Freight Farms has raised $17.5 million in Series B3 funding to support the growth of its vertical hydroponic container farms.

The company says the funding will support its “mission to empower anyone to grow food anywher through its line of versatile, modular and easy-to-use container farms and farm automation software”. The company works with small business owners, as well as the hospitality, retail and education sectors to develop vertical hydroponic farms in shipping containers.

The round was co-led by fluid management solutions company, Aliaxis SA, and Ospraie Ag Science – an investor in agtech companies and sustainable agriculture solutions. 

Rick Vanzura, CEO of Freight Farms, commented: “These investments from leading agtech investors further reinforce the importance of Freight Farms’ mission to use container farming technology to address systemic challenges within our food and agriculture systems and their repercussions on our environment”.

He continued: “We are honoured to have the continued financial support of Ospraie and a new strategic partner in Aliaxis, both exceptional leaders in sustainable solutions”. 

The funding round will also support personnel growth in key departments such as Freight Farms’ customer experience, engineering and sales and marketing teams.

Eric Olsen, CEO of Aliaxis, said: “By investing in Freight Farms, we are delivering on our Growth with Purpose strategy to help produce affordable, fresh, and locally produced food with much less water”.

He added: “Freight Farms is at the forefront of innovation of vertical farming. This market is growing at more than 25% of compound annual growth rate and is expected to be superior to a $10bn market by 2026.”

Dwight Anderson, CIO of Ospraie Ag Science, said: “We’re very excited to partner with Aliaxis on supporting the future growth of Freight Farms, already one of the leading turn-key production systems and software management platforms in controlled environment agriculture”.