- BY SEPEHR ACHARD
- 15TH NOVEMBER 2022
Aliaxis SA, a global innovator in enabling access to water and energy through creative fluid management solutions, recently announced plans to invest in Freights Farms, a pioneer in the development of vertical farming technology and software that permits water savings of 90 to 99% when compared to conventional farming. This comes a couple of months after Freight Farms announced a credit facility of USD 12M to fuel its growth. The company participated in the $17.5M Series B3 funding round co-led with Ospraie Ag Science, a leading investor in cutting-edge AgTech companies providing smarter, more sustainable agriculture solutions. The funding will support Freight Farms as it expands its mission to empower anyone to grow food anywhere through its line of versatile, modular, and easy-to-use container farms and farm automation software. The round was also supported by Spark Capital, Stage 1 Ventures, and Alkaline Partners.
The American company Freight Farms was established in 2012 with the goal of facilitating access to locally produced food. Today, the business has developed into an industry leader, working with a variety of businesses, non-profits, resorts, and educational institutions across five continents. The GreeneryTM S, a modular hydroponic grow system from Freight Farms, and farmhand®, an Internet of Things (IoT) farm management tool, are just two of the company’s offerings for controlled environment agriculture. Both of these products and services connect to the system via a custom controller design. Freight Farms has 50 employees.
In Aliaxis Next, the newly established division of Aliaxis to choose, incubate, develop, and grow enterprises from new domains to enhance water management, this strategic partnership will be a component of the Water for Food business unit.
According to Eric Olsen, CEO of Aliaxis, “now, 70% of fresh water is used for food production.” Through our investment in Freight Farms, we are implementing our Growth with Purpose approach to support the production of water-efficient, fresh, and affordable food locally. In terms of vertical agricultural innovation, Freight Farms is at the fore. By 2026, it is anticipated that this industry would surpass the $10 billion mark and be rising at a CAGR of more than 25%.
Freight Farms and Aliaxis are the perfect strategic partners, says Fredrik Stbye, head of Aliaxis Next. “Agriculture is one of Aliaxis’ four core customer sectors, with three of our areas having significant goals in micro-irrigation, greenhouse technology, and digital farming, including India, Latin America, and Australia.”
“The Aliaxis Next configuration is special.” According to Rick Vanzura, CEO of Freight Farms, “it’s a team of company builders investing strategically with a clear societal impact in mind: bringing solutions to the world’s water concerns. The need for vertical hydroponics as a replacement for the current agriculture system, which has been a significant consumer of limited resources like water, is further supported by their investment. We are now able to continue our work thanks to Aliaxis Group’s power, expertise, and reach.
Image provided by Freight Farms
