Bowery Farming

Bowery Farming sells greens and herbs to nearby restaurants and grocery stores as well as via online channels.The company’s main goal is to produce foods locally around the globe and use technology to make them available at affordable prices, days after harvesting. Bowery Farming has developed its own proprietary software, BoweryOS, to control farm operations and create an optimal growing environment for crops. The company uses machines connected to the growing system to move around plants and to water them.

The company has expanded its product portfolio by  launching a new product category called New Farmer’s Selection, which  includes a line of flavorful greens curated by its R&D team, and a collection of ready-to-eat salad kits. In March 2022, Bowery Farming announced the commercial launch of its vertically produced strawberries, which would initially be sold to consumers at the Italian restaurant chain Eataly and a Spanish food court, Mercado Little Spain. This launch was the first phase of its commercial rollout, with plans to scale production of vertically produced strawberries. 

Bowery Farming currently has four vertical farms: two commercial farms in Kearny, New Jersey, one in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania (opened May 2022 and the company’s largest farm as of that month), and another one in Nottingham, Maryland. In January 2022, the company announced that it would build two additional vertical farms in Locust Grove, Georgia and Arlington, Texas, expected to be completed by Q1 2023. The company would first build more vertical farms in densely populated areas across the US before branching out overseas. Bowery Farming planned to double the number of farms in operation by 2023. 

Since the beginning of 2020, the company has recorded a more than a 6x increase in in-store sales growth, and online sales have more than doubled. As of February 2023, Bowery Farming produce was available at 1,500+ stores in the Tri-State area and Mid-Atlantic region (up from 100 stores in January 2020).

In May 2021, Bowery Farming opened a new R&D facility called Farm X in Kearny, New Jersey, next to its original R&D center and first commercial farm. The facility would help conduct more trials, support faster discovery of new crops and recipes, and improve efficiency across the company's network of commercial farms. 

Key customers and partnerships

In June 2022, the company also partnered with Unfold, a California-based vertical farming seed and digital solutions provider, to produce vegetables using new seed varieties, expecting to increase output and reduce production costs. In February 2023, Bowery Farming partnered with Kayco, a US distributor, to distribute Bowery's produce, including Baby Butter, Romaine, Crispy Leaf, Mixed Greens, and Spring Mix, to hundreds of kosher supermarkets within a 200-mile radius of Bayonne, New Jersey. The company expanded its use of KETOS, a water intelligence innovator, to autonomously monitor water quality in real time across its farm locations in the same period. In March 2023, the company partnered with sweetgreen, a restaurant brand, to bring Bowery’s salad greens to the sweetgreen app and 45 retail locations in New York City, New Jersey, and Connecticut. In July 2023, the company expanded its partnership with Amazon Fresh to bring Bowery greens and salad kits to more consumers on the East Coast from Massachusetts to Georgia.

In February 2022, Bowery Farming acquired Traptic, a smart farming startup providing fruit-harvesting robots. The acquisition would support Bowery Farming’s plans to commercially grow strawberries by Q2 2022 and support in harvesting other crops such as tomatos and basil.

Funding and financials

The company’s most recent and largest funding round was in May 2021, when it raised USD 300 million in a Series C round at a valuation of USD 2.3 billion. Following this, the company secured a USD 150 million credit facility in January 2022, bringing its total funds raised to USD 647 million. The funding was to support Bowery Farming in its product development and expansion plans.