GrowUp, the top-selling vertical farm in the UK, has received an investment of £38 million from Generate Capital to cultivate pesticide-free, locally grown vegetables.
Investment will assist in satisfying major UK retailers’ increasing demand.
“Since our first investment in 2021, GrowUp’s unique approach has demonstrated that producing superior, sustainable leafy greens at scale and at competitive pricing is possible, unlocking the potential to capture significant market share in the UK salad market”
Unbeleafable zesty baby leaves are the latest ready-to-eat bagged salad from GrowUp, launched in Tesco stores in May. This is the only bagged salad available in the UK that offers a unique mix of sorrel leaves and green and red baby lettuce leaves, grown in GrowUp’s vertical farm in Kent.
Today, Generate Capital, a leading sustainable infrastructure investment and operating company, and GrowUp, the UK’s best-selling vertical farm, announced a £38 million investment to meet the growing demand for GrowUp’s popular ready-to-eat salads. Generate Capital’s investment will help expand capacity at GrowUp’s Kent vertical farm, accelerate GrowUp’s leadership of the UK salad category, support the Unbeleafable and Fresh Leaf Co. brands, drive R&D at GrowUp’s Leaf Lab site in Cambridge, and increase GrowUp’s influence as a certified B Corp.
This funding extends Generate Capital’s existing partnership with GrowUp, following an initial financing in 2021 that enabled GrowUp to prove its energy-efficient growing system and start converting a five-acre brownfield site into the equivalent of 1,000 acres of grade 1 farmland in Kent. GrowUp is the first vertical farm to have supplied branded, bagged salads to the country’s largest supermarket chain, Tesco, and to Iceland, SPAR, as well as other major food service customers.
“This investment is a fantastic boost to GrowUp and recognizes the team’s passion and talent. We partnered with Generate Capital because, as a $10 billion sustainable infrastructure investor with a mission to ‘rebuild the world together,’ Generate Capital aligns with our ethos. With Generate Capital’s support, we have proved that vertically farmed salads are sustainable, cost-competitive, and commercially viable, as well as tasty, healthy, and long-lasting. Together we can unlock a new salad category and meet growing consumer demand,” said Marcus Whately, CEO of GrowUp.
“Consumers want UK-grown, sustainable, longer-lasting leaves – grown without pesticides. With this further investment, we can expand production to meet demand and continue to transform UK food production. We’ve been growing for over 11 years now. We’ve come a long way with Generate Capital’s support since Kate Hofman and Tom Webster set up their first vertical farm in 2013, supplying salad leaves to London markets and restaurants,” added Whately.
“GrowUp is one of the UK’s most exciting and innovative vertical farming operations, experiencing nearly 800% sales increase year over year. Their ability to quickly earn the trust of the UK’s largest retailers shows the appeal of their product lines, the strength of their team, and their ability to meet rising consumer demand for healthy, locally grown food,” said Generate Capital’s CEO and Co-founder Scott Jacobs. “We look forward to working with them to keep accelerating the decarbonization of the food system by providing nutritious, affordable, and sustainable greens to UK consumers and food manufacturers.”
“Since our first investment in 2021, GrowUp’s unique approach has demonstrated that producing superior, sustainable leafy greens at scale and at competitive pricing is possible, unlocking the potential to capture significant market share in the UK salad market,” added Eduardo Clemente, a Managing Director at Generate Capital. “In less than a year from starting operations at an industrial scale, GrowUp’s success in securing significant interest and volumes from some of the UK largest retailers is a testament to their value proposition.”
About GrowUp Farms
GrowUp Farms is a purpose-led, award-winning vertical farming business and certified B Corp. It was founded by Kate Hofman and Tom Webster in 2013 in a small unit in London where they created a controlled environment to grow salad leaves that they supplied to Borough Market and London restaurants. Fast forward 11 years and over £100 million investment, GrowUp has taken a five-acre brownfield site and created a vertical farm in Kent growing salad leaves 365 days a year. The farm uses state-of-the-art technology and 100% renewable energy from the co-located bioenergy plant to create the ideal environment for their leaves to thrive, ensuring they receive the optimal balance of water, light, and nutrients.
Once the Kent farm is fully operational, the site will produce 1.4 million bags of salad per week. GrowUp was the first vertical farm to introduce a branded salad into a supermarket chain in the UK with the launch of Fresh Leaf Co. in Iceland stores across the country in February 2023 and SPAR in February 2024. The Unbeleafable range launched in Tesco in July 2023. Both brands feature different collections of leaves that are ready-to-eat, fresher, and long-lasting.
