CEA grower Hippo Harvest’s Series B round nets $21M

Hippo Harvest, a controlled environment agriculture startup, says its Series B funding round recently closed at $21 million.

The company will use the Series B funding to scale its greenhouse operations and expand its product offerings into new categories of leafy greens, according to a news release.

"We're excited by the opportunity to scale our production and reach more consumers with high-quality, sustainable produce," Hippo Harvest CEO Eitan Marder-Eppstein said in the release. "Our team's work over the past 12 months demonstrates our ability to create modular, cost-effective growing systems that can be deployed across the country. We look forward to working with our investors to make it a reality."

Hippo Harvest said its products currently are available at Gus’s Community Markets in the San Francisco area and at Amazon Fresh, and it plans to expand to Northern California.

Founded in 2019, Hippo Harvest operates its repurposed greenhouse in Pescadero, Calif. The company said it uses a closed-loop, nonrecirculating, direct-to-root fertilizer system, machine learning and autonomous mobile robots to calculate and efficiently distribute water, fertilizer, light and heating on a micro-climate basis throughout its greenhouses. 

"Since inception, Hippo has delivered superior produce while maintaining cost efficiencies. Standard invests in companies disrupting traditional industry and we are thrilled to partner with Hippo on its journey to scale," Logan Ashcraft, principal at Standard Investments, said in the release. Hippo Harvest said Ashcraft will join its board of directors.

Hippo Harvest said it signed The Climate Pledge, a commitment co-founded by Amazon and Global Optimism, for businesses to reach net-zero carbon by 2040.

Standard Investments led the Series B round, according to the release, with Congruent Ventures, Amazon's Climate Pledge Fund, Hawthorne Food Ventures and Energy Impact Partners also participating.