Vision Greens, a Welland, Ontario-based vertical farm, announces it has raised $7M. Investors are purpose-driven business leaders, including members of the Canadian grocery segment focused on changing Canada's food system by bringing affordable, sustainably grown, fresh, local produce to market.
"Vision Greens has an edge in this emerging space because it has the technology and the methodology to scale quickly and provide millions of Canadians with an affordable and sustainable way to eat," said Grant Froese, Vision Greens board member, grocery industry veteran, and former COO, Loblaw Companies Limited. With the investment, Vision Greens will expand its operations to grow 700k pounds of saleable produce annually and scale distribution to leading grocers and meal kit companies that currently include Metro, Pusateri's, and Goodfood.
The new funding also enables the fast-growing startup to deliver on its mission to positively impact the way Canadians eat by disrupting Canada's multi-billion dollar lettuce import market. It also puts Vision Greens another step closer to achieving its plan to be the number one consumer choice for lettuce, with the largest market share for locally grown greens in Canada.
"Each year, Canada imports 559M pounds or about $2.2B worth of lettuce from thousands of miles away. This funding is already helping us deliver on our mission to help fix Canada's broken food system and replace imported produce with clean food that's better tasting. Now we can meet increased demand from leading grocers and are on track to capture double-digit market share over the next few years," said Lenny Louis, CEO, Vision Greens, former Tesla Country Director and Microsoft veteran.
Lettuce is among the top 10 fresh vegetables consumed by Canadians, with most coming from Mexico and California. In fact, the average lettuce sold in Canada travels as much as 3,000 km and can take weeks to reach the end consumer.
"Our customers are raving about Vision Greens," said Frank Luchetta, President & CEO, Pusateri's Fine Foods. "We're excited to offer a locally grown product and make significant strides to reduce our dependence on imported produce, offering exceptional freshness and taste and allowing our guests to eat more fresh local food."
For more information:
Vision Greens
www.visiongreens.ca