BrightFarms Harvests $55 Million in Series D Financing

Palo Alto – September 21, 2018 – Cooley advised BrightFarms on its $55 million Series D funding round led by Cox Enterprises. Partner Mark Medearis led the team advising BrightFarms.

Existing investors Catalyst Investors, WP Global Partners and NGEN Partners also participated in the round. According to BrightFarms, the financing enables continued rapid national expansion of its network of local and sustainable farms.

The company currently operates facilities in Pennsylvania, Virginia and Illinois, with a farm recently opened in Ohio and a Texas facility planned for early 2019. BrightFarms’ operations use 80 percent less water, 90 percent less land and 95 percent less shipping fuel than long distance, centralized and field-grown suppliers. All BrightFarms produce is pesticide-free and non-GMO.

“Cox is a long-standing, successful investor and operator, with a proven track record across multiple industries, and a longtime leader in corporate sustainability,” said Paul Lightfoot, CEO of BrightFarms, in a news release. “We have a bold vision to change the way Americans get their produce and this round will help us achieve our goals.”

A Cooley client since 2010, BrightFarms grows local produce nationwide. It finances, builds and operates local greenhouse farms in partnership with supermarkets, cities, capital sources and vendors, enabling it to quickly and efficiently eliminate time, distance and costs from the food supply chain.

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