Cultivatd Secures $3 Million in Seed Funding
January 6, 2022Cornwall Ontario – Cultivatd has secured a $3 million investment that will help fuel its expansion into the United States, United Arab Emirates, and Australia.
Cultivatd is an indoor farm brokerage that was founded in Cornwall in 2020. The company’s managing partners, Eric Levesque and Eric Bergeron are both industry veterans who have been involved in Agtech for several years. Cultivatd has secured over 40 partnerships with some of the controlled environment agriculture (CEA) industry’s biggest technology providers such as IGS, Elevate Farms, Artechno, Cubic Farms, AmplifiedAg, Netled, RotoGro, and Delta9 in the past year, and intends to continue to expand its roster of partners over the coming year.
“These funds will allow us to service our growing list of clients, partners and projects and will help us get right into the middle of the CEA industry,” says Eric Levesque, Managing Partner and co-founder at Cultivatd. “We did not anticipate the market would be this open to our service offering and we have now raised a seed round and a Series A in the same year to expedite that growth.”
The company currently has over $250 million in active projects in it’s portfolio and expects that number to increase substantially in 2022.
“The industry is growing quickly and more and more people need a better understanding of which technology provider is best for their project,” says Eric Bergeron, the company’s other co-founder and an AgTech industry veteran since 2014. “It’s a massive capital commitment to open a vertical farm and we provide the expertise to help with planning and technology selection on behalf of our partners.”
The most recent round of funding comes in the form of a Series A round of investment of $3 million USD led by Malcolm Bean of Resilient Earth Ventures (REV) Fund, a California-based firm focused on climate smart solutions and food security projects. Mr. Bean will also hold a Board Seat at Cultivatd and assist with strategy and growth.
“This investment is strategic in that it allows our fund access to the projects Cultivatd is brokering, helping speed up the process of their clients completing their vertical farming projects,” says Mr. Bean. “We are very excited to see where this company is headed and to be part of it.”
Cultivatd is primarily a broker of technology but also offers a Farming-as-a-Service program in which the company will manage a farm’s operation for their clients.
“We believe that success in this industry doesn’t just come from having the right technology (which we can help with) but also in having the right people running that technology,” says Mr. Levesque. “Our client’s success is ultimately our business model.”
The company intends to hire a few more staff to fill some major roles but is planning on staying lean – focusing instead on marketing and sponsorship opportunities to grow the brand into the $50 billion dollar vertical farming equipment market.
You can learn more about Cultivatd online at cultivatd.com