Tag Archive for "#Plenty" -

Posts Tagged ‘#Plenty’

Walmart and Plenty Partner To Lead the Future of Fresh Produce

Posted on: January 28th, 2022 by Kirenaga Partners

Retail leader and indoor farming company enter into a long-term strategic partnership with an equity investment to bring fresh, peak-flavor produce to shoppers year-round

BENTONVILLE, Ark. & SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Walmart andPlenty Unlimited Inc. today announced Walmart signed an agreement to invest in Plenty, an indoor vertical farming company, as part of their $400M Series E funding round subject to a regulatory approval. Walmart’s equity investment is part of a broader strategic partnership to utilize Plenty’s indoor vertical farming technology platform to deliver fresh produce to Walmart retail stores. As part of the investment, at closing, Walmart will also join Plenty’s Board of Directors.

Together, Walmart and Plenty will work collaboratively to create a new, market leading product category in vertical farming by delivering the freshness and quality that Walmart customers expect, year-round. The long-term commercial agreement allows Walmart to source Plenty’s leafy greens for all its California stores from Plenty’s Compton farm beginning later this year. Walmart is the first large U.S. retailer to significantly invest in vertical farming.

“At Walmart, we are focused on identifying and investing in innovative food solutions to bring our customers the freshest, highest-quality foods at the best prices,” said Charles Redfield, chief merchandising officer, Walmart U.S. “We believe Plenty is a proven leader in a new era of agriculture, one that offers pesticide-free, peak-flavor produce to shoppers every day of the year. This partnership not only accelerates agricultural innovation, but reinforces our commitment to sustainability, by delivering a new category of fresh that is good for people and the planet.”

To read the full article click here.

Plenty Expands to More Stores in Northern California, Launches Text-a-Farmer Feature

Posted on: March 23rd, 2021 by Kirenaga Partners

Vertical farming company Plenty today announced an expansion to 17 more Safeway stores across Northern California, as well as a new tech feature that lets shoppers text Plenty’s farmers directly.

According to a press release sent to The Spoon, the Northern California expansion is part of the multi-year deal between Plenty and Safeway parent company Albertsons. Through that deal, leafy greens grown in Plenty’s controlled-environment vertical farming facility in the San Francisco Bay Area get shipped to Albertsons stores up and down California. The goal is to eventually get plenty’s produce into more than 430 Albertsons stores, including those under the Safeway and Vons brands.

Simultaneous to this expansion is the launch of what Plenty calls its Text-a-Farmer feature. The tool functions much like its name suggests. A sign in the grocery store’s produce section will display a number users can text questions to. Those questions can be about anything related to Plenty’s produce, from “How should I store my greens?” to “Is your packaging recyclable?” Plenty farmers answer the questions in real time via text with the custom

Read the full article here

Plenty isn’t your normal family farm.

Posted on: January 9th, 2020 by Kirenaga Partners

.@plenty isn't your normal family farm. This is a fully-automated indoor farm uses groundbreaking technology to grow plants vertically and in water. Their aim is to create a farm that's more land and water-efficient. pic.twitter.com/zyRe9bMlF6
— 3rd Hour of TODAY (@3rdHourTODAY) January 9, 2020

Former Twitter CFO Joins Plenty Team

Posted on: March 15th, 2019 by Kirenaga Partners

Mike Gupta, who helped Twitter go public in 2013 as CFO, has joined the Plenty executive team in that role. His previous experience also includes stints at Yahoo, Docker Inc., and Zynga (where he also contributed to IPO efforts.)

Mike has substantial experience guiding young companies through periods of hyper growth. We are excited to see him join the team.

If you would like to read more about Mike and Plenty, then you can find more information in the Bloomberg article linked below.

Full Article

Matt Barnard of Plenty Presents at Davos

Posted on: January 24th, 2019 by Kirenaga Partners

Our friend Matt Barnard, CEO of Plenty, recently got to present his firm’s revolutionary approach to agriculture at the Davos World Economic Forum. Following the successful opening of Plenty’s first two farms, and a third on the way, Matt is working on paving the way for global expansion. Overall, we’re excited to see what comes next for Plenty after getting access to such an influential group of experts.

Finally, you can read a BBC article on the presentation at the link below.

Full Article

Stanford GSB Takes Note of Plenty

Posted on: May 9th, 2018 by Kirenaga Partners

The Stanford Graduate School of Business has published a story covering Plenty and its revolutionary approach to agriculture. It appears the school is proud of past graduate and Plenty CEO Matt Barnard!

If you would like to read the article yourself, then you can find the publication at the link below.

Full Article

WSJ Runs Article Exploring How Masayoshi Son’s SoftBank Makes Its Investments

Posted on: February 27th, 2018 by Kirenaga Partners

SoftBank is arguably the largest tech investor in the world, and the Wall Street Journal has run an article giving a peek at how the fund and its founder, Masayoshi Son, go about choosing its headline-making investments.

As the article describes, and we’ve noted previously, SoftBank made a $200mn investment in Plenty in October 2017. At Kirenaga, we believed in Plenty’s potential back when we became the first institutional investor in the business in 2016, and despite our conviction having only increased, it’s still incredible to see how much the firm has grown over such a short period. We’re delighted to see the Plenty team continuing to get the attention they deserve from other investors and the press alike.

To see the whole story, you can find the full article at the link below.

Full Article

Bloomberg Announces Plenty’s Plan to Build 300 Indoor Farms in China

Posted on: January 22nd, 2018 by Kirenaga Partners

Bloomberg posted an article announcing that our partners at Plenty Inc. plan to use their disruptive Agri-Tech to build 300 indoor farms near major Chinese population hubs to bring produce of unprecedented quality to those metropolitan areas. While Plenty has already experienced explosive growth, we at Kirenaga remain true believers that Plenty has only begun to tap the worldwide opportunity set available to them, and are thrilled to see them taking their first steps into the international market.

You can find the full article at the link below.

Article

Plenty Plans First Full-Scale Operating Farm With Help From $200mn SoftBank Investment

Posted on: October 17th, 2017 by Kirenaga Partners

The New York Times recently published an article covering the direction Masayoshi Son is taking SoftBank’s $100bn Vision Fund. We at Kirenaga were excited to see that SoftBank’s investment in our portfolio company Plenty, Inc. was mentioned. We believe Plenty represents the future of modern agriculture, and are thrilled to see them getting the attention they deserve.

You can find the full New York Times piece at the link below.