AppHarvest

Founded in 2017, AppHarvest is a US-based, publicly listed agri-tech company that uses robotics and AI to help indoor farmers make precise and smart farming decisions. The company’s services include integrated pest management, robotic harvesting, and precise yield prediction. The company has quickly expanded its services by partnering with Mastronardi, one of the largest producers and distributors of greenhouse-grown produce in North America. This has helped the company reach leading grocers such as Walmart, Whole Foods, and Kroger—all of which aim to increase domestically sourced farm produce.

In July 2023, AppHarvest filed for protection under Chapter 11 of the US Bankruptcy Code to pursue a financial and operational transition to reduce its outstanding liabilities.

In April 2021 the company acquired startup Root AI for USD 60 million. Root AI manufactures intelligent robots to ease the farming process. The company’s Virgo robot uses machine learning and AI to facilitate intelligent motion and real-time detection. AI systems allow the robots to identify plants and decide if they are ripe, spoiled, or growing. The robots are also equipped with 3D sensors which guide them—even through tangled vineyards—and identify ripe fruits. These robots are deployed primarily at indoor farms, which the company sees as a growing trend within the agriculture industry. A patent for its technology is still pending and the company has conducted tests in the US, Canada, and the Netherlands.

The key differentiator of Root AI’s robots is that they can be used for any type of crop, unlike most agricultural robot companies that produce robots for an individual crop. According to AppHarvest, Virgo will be instrumental to the company’s robotic harvesting growth. More specifically, AppHarvest is focused on the amount of data that Virgo can collect, which can be used to analyze crop health, optimize agricultural operation, and precisely predict yield.

In February 2023 , AppHarvest closed underwritten public offering of 46 million shares of its common stock, including the full exercise of underwriters’ option to purchase an additional six million shares for USD 1 per share. The company expects to use the net proceeds for working capital and general corporate purposes.

AppHarvest generated USD 14.6 million revenue in 2022 , up 61.2% YoY, driven by a combination of higher market prices for tomatoes and the addition of new sales of higher-priced tomato varietals, strawberries and salad greens. However, the company reported an adjusted EBITDA loss of USD 72.0 million in 2022, up from the loss of USD 69.9 million in 2021, driven by production ramp-up at the three new farms.