the Southeast Asian region.

Urban Crop Solutions

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 Based in Massachusetts, Crop One Holdings operates hydroponics-based vertical farming that produces herbicide and pesticide-free leafy greens. As of December 2021, the company operates a facility in Millis, Massachusetts, and serves more than 30 stores in the US through its subsidiary—FreshBox Farms, producing greens such as spinach, kale, and romaine as well as a spicy mix, spring mix, and a power blend.   
 
 
 The company claims to have a longer commercial production history than any other vertical farmer in North America. It further claims that its proprietary technology and plant science help generate among the highest crop yields in the industry, up to 20%–60%, and at 25% to 50% of the capital cost of other vertical farming companies. It is also able to produce output that uses 99% less water compared to outdoor fields.
 
 
 The company states that scaling its production is the most challenging aspect and has now begun expanding its operations seven years after commencement. As part of their expansion plans, the company announced a Joint Venture with Emirates Flight Catering in June 2018, and 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/7493">
 in December 2021,
 </a>
 the two companies announced plans to build a 130,000 sq ft farm in Dubai, reportedly the largest vertical farming facility in the world. Crop One also plans to build a new facility every year for the next five years. The Dubai facility is expected to produce about 6,000 pounds of leafy greens per day, which will also serve Emirates’ customers, including 105 airlines and 25 lounges. In July 2022, the company announced the opening of its second farm, “Emirates Crop One” (ECO 1), a 330,000+ sq ft facility that is expected to produce up to 2 million pounds of leafy greens per year.  
 
 
 In 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/15395">
 December 2022
 </a>
 , Crop One and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory received a USD 1.5 million grant from the Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research (FFAR) to develop aquatic plants of the Lemnaceae (Lemna) family to provide high-quality protein for human consumption.
 
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Crop One Holdings

<div>
 
 Agricool, a French startup, operates vertical farms in containers using an aeroponic growing system. The company sells its leafy greens, herbs, and strawberries to grocery stores. It currently operates container farms (which it calls “cooltainers”) in Paris and Dubai. By 2021, it plans to operate around 100 farms. The light-emitting diode (LED) lighting used in its containers are powered by 100% renewable energy. The company claims that its locally grown strawberries contain 30% more vitamin C than supermarket strawberries. 
 
 
 
