13: Dealcast: Vertical farming grows up

Could tomorrow’s groceries come from a lab? Today’s vertical-farming startups aim to grow food in tightly controlled indoor stacks, solving a host of problems – blight, water wastage and a shortage of land – at once. Leading the way are such firms as the UK’s Intelligent Growth Solutions, Belgium’s Urban Crop Solutions and Italy’s Planet Farms, all of which featured in recent Mergermarket coverage of the space. Their expansion already offers an investment opportunity for venture capital and private equity, and some early pacesetters, such as Finland’s Netled, are eyeing public listings. Mergermarket’s Barbara Pianese joined us to talk about this intersection of grocery retail, tech and agriculture.