Bowery Farming was founded in 2015 by entrepreneur Irving Fain, who earlier in his career co-founded CrowdTwist, acquired by Oracle Corporation for $100 million.[10] Irving brought on entrepreneurs David Golden and Brian Falther as cofounders.[11] Henry Sztul, joined shortly after as part of the founding team and led the development of the BoweryOS; he now served as the company’s Chief Science Officer.[12] The company raised a total of $472 million from Google Ventures, General Catalyst, GGV Capital and Temasek. Its latest round of funding in 2021 was led by Fidelity Investments.[3] Investors in the company include Lewis Hamilton, Tom Colicchio, Chris Paul, José Andrés, Justin Timberlake, and Natalie Portman.[13][14][15]
In 2021, Bowery opened Farm X, an innovation hub for plant science in Kearny, N.J., to grow crops beyond leafy greens and focusing on seed breeding specifically for indoor farming.[16] The company added a third commercial smart farm in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in 2021.[17]
Bowery Farming's technology relied on automation, sensors, robotics, AI and a proprietary operating system, BoweryOS, that took photos of crops and analyzes data in real time.[20][21][22] The company hired former Samsung Chief Technologist, Injong Rhee, to accelerate the integration of Bowery's proprietary technology across its network of vertical smart farms.[23] In 2022, the company bought farming robotics firm, Traptic, especially for vine crops.[24]
Bowery Farming ceased operations in November 2024, laying off staff at facilities in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland.[25][26] The company faced financial difficulties, probably because of weak demand for its high-priced products and yield losses caused by widespread infection of a plant disease in several facilities.[27][28]
