20 Things You Didn’t Know About Infarm
Infarm is a unique business startup in the agriculture industry. The company specializes in developing vertical farms in metropolitan areas. The business is highlighted in Ag-news as a disruptor within the industry that could change the way we raise food for human consumption. Its novel approach is not only newsworthy, but it is also timely for the age that we’re living in. Infarm has achieved high levels of commercial success. It’s doing a lot to improve the health of the planet and the potential for its ag-technology is long-reaching for solving many of the current social and humanitarian issues faced by inhabitants of the planet. If you’re not familiar with the company, here are 20 things you didn’t know about Infarm that are worth hearing.
1. Infarm is a versatile ag company
Crunchbase confirms that Infarm is listed across four industries because of its versatility. It is namely an agricultural-based business that helps to build vertical farms in metropolitan environments. It is an Ag-Tech company that specializes in the use of advanced technology within the ag sciences. it is also listed among companies involved with machine learning and the Internet of Things.
2. Infarm creates modular farms
The vertical farm platform that Infarm creates is based on modular components that maximize the use of space for farming in cities. It helps identify spaces within urban environments where fresh produce can be grown for the inhabitants of the city. The company builds the farm components with efficient vertical models, then distributes them throughout the cities using IoT and Machine Learning technologies to provide alternative food production systems. These farms are also called smart modular farms.
3. Infarm has been around a while
They found infarm in 2013. It’s not a new company, but many have not yet heard about it. The headquarters for Infarm is in Berlin, Germany. It’s a European business that many people in North America have yet to hear about. However, the fame of this innovative approach is being discussed throughout the world in Ag classes.
4. Infarm’s website uses a complex array of technologies
Visiting the Infarm website is informational if you want to learn more about the products and services it has to offer. The website runs smoothly and seamlessly thanks to the complicated assortment of technologies that power the site. Infarm’s website actively uses a total of 56 technologies. They distributed these technologies across 21 technology products and services. Some of them include SPF, Viewport Meta, iPhone Mobile Compatible, HTML5, jQuery, Google Analytics, and others.
5. Infarm maintains uniqueness in the Ág community
Infarm has little competition for the products and services it offers. It’s an ag-tech company that holds its own against rival companies. The company has secured two registered trademarks that help it stand out among the competition. The trademarks are in the agricultural products and live-animal category. Other companies can not copy or imitate the intellectual property they represent. It’s just one thing that makes them different.
6. Infarm is gaining popularity
According to the Google Analytics reports for the Infarm website, the average number of monthly visits to the website is 59,630. This number gives it a ranking of 476,271 of the millions of websites registered on the world wide web. The data is collected every month. Although the volume of web traffic is down by 39.39 percent over the past thirty days, that is to be expected for the wintertime of year. Interest seems to be the highest in early spring.
7. Infarm is the most popular in Switzerland
Although Infarm’s headquarters are in Berlin, Germany, the highest percentage of visitors to the website come from Switzerland. Forty-nine percent of the web traffic comes from people living in this country. The growth rate for monthly visits from Switzerland is an astronomical 614.21 percent over the past 30 days. Twenty-eight percent of the web traffic is from Germany with a monthly visits growth of 75.8 percent. Ten percent is from Canada with a monthly growth rate of 656.01 percent. Four percent of visitors are from France and three percent are from Italy with a monthly visits growth of 1,067.41 percent.
8. The executive leadership team of Infarm is comprised of 8 members
There are 8 members on the executive leadership team at Infarm. Guy Galonska is a founder and chief technology officer. Erez Galonska is a founder and chief executive officer. Martin Weber is the chief financial officer. Daniel Kats is the vice president of corporate sales. Kobi Marenko is an investor. Christian Musfiedlt is general counsel. Osnat Michaeli is a co-founder and CMO. Keith Teare is a senior vice president and head of corporate development.
9. Infarm’s board of directors has two members
There are two members on the board of directors for Infarm. These board members provide advisement and support for strategic and financial planning for the company. Christian Meermann is a founding partner for Cherry Ventures. He has founded one organization and he currently serves on two boards of directors in advisory roles. The other member of the Infarm board of directors is Hiro Tamura. He is a partner at Atomico and has founded one organization. Mr. Tamura currently serves on eight boards of directors where he serves in advisory roles.
10. Infarm is a venture capital-funded organization
Infarm has participated in ten rounds of venture capital fundraising. The most recent round of fundraising closed on December 16, 2021, as a Series D round. It is considered a late-stage VC company with a total amount of $604.5 million raised through its investors.
