Intelligent Growth Solutions announced the fundraising at the COP26 climate conference.

Intelligent Growth Solutions, a Scottish agritech startup focused on indoor vertical farming announced its closure of a £42.2 million (US$57 million) Series B round that was supported by new investors including COFRA, Cleveland Avenue and DC Thomson. Existing institutional investors Ospraie Ag Science, S2G Ventures, AgFunder and Scottish Enterprise, with private shareholders and IGS staff also participated in the round, which was hugely oversubscribed. (tech-eu)

The funding round catapulted IGS as Europe’s second-most best-funded vertical farming startup after Infarm, according to Sifted. Infarm is Europe’s largest vertical farm and has bagged more than $400 million in funding.

Intelligent Growth Solutions (IGS)

The startup does not grow its own produce, instead it supplies a wide range of vertical farming technical solutions to farmers and growers, the pharmaceutical industry, and fragrance manufacturers.

It boasts of customers on four continents across the globe and its sales pipeline has grown 4X over the past year.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon visited the IGS demonstration site at COP26. “It’s fantastic to see a Scottish company at the forefront of innovation in agritech and vertical farming attracting investment from across the world,” she said.

“This investment will enable its next stage of global growth. The success of IGS shows the transition to net zero can create new opportunities for fair work and prosperity.”

Sustainable agritech

IGS’ TCEA (Total Controlled Environment Agriculture) system aims to provide food growers with the ability to have full control over growing conditions, all the while maximising the impact of each crop with a minimal carbon footprint.

“Sustainable, deliverable and scalable food production is fundamental to the future of the planet and its people,” said CEO David Farquhar. “The challenge to deliver this is more important than ever, with the backdrop to this announcement coming at COP 26 and the pivotal actions being agreed here.”

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