80 Acres Farms Acquisitions

Drs. Jake Holley & Sean Campbell

In March, Ohio vertical farm grower 80 Acres Farms announced its purchase of Kalera Inc.’s Georgia, Texas and Colorado facilities. Of the three sites, the farm in Denver is the only one currently growing plants. This will change soon, as Mike Zelkind, CEO of 80 Acres Farms, plans to bring the Houston and Atlanta facilities online as fast as possible.

This acquisition not only adds growing capacity to 80 Acres Farms, but also gains customers as the major grocery stores that have partnered with Kalera will transition to 80 Acres Farms.  

Prior to that, 80 Acres Farms announced it had raised an additional $115 million and acquired Plantae Biosciences, an Israeli biotech company specializing in plant breeding technology.

While the influx of the $115 million from this latest round of funding brings the company’s total to over $370 million, in our opinion, the real story here is the acquisition of Plantae Biosciences. Having made headlines for their use of CRISPR gene editing techniques, the spin-off of the Weizmann Institute of Science will allow 80 Acres Farms access to advanced plant breeding technology.