Iron Ox Closes $53 Million Series C

SAN CARLOS — <a href="https&colon;//ironox&period;com/">Iron Ox</a> announced that it has closed a &dollar;53 million &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Series C” funding round, led by new investor Breakthrough Energy Ventures&period;&NewLine;Iron Ox, which launched autonomous farming in 2018, grows produce in proprietary greenhouses designed from the ground up to mitigate the environmental impacts of agriculture — a data-driven approach backed by plant science, robotics and artificial intelligence&period;&NewLine;The closed-loop system optimizes plant yield, expands growth cycles and maximizes crop quality&period; The result is delicious, nutritious, locally sourced fruits and vegetables that currently cost about the same as produce from conventional farms, with substantially lower environmental impacts&period;&NewLine;&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;World-class investors know that humanity’s most important pursuit is to reverse climate change&period; To get there, we can’t settle for incrementally more sustainable crops — and we can’t ask consumers to compromise on taste, convenience or value,” said Iron Ox CEO and Co-Founder Brandon Alexander&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We are applying technology to minimize the amount of land, water and energy needed to nourish a growing population&period; The team at Iron Ox will not stop until we achieve our long-term mission of making the produce sector carbon negative&period;”&NewLine;Iron Ox’s Series C round is led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures, an investment group backed by many of the world’s top business leaders and dedicated to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050&period;&NewLine;&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Our decision to invest in Iron Ox aligns with our aim to accelerate transitions that can reduce global greenhouse gas emissions,” said Carmichael Roberts, Breakthrough Energy Ventures&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Iron Ox is uniquely positioned to accelerate the shift towards climate-friendly agriculture, while increasing the accessibility and quality of fresh produce&period; It’s the type of solution that’s designed to scale quickly and has the potential to get us one big step closer to net zero&period;”&NewLine;Breakthrough Energy invests in companies that are working to mitigate the devastating impacts of accelerating climate change&period; The investment group supports cutting-edge companies that can significantly reduce emissions from agriculture, buildings, electricity, manufacturing, and transportation at a global scale&period;&NewLine;Since its founding in 2015, Iron Ox has raised &dollar;98 million in venture funding&period; Existing investors include Crosslink Capital, R7 Partners, Pathbreaker Ventures, ENIAC Ventures, Amplify Partners, At One Ventures and Y Combinator&period;&NewLine;Iron Ox grows plants under natural sunlight, leveraging photosynthesis — the 3-billion-year-old process by which plants use energy from the sun to turn atmospheric CO2 into plant biomass, and the most scalable carbon capture technology on Earth&period;&NewLine;Iron Ox generates 30x more produce per acre and uses 90&percnt; less water than field farms&period;&NewLine;Iron Ox operates farms in Northern California, and earlier this year, the startup broke ground on a new 535,000 sq&period; ft&period; indoor farm in Lockhart, TX&period;&NewLine;Consumers can buy Iron Ox food throughout California at Whole Foods, and at other San Francisco Bay Area locations such as Bianchini’s and Mollie Stone’s Markets&period; Sales outside of California are expected to begin later this year with the first harvest from the new Texas facility&period;&NewLine;Iron Ox will use the newest round of investment to expand its research and development programs, accelerate its manufacturing scaleup and expand its operations across the United States&period; The company is recruiting plant scientists, engineers, greenhouse operators and roboticists&period;&NewLine;

Editor