iFarm, Helsinki-based startup, has raised $3.8 million seed round. The round was led by Gagarin Capital with participation from Matrix Capital, Impulse VC, IMI.VC, and some business angels. iFarm has raised a total of $5 million in funding over two rounds, Crunchbase reports.
Founded in 2017 by President of iFarm Alex Lyskovsky and CEO Max Chizhov, the startup is aimed to provide everyone around the world who would like to grow plants with a global customizable platform locally of the needed products regardless of the season. All farms that are built with their technology get connected to a single cloud IT-system that allows them to manage all the growing parameters and distribute orders among production sites.
The startup will use the funding to expand its automated system that uses AI and drones to grow fruits and vegetables in enclosed spaces. To date, iFarm has over 50 on-going projects in Europe and the Middle East. They are creating and developing modern technologies for city farming in order to improve people`s lives and to satisfy the basic right of human beings to consume affordable and quality products.
Max Chizhov, co-founder and CEO of iFarm, said:
“iFarm enables environmentally friendly production with zero carbon footprint delivery due to much shorter transportation time, does not deplete the Earth’s soil resources, and saves water needed for the plants. The new round of investment brings us closer to our goal – we plan to operate 1M m² of vertical farms using iFarm technology around the world and provide technology to grow 500+ crops by 2026.”
