Bowery Farming is on a roll, raising $300 million in a funding round, according to Fooddive. The company is now valued at $2.3 billion, making it the largest vertical farming company nationwide.
Investors included some big names, such as Justin Timberlake and Natalie Portman, and GV, the investment offshoot of Google. Lewis Hamilton, Chris Paul, and José André are also investors, according to Yahoo News.
“This funding not only fuels our continued expansion but the ongoing development of our proprietary technology, which sits at the core of our business and our ability to rapidly and efficiently scale towards an increasingly important opportunity in front of us,” Bowery Farming CEO Irving Fain said in a statement.
Bowery Farming plans to use the new funds to build an increasing number of smart indoor farms as well as recruit new employees. The money will also be used for research and to innovate products with an expansion planned on top of its current offerings which include kale, basil, and leafy greens.
Bowery Farming has had a 750 percent increase in availability since January of last year. Its produce is now being sold at 850 grocery stores, including popular chains such as Albertsons, Walmart, Giant Food, and Whole Foods.
Indoor agriculture is growing in popularity, especially in the past year. The value of AppHarvest, a company that also operates in that space, rose from around $1 billion when it announced its SPAC deal last year to now more than $1.5 billion.
