AeroFarms, a global leader in vertical farming, is becoming a public company.
The Newark-based company announced Friday it has entered into a merger agreement with Spring Valley Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company. Upon closing of the transaction, AeroFarms will become publicly traded on the Nasdaq under the new ticker symbol “ARFM.”
The combined company will be led by David Rosenberg, the CEO of AeroFarms. Rosenberg, who co-founded the company in 2004, explained why the timing was right.
“Our business is at an inflection point where we will scale up our proven operational framework and begin our expansion plans in earnest,” he said. “With the support of Spring Valley, we not only have the capital in place to execute our plan, but also a sponsor who shares the same (environmental, social and corporate governance) philosophies to make a positive impact on the world, while serving the interests of our shareholders.”
Chris Sorrells, CEO of Spring Valley, said his company is eager to join forces.
“Our goal was to partner with an industry-leading, best-in-class, sustainability-focused company, and we are ecstatic to combine forces with AeroFarms, the market leader in vertical farming, to accomplish this vision,” he said. “AeroFarms has a technological edge on the industry, developing a world-class innovation team that has fueled a robust and growing intellectual property portfolio of patents and trade secrets. Moreover, their team has been selling commercial product with major retailers, building a trusted brand that is performing well, and developing influential partnerships that will enhance their ability to scale this business quickly.”
AeroFarms is widely recognized as the world leader in vertical farming. As a certified B-Corporation and public benefit corporation since 2017, AeroFarms is on a mission to grow the best plants possible for the betterment of humanity. Through its innovative growing platform, AeroFarms helps solve issues brought on by macro challenges such as population growth, water scarcity, arable land loss, health consciousness and supply chain risks like the COVID-19 pandemic. AeroFarms has developed patented and award-winning technology in areas such as plant biology, mechanical design, environmental control, data science, operations and plant genetics.
Through the integration of these disciplines, AeroFarms achieves up to 390 times greater productivity per square foot annually versus traditional field farming, while using up to 95% less water and zero pesticides. With over 250 invention disclosures and a vast library of data collected over 15 years of operations, AeroFarms is continually improving its systems to understand plants at unprecedented levels and solve agriculture-related supply chain issues. Today, AeroFarms sells great-tasting leafy greens products under its Dream Greens brand, which is consistently celebrated by top chefs and tastemakers.
Here is how AeroFarms describes its investment highlights:
- Company is revolutionizing agriculture and has been innovating vertical farming for 15 years;
- $1.9 trillion total addressable market opportunity within its core leafy greens market and other adjacencies;
- Proprietary technology and industry leadership with proven innovation and design evolution through five generations of farm models supported by an experienced team and a robust portfolio of over 250 invention disclosures;
- Data science-driven and fully controlled technology platform enables AeroFarms to better understand plants and optimize farms, while improving quality and reducing costs;
- Commercially selling leafy greens with a brand that is already winning at retail, providing customers with a premium product with superior quality, flavor, taste and texture;
- Grown over 550 varieties of produce to date and working with key strategic partners to use its growing platform to address broader problems in agriculture;
- Strong projected financial performance driven by demonstrated farm key performance indicators and an accelerated farm rollout schedule.
