“Bowery Farming’s Crop Catastrophe: The Fall of an Indoor Farming Unicorn”

Startup Name: Bowery Farming (USA)

—a high-profile indoor farming “unicorn” backed by Natalie Portman, Justin Timberlake, and major venture firms—ceased all operations in November 2024 after raising over $700 million and reaching a peak valuation of $2.3 billion.

Key Reasons for Closure:

• Crop Disease Outbreaks: Bowery suffered major crop losses due to outbreaks of Phytophthora and other pathogens in its controlled-environment farms, undermining production reliability and customer confidence.

• Failed Financing Rounds: The company was unable to raise additional capital or secure a buyer in 2024, despite previously attracting significant investment from top-tier VCs and celebrities.

• Heavy Debt Burden: Bowery took on $150 million in debt from KKR in early 2022 to fund expansion, which became unsustainable as revenue growth faltered and capital markets tightened.

• Client and Retail Losses: As reliability and financial pressures mounted, Bowery lost key retail clients—including major grocery chains like Whole Foods, Amazon Fresh, and Albertsons—further shrinking revenue.

• Industry-Wide Pressures: The broader vertical farming sector faced similar struggles, with high capital and energy costs, labor expenses, and consumer resistance to premium-priced produce. Other major players like AeroFarms and AppHarvest also filed for bankruptcy in the same period.

Operational and Financial Background:

• Bowery was founded in 2015 and became one of the largest U.S. vertical farming companies, supplying leafy greens and herbs to over 2,600 stores.

• The company invested heavily in automation, robotics, and proprietary technology (BoweryOS), but was unable to achieve profitability at scale.

• Multiple rounds of layoffs in 2023 and postponed expansion projects in Georgia and Texas signaled growing distress before the final shutdown.

Summary Table

Bowery’s collapse underscores the immense capital needs, operational risks, and market challenges facing the vertical farming sector, even for its most celebrated and well-funded pioneers.