FRANCE – Futura Gaïa, a French startup that designs and markets ready-to-use vertical farms, raised €11m in a second funding round.
The round table was composed of historical partners (UI Investissement, Sofilaro, Région Sud Investissement, Caap Création a subsidiary company of Crédit Agricole Alpes Provence, Occipac, Elpis and Alain François Raymond) and of new investors including Banque des Territoires, Abeille Impact Investing France, Colam Impact, InvESS’t PACA and several dozens of private individuals through Sowefund, a participative funding platform.The company intends to use the funds to enhance agronomical and technological R&D capacities along with the installation of a first vertical farm at an industrial scale. Led by Pascal Thomas, co-founder and CEO, Futura Gaïa designs an automated soil-based vertical farming solution, complementary to open field and greenhouse agriculture. This solution meets the needs of pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries by providing both pesticide-free and high-quality locally grown produce.The company built its first indoor farm of 1 900 m² in Tarascon (Bouches-du-Rhône region, France), which includes 50 growing systems and combined advanced agronomical and technological innovations (the rotating geopony uses the Canadian GiGrow cultivation system. The Tarascon experimental farm is currently the most advanced GiGrow technology implementation project in the world).24/02/2023
