Kent-based supplier of vertically-grown leafy salads was sold before Christmas to a new private equity subsidiary, with new documents revealing company's financial performance Vertical farm GrowUp made losses of almost £4mn in the months before going into administration and consequent acquisition.
In the nine months to September 2025, the company achieved sales of £2.7mn, according to new documents, largely relating to management charges for the provision of services to parent company GrowUp Farms Limited. This resulted in EBITDA losses of £2.8mn and a net loss of £3.7mn for the nine months to September 2025.
The new documents, released on Companies House last week, also reveal the Kent-based business was acquired for £1.85mn in a pre-packaged administration deal by private equity firm Sun Capital. The buyer is a newly incorporated company run by the company's former CEO, Marcus Whately.
GrowUp Farms, which supplied the equivalent of 1,000 acres of produce to major retailers including via its brand Unbeleafable, appointed administrators Interpath on 16 December 2025, when no further capital to build or scale the business was obtained. Administrators said this was down to a challenging investment landscape in Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA). The sale included shareholding interest in the company's farms, as well as associated brand, intellectual property and other assets, to Sycamore Midco 2 Limited, a company newly incorporated by Sun Capital.
Read more at Fresh Produce Journal