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Agricool

Berlin-based Infarm is a startup that produces herbs and green leaves such as basil, pak choi, coriander, and thyme via a hydroponic vertical farming system. It also produces modular growing systems for grocery retailers, restaurants, schools, and shopping malls in a farming-as-a-service model that sets it apart from competitors. Infarm handles the installation, cultivation, harvesting, and maintenance of its modular farms.&nbsp;&nbsp;The company's cloud-based platform “Growing Centres” is designed to be scalable and can add more modules provided there are no space constraints. Each module can produce 500,000 plants per year using 430 sq ft of space. The farms are monitored and controlled by Infarm’s central control center. As of December 2021, Infarm revealed it was conducting R&amp;D to expand its portfolio with 40 new crops in 2022 including mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, peas, and strawberries, while increasing its presence to 100 growing centers across 20 countries by harvesting a variety of fruits and vegetables by 2030.&nbsp;<a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/14648">In November 2022</a>, the company announced that it has successfully grown wheat at its indoor farms without the use of soil, chemicals and pesticides, projecting yields of up to 11.7 kg per square meter per year based on initial results.Infarm strengthened its US presence in February 2022, with plans to open a new <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/8415">73,000 sq ft vertical farm</a> in Kyle, Texas with a capacity to produce 2.2 million pounds of salad per year. In June 2022, Infarm said that it would be building a 200,000 sq ft Growing Center in Maryland, its third and reportedly largest farm in its network. In Europe, the company began constructing a 10,000 sq meter (~107,000+ sq ft) vertical farming facility in Bedford in August 2021, which may be one of the largest vertical farming facilities in Europe, with the ability to produce up to 18 million plants per year at full capacity (equivalent to 360,000 sqm of farmland). The facility was opened in June 2022. Infarm also revealed plans to open its first growing center in Qatar in 2023, with a focus on fruits such as strawberries, alongside leafy greens, herbs, and salads (December 2021).In October 2023, Infarm’s <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/22462">UK branch</a> entered administration under the laws of England and Wales and the Insolvency Rules following the bankruptcy of its <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/22225">Dutch</a> branch in September 2023. Previously in April 2023, the company <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/17740">closed its facilities</a> in Frankfurt and Copenhagen due to escalating energy prices, inflation, supply chain disruptions, rising material costs, and tough financial markets.Key customers and partnershipsInfarm expanded in Canada, via its partnership with Sobeys (Canada’s second-largest food retailer), to construct four production facilities in Calgary, Halifax, Winnipeg, and Hamilton by 2023, to supply to over 1,000 Canadian grocery stores (July 2021). It aims to operate a capacity of 3 million sq ft in Canada by 2025. The company also has partnered with the virtual supermarket <a href="https://sp-edge.com/sectors/sustainability/updates/6154">Rohlik.cz </a>to offer its greens in the Czech Republic, marking its foray into the Eastern European market. Infarm also partnered with Swedish multinational ready-to-assemble furniture company IKEA <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/11069">in June 2022 </a>to supply modular vertical farming solutions to grow herbs at three IKEA stores. Infarm expanded its presence to the Netherlands, where it announced an exclusive supply partnership with online retailer Crisp ( <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/7874">January 2022 </a>). As of February 2022, the company had partnered with over 30 retailers across North America, Europe, the UK, and Japan including Kroger, Whole Foods, Amazon Fresh, and <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/8769">Coop Danmark </a>, supplying its fresh produce to over 2,850 stores. It also plans to enter new markets in Asia-Pacific and the Middle East.Funding and financialsIn June 2021, it was reported that it was in talks with <a href="https://sp-edge.com/sectors/sustainability/updates/1022">Kernal Group </a>to go public via the special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) route. The possible transaction was likely to value the combined company at over USD 1 billion.Infarm raised USD 200 million in <a href="https://sp-edge.com/sectors/sustainability/updates/7389">Series D funding </a>in December 2021. The round has brought the company’s total funding to around USD 605 million at a valuation of more than USD 1 billion. The fresh funds were to be used for Infarm’s global growth strategy.

Infarm

A soilless growing method that combines aquaculture with hydroponics. A crop's roots are placed directly in containers of nutrient-enriched water connected to fish farming tanks, allowing crops to absorb a continuous supply of nutrients from the waste produced by the fish.

A soilless growing method that places crops' roots directly in containers filled with nutrient-enriched water.

A soilless growing method that suspends crops in the air with a sprinkler or misting system used to spray the exposed roots with a nutrient-rich solution.

Startups that produce and sell modular growing systems that can be placed within containers (e.g. small containers, shipping containers) and buildings or rooms. The containers can be located in a variety of places, such as retail stores, parking lots, and kitchens.

Urban indoor farming maximizes land use by providing controlled environments for efficient crop production

Certain vertical farming systems use IoT and related sensor technologies

Techniques enable better land use management

<div>
 
 GrowUp, a UK-based hydroponic vertical farm, has secured GBP 38 million (~USD 49.4 million) in venture funding led by Generate Capital. This represents a significant expansion of the existing relationship between the two firms.
 The investment will be used to increase operations at GrowUp's vertical farm located in Kent, support ongoing growth of its salad brands Unbeleafable and Fresh Leaf Co., and carry out R&amp;D at the company's Leaf Lab.
 
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GrowUp raises GBP 38 million in venture funding to scale up operations

Tesco

Tesco partners with GrowUp Farms to launch ready-to-eat salads grown on a vertical farm and sold in Tesco supermarkets.

GrowUp Urban Farms

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