A pioneering Tayside vertical farming company has been awarded more than £22.5 million to expand the business worldwide.
Intelligent Growth Solutions (IGS), based at the Crop Research Centre in Invergowrie, is set to deliver the “most advanced indoor farm in the world”.
The company announced a new partnership in the United Arab Emirates to construct a 900,000 square foot at COP28.
This new process will be capable of replacing 1% of food imports to the country.
Now the business has held a successful £22.5m Series C fundraising round.
It was led by existing institutional investors, with COFRA Holding A/G, DC Thomson, and S2G Ventures, supported by Cleveland Avenue LLC, Ospraie Ag Science, and Scottish Enterprise.
Private shareholders and IGS staff also contributed to the fundraiser.
New CEO unveiled
Meanwhile Andrew Lloyd, former deputy chief executive has taken over from David Farquhar as CEO.
Sonya Hotson, who has supported IGS as interim CFO since July, joins the company full time.
Mr Lloyd said: “This year will be transformational for IGS as we prepare to deploy the most advanced indoor farm in the world.
“The scale and scope of the opportunity in the Middle East promises to be market-defining and will begin to make a genuine difference to food security.
“With the backing of our institutional investors and shareholders, we are equipped to deliver this game-changing project.
“I would like to extend my sincere thanks to David Farquhar, under whose visionary leadership IGS has grown from an innovative concept to a world leader in vertical farm technology.
“Working with our institutional investors, Sonya has been instrumental in securing this funding, and I am delighted to confirm her appointment.
“Her experience, alongside the talents of the IGS team and our partners, combine to deliver the essential ingredients for scale-up success.”
IGS holds more than 25 granted patents for its unique vertical farm technology, blending science and agriculture by using smart technology to automatically apply recipes to create the perfect environment for crop growth.
More than 250 crops are currently grown inside an IGS vertical farm.
