Nov 5, 2024 - Business

Vertical farming "unicorn" Bowery to shut down

Dan Primack

Illustration of a pitchfork with money on the end. — Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios

Bowery, a vertical farming startup focused on producing lettuce and other leafy greens, is shutting down, despite having raised more than $700 million in venture capital.

The big picture: This is just the latest vertical farming company to crater, following bankruptcies of AeroFarms and AppHarvest, as consumers proved unwilling to pay high premiums for "cleaner" produce.

Zoom in: Bowery investors included First Round Capital, General Catalyst, Google Ventures, GGV Capital, and Temasek.

Plus Fidelity, which led a $320 million Series C round in mid-2021 at a $2 billion pre-money valuation.
Bowery hasn't had VC firm reps on its board for at least the last couple months, while Fidelity recently wrote down its investment value by more than 99%.

Behind the scenes: Bowery decided in early 2022 to take on $150 million in debt from KKR, even though it was still the ZIRP era of easy equity.

Word is that the debt weighed heavily on Bowery, which shouldn't have needed to forge a relationship with KKR, given that Henry Kravis was one of its Series B investors.
The company has entered into an ABC process managed by Sherwood Partners.

What to watch: What happens with Plenty, a vertical farming company that also was valued at around $2 billion. Expect that call to ultimately be made by lead backer SoftBank.

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Vertical farming "unicorn" Bowery to shut down

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