Hippo Harvest to scale next-generation greenhouse platform with $21M investment
Hippo Harvest, a controlled environment agriculture startup developing advanced greenhouse systems that produce sustainably grown produce, announced the close of its $21 million Series B funding round. The funding will be used to scale the company's greenhouse operations and to expand its product offerings into new categories of leafy greens.
Founded in 2019, Hippo Harvest operates a first-of-its-kind repurposed greenhouse facility in Pescadero, CA, that out-competes traditional greenhouses in scalability and unit economics and is comparable to traditional outdoor-grown produce prices. The company utilizes a closed-loop, non-recirculating, direct-to-root fertilizer system, machine learning and autonomous mobile robots to calculate and efficiently distribute water, fertilizer, light and heating on a micro-climate basis throughout its greenhouses. The result is significantly more cost and resource efficient production of fresh produce. Consumers and retailers enjoy the superior quality, consistency and food safety of Hippo greens at competitive prices.
"We're excited by the opportunity to scale our production and reach more consumers with high-quality, sustainable produce," said Hippo Harvest CEO Eitan Marder-Eppstein. "Our team's work over the past 12 months demonstrates our ability to create modular, cost-effective growing systems that can be deployed across the country. We look forward to working with our investors to make it a reality."
The funding round was led by Standard Investments, and Congruent Ventures, Amazon's Climate Pledge Fund, Hawthorne Food Ventures and Energy Impact Partners also participated in the round.
"Since inception, Hippo has delivered superior produce while maintaining cost efficiencies. Standard invests in companies disrupting traditional industry and we are thrilled to partner with Hippo on its journey to scale," said Logan Ashcraft, principal at Standard Investments, who joins Hippo's board of directors.
The company signed The Climate Pledge, a commitment co-founded by Amazon and Global Optimism for businesses to reach net-zero carbon by 2040. Today, San Francisco residents can find Hippo Harvest products on the shelf at their local Gus's Community Markets or online at Amazon Fresh with more locations coming soon in Northern California.
