USA – Little Leaf Farms, a Devens, MA-based provider of packaged lettuce, raised $300M in funding.
The round was led by led by The Rise Fund, TPG’s multi-sector global impact investing strategy, with debt funding from Bank of America. As part of this transaction, Maya Chorengel, Co-Managing Partner of The Rise Funds, will join Little Leaf Farms’ Board of Directors.The company intends to use the funds to support growth and expansion of farms and distribution, making its local lettuces accessible to more than half of the country’s population by 2026.Led by CEO Paul Sellew, Little Leaf Farms is a brand of packaged lettuce sustainably grown through controlled environment agriculture (CEA) uses advanced greenhouse technologies to grow fresh, sustainably farmed lettuce 365 days a year. The company utilizes captured rainwater, natural sunlight that shines through high transmission glass, and solar-powered energy in their precise, soil-less hydroponic farming. The baby greens are harvested without ever touching human hands and are never treated with chemical pesticides, herbicides, or fungicides.Little Leaf Farms’ new hydroponic greenhouse will open in July on 180 acres in McAdoo, Pennsylvania. This is the fourth greenhouse for Little Leaf Farms and will expand the brand’s distribution of fresh lettuce – all free of harmful pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides – throughout the Northeast. The farm will increase the brand’s retail presence by 50%, with products available in more than 3,500 grocery stores. The new greenhouse will integrate Little Leaf Farms’ technology, including energy efficiencies across heating, cooling, lighting, advanced data analytics and hands-free automated grow systems. Little Leaf Farms employs hydroponic production for its lettuce that is grown under glass and uses captured rainwater, natural sunlight, up to 90% less water than field-grown greens and solar panels to generate electricity.The brand plans to open several more greenhouses in both Pennsylvania and North Carolina to serve its customer base. 16/06/2022
