Vertical farming company Plenty has filed for bankruptcy, as announced in a press release on Monday. According to the statement, Plenty has secured a commitment for $20.7 million in debtor-in-possession financing to support its proposed restructuring plan. The company intends to continue operating a strawberry farm in Virginia and a plant science research and development center in Wyoming.
Debtor-in-possession financing is a type of funding available for companies under Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings.
Since its founding in 2014 in South San Francisco, Plenty has amassed nearly $1 billion in funding from investors such as SoftBank Investment Advisors, Walmart, Bezos Expeditions, and Jeff Bezos, who contributed as an angel investor.
PitchBook reports that Plenty’s last known valuation was $1.9 billion during a $400 million Series E fundraising round in January 2022.
The vertical farming industry has faced significant bankruptcies in recent years. In November 2024, Bowery Farming, an agtech unicorn, was reported to be shutting down after raising over $700 million and being valued at $2 billion in 2021. In 2023, companies like AeroFarms and AppHarvest also filed for bankruptcy protection. AeroFarms, which raised more than $300 million, later fully exited bankruptcy protection with full funding in September 2023.
AppHarvest secured over $700 million in funding before going public in 2021 with a valuation of $1 billion and filed for Chapter 11 protection in 2023.
