News in brief:
– Plenty has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy despite raising nearly $1 billion, highlighting continued financial struggles in the indoor agriculture sector.
– While others like AeroFarms have rebounded and now dominate the microgreens market, Plenty aims to restructure and continue limited operations.
Vertical farming pioneer Plenty has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, marking another major setback for the indoor agriculture sector. In a press release, the California-based startup confirmed it has secured $20.7 million in debtor-in-possession financing to maintain limited operations during a proposed restructuring process.
Founded in 2014, Plenty gained global attention for its high-tech, sustainable farming methods. The company grows leafy greens and strawberries indoors using vertical stacks and controlled environments, eliminating pesticide use while dramatically reducing water and land usage. Its flagship Compton farm was touted as being able to produce 350 times more food per acre than conventional farms while saving millions of gallons of water annually.
Despite raising nearly $1 billion from prominent investors including SoftBank, Walmart, and Jeff Bezos, Plenty has struggled to achieve profitability. It plans to keep operating its strawberry farm in Virginia and its research and development center in Wyoming during the restructuring.
Plenty’s collapse follows a broader industry downturn. Fellow agtech unicorn Bowery Farming, once valued at $2 billion, was reported to be shutting down in late 2024. Bowery had raised $472 million and developed AI-driven smart farms in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Meanwhile, AeroFarms and AppHarvest filed for bankruptcy in 2023, despite each raising hundreds of millions and pioneering indoor farming technologies.
As the vertical farming industry grapples with economic pressures, scalability challenges, and investor fatigue, Plenty’s downfall underscores the volatility of capital-intensive agtech ventures. Industry experts suggest the sector may need to recalibrate expectations and pursue more cost-efficient models to secure a sustainable future.
Plenty says it remains committed to advancing clean, sustainable farming and aims to emerge from bankruptcy as a leaner, innovation-focused business.
Note that in 2023, AeroFarms emerged from bankruptcy after changing its leaders. It has continued to expand its microgreens availability into retail grocers across the US, including a partnership with Costco. The company announced commercialising its patented vertical farming system in 2025 and now owns over 70% of the retail microgreens market share.
