Vertical farming startup Oishii raises $50m for bee-assisted, carbon-neutral strawberry cultivation

Additional investors in the round include Sony Innovation Fund — the corporate venture arm of Japanese tech giant Sony — Tokyo-based AI firm PKSHA Technology , and San Francisco-based VC Social Starts . The capital injection brings Oishii’s total backing to date to $55 million. Unlike most vertical farming startups that are focused on producing leafy greens, Oishii cultivates strawberries using ancient Japanese farming practices.

One of the biggest criticisms of vertical farming has been its seemingly limited application, producing primarily leafy greens and micro herbs. Oishii , which is the Japanese word for delicious, is on a mission to prove that strawberries can be cultivated indoors – and so far, it appears to be winning that battle without the use of pesticides.

It in addition claims that its berries are carbon-neutral. You can pick up the berry on the startup’s website or at Eli’s Market as well as on the menus of a few NYC restaurants.

Its first product, the Omakase Berry, was launched in 2018. The startup describes it as an artisanal variety that provides a unique creamy texture.

Now it’s working on ways to cultivate tomatoes, melons, and peppers in its vertical farming operations. Is this the fastest-growing vertical farming business in the world?

To find out, listen to our podcast here Oishii claims it is also set apart from the competition by its use of bees to take care of pollination inside its vertical estates – though the startup has not brought to light many details about how this process works. Fellow US vertical farming startup Plenty — which is backed by Japan’s SoftBank — is also working on growing strawberries indoors through a partnership with Driscoll’s . The leading berry producer led Plenty’s October 2020 $140 million Series D and is taking an active role in its R&D activities around indoor strawberry cultivation.

Germany’s Infarm has also indicated a move beyond leafy greens to begin growing chilies, mushrooms, and tomatoes vertically . The Berlin-based startup installs growing cabinets in restaurants and supermarkets and in recent weeks unveiled modular ‘growing centers’ that can produce the equivalent of 10,000 square meters of open-field farmland.