Gotham Greens’ Viraj Puri on indoor ag: ‘The future, I believe, is very bright for the sector’

“From the beginning our focus has been on unit economics and trying to make sure each greenhouse is as profitable and efficient as it can be.

By Elaine Watson
Agfunder
Feb 23, 2024

Excerpt:

Amid the recent flood of bankruptcies, layoffs, and grim headlines, the casual observer might be forgiven for thinking that the entire indoor farming segment is on the verge of implosion. The reality, says the cofounder of New York based Gotham Greens, is very different.

“The future, I believe, is very bright for the sector,” says Viraj Puri, who helped introduce many Americans to the concept of hydroponic farming after opening a first of its kind rooftop greenhouse in Greenpoint, Brooklyn in 2011 and has since built a network of 13 climate-controlled facilities across nine states.

“But like any industry that’s going through a nascent stage, there are going to be bumps in the road,” he observes. “There are going to be some business models and companies that succeed and some that unfortunately don’t, so I think we’ll see some consolidation. But overall, this is an industry that’s proven with a clear value proposition.”

Gotham Greens—which operates high-tech ‘horizontal’ greenhouses primarily utilizing sunlight (as opposed to multi-storied vertical farms using artificial lighting)—has raised a cool $440 million since 2009 but has demonstrated it can deploy its investors’ capital efficiently and make money, claims Puri.

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