The UAE’s Pure Harvest Smart Farms has raised $180.5mn in its biggest ever fundraising, including from prominent Saudi backers, Bloomberg reported on July 1.
The firm has farms in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, is expected to use the increase in funds to grow more produce, including tomatoes and strawberries in controlled environments, to protect them from intense heat and strong weather. The group is also attempting to increase food security for the UAE and Saudi Arabia as global trends continue to point to a weakening supply chain.
Pure Harvest has also raised funds from Britain’s Metric Capital Partners, and South Korea’s IMM Corp, it announced following the funding round. The latest investment brings the total amount raised by Pure Harvest to $387.1mn.
“While climate change is threatening traditional food systems, we’ve seen an opportunity in import-reliant regions experiencing massive population growth to offer a sustainable product, with tangible food security benefits at a new price point,” Pure Harvest founder and Chief Executive Officer Sky Kurtz announced.
The brand is now looking to South East Asia, including Singapore, Korea, Indonesia and Malaysia as areas of potential expansion.
“Eventually we see the business as getting to the stage where an IPO on a major international exchange and potentially a dual listing in the Middle East or Asia, as a way for our investors to get an exit,” Kurtz said to Bloomberg.
The company has four farms operational in the UAE and another in Saudi Arabia, covering an area of 22 hectares. Over the next 18 months, Pure Harvest said it will aim to more than double the area of its lands with expansion to Kuwait.