11. Investor confidence is high in Infarm
Infarm has been successful in attracting and securing investments from a total of 22 investors. Bonnier Ventures and Hanaco Venture Capital are the most recent companies to join in the fundraising efforts. They are joined by Atomico, Lightrock, Partners in Equity, Qatar Investment Authority, also a lead investor, Mansoor Ebrahim Al-Mahmoud, Hanako Venture Capital, and several others. We see that these investors believe in Infarm’s high potential for success. This provides each of the investors with a healthy return on the investments made in the company. Any time you see nearly two dozen investors jumping on the bandwagon, you know that it’s a company that has a solid outlook on its financials for the future.
12. Infarm is developing new partnerships with retailers
According to Techcrunch, Infarm is signing agreements with retailers to accept the produce that is grown on the vertical farms they’ve established. Some of the current contracts in place are with Safeway, Thrifty Foods, Albert Heijn, Aldi Sud, COOP/Irma, Empire Company’s Sobeys, Inokuniya, Marks & Spencer, Kroger, and Marks & Spencer, along with Selfridges. They’re continuing to sign new partners as their operations continue to expand throughout the world.
13. Infarm operates internationally
The startup that is based in Berlin, Germany, has expanded its operations in ten countries throughout the world so far. They have vertical farms set up and operations in 30 cities in various countries. You can find Infarm’s products in the United Kingdom, in the United States, Japan, Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands, Switzerland, France, and Italy.
14. Infarm offers solutions for lack of farming space
Infarm was developed to address the growing problem of little farm space left to grow crops in some areas. With world populations growing, there is less ground available and more people to feed. Their solution to creating vertical farms that maximize space and grow more crops in smaller areas is nothing short of brilliant. They established farms in major cities. The farms don’t take up much ground. Instead, the farming units use 99.5 percent less pace because it’s a practice that does not rely on soil to grow crops. The farms are indoors and housed in any available space because they can stack the plants up to use space, according to the company’s official website.
15. Infarm is good for the environment
Infarm operations use less space, but they also use far less water. They are so efficient that the practices use 95 percent less water than traditional farming in soil. They also use electricity from renewable sources. Infarm’s goal is to achieve zero-emission in the production of its crops within a year, and it is coming close to meeting that goal now. Infarm’s farming practices are healthier for the environment. The food is also healthier for consumers because they grow it with zero chemical pesticides.
16. Infarm raises over 65 produce products
You may wonder what kind of vegetables Infarm farms produce. We learned that they have a catalog that includes more than 65 types of produce. Among them are leafy green vegetables such as lettuces, many hers such as Red Veined Sorrel, Wasabi Rucola, mint, basil, coriander, mushrooms, various root vegetables, and multiple types of superfoods and flowering plants. The leadership at Infarm has confirmed that this catalog signals the beginning of a massive list that will expand in time.
17. They placed Infarm farms within consumer reach
The strategy for the location of Infarm operations is intentional. The founders explain that they have set these indoor vertical farming systems up in convenient locations where consumers can go in and pick the products they desire for themselves. They’re also placing the farms in shopping malls, near schools, in grocery stores, restaurants and they’re also placing them in local distribution centers. It’s the guaranteed freshest produce you can buy commercially.
18. Infarm’s operations are scalable
Another benefit of the Infarm platform for vertical farming is that there is no end to the scalability of each farm. Since they function as stackable modules, participants can continue to add new modules to their existing farms. Any available space can become maxed out as the demand for the produce grown increases. Vertical farming helps farms grow amounts per the need or demand they have without generating waste.
19. Infarm uses advanced Ág-technology to power its farms
The vertical farming system relies on a central control center to monitor the environment for each farm. Precision farming doesn’t get any better or more efficient. It’s all data-driven and uses the Internet of Things, cloud, and Big Data technologies to provide this Farming-as-a-Service for partners. The former inefficiencies of soil-based farming are done away with. The same is true for the waste of produce, water, energy, and other resources.
20. Infarm has the potential to solve more of the world’s problems
Infarm has already come a long way in helping to preserve the fragile environment of the planet through cleaner and more efficient farming practices. This is just the beginning. Each unit comes with its ecosystem, and the environment required for each plant to thrive is precision. The company has established a formula for supplying the exact amount of light, water, and nutrition to produce the best and healthiest products on the planet today. The system monitors pH balance, temperature, light spectrums, and many other tiny details that can make a difference in plant health. Besides producing robust and healthy foods, the operations are affordable to run. Operating costs are low for these modular farms. They have the potential to provide hope and optimism for countries where there is not enough food for the starving populations living in poverty. They can place the modules in desolate regions where food supplies and water are low without taxing an already stressed environment. Locals can enjoy healthy foods that will keep them fed with nutritious foods that improve the health and happiness of these communities. It’s a system that humanitarian aid companies can use to create feeding stations for people living in poverty-stricken regions. The potential applications for good are immense. Infarm is delivering the technology that could make the world a better place to live in the years to come.