SEOUL, South Korea, Oct. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Korean AgriTech startup N.Thing, has raised $21 million in series B fundraising that is up from a $5 million in previous series that is secured $26 million in total. This has been runned as an additional round of series B funding, led by InterVest and Kiwoom Investment where are the follow-on investment from existing investors as well, and new participation from Ascendo Ventures, SL Investment, IGIS Asset Management and KT&G.
N.THING’s CEO & founder Leo Kim(left) and CFO, Chris Lee(right).
InterVest, one of the leading superb startup investors in Korea and now expanding their presence in Southeast Asia globally, led this fundraising as a financial investment party. E1, Korea’s innovative eco-friendly energy & LPG company, joined N.THING as a new strategic investor, which runs a mega ICT, energy and ESG related business fund. And KT&G, the leading tobacco company in South Korea also joined this round expecting to enrich the diversity of the crops and its market abroad. With this raise, N.THING aligned themselves with patient capital to expand their market globally based on their advanced farm solution.
The 7-year-old Seoul based company is one of the frontier of vertical farming, where vegetables are grown without pesticides, pollution and contamination all year round. N.Thing aims to encourage everyone to adopt farming by developing sustainable smart farm products and services. Started in 2014, N.Thing offers ‘CUBE’, a modular container vertical farm and its solution ‘CUBE OS’. In May 2021, N.Thing signed a deal with Sarya Holdings in the United Arab Emirates to construct a $3 million vertical farm within this year.
The Company will use its latest investment to execute its plans for global commercialization of ‘CUBE’ with cultivated crops and portfolio expansion. Near-term milestones include scaling-up the supply chain, growing operations, and expanding its product lines and technology platform both domestically and internationally. The Company is currently working with Emart, the largest retailer in Korea to distribute crops via newly built vertical farm units which will launch within this year in Icheon, Korea.
N.Thing will also collaborate to bolster Abu Dhabi’s long-term focus on food resilience. As a strategic partner to Sarya Holdings, N.Thing will evaluate the establishment of vertical farm clusters in Abu Dhabi to supply its cultivated crops across the UAE and the broader GCC region.
Jinwoo Song, a managing director at InterVest, said, “N.THING bears two key factors of beating the market such as enabling sustainable supply and accessibility to buyers, therefore we expect they can play a key role in shaping this agenda across global markets by innovating the food value chain. We are delighted to partner with them.”
Chris Lee, CFO of N.Thing, added, ” This round was very meaningful for our further growth and global expansion joined by strategic investors including KT&G highly supporting us to jump up to the world-class agri-tech entrepreneur that we had oriented from the beginning.”
N.Thing has recently opened its first smart farm showroom, ‘Sik Mul Sung Dosan’ in Seoul, the premium shop complex space with N.Thing’s flagship product while communicating with customers more closely and sharing the value and essence of the freshness.
“New capital from our current and new investors, and additional support of our long-term investor partners is concise of the critical need for new solutions to our agricultural system. This funding not only fuels our continued expansion but evaluating ESG(Environmental, Social, and Governance), food-miles eventually for digital transformation in agriculture.” said Leo Kim, CEO & founder of N.THING.
About N.THING
Established in January 2014, N.THING is a Seoul-based Agri-Food tech company leading innovation in agricultural products, by extension, in the farm-to-table food value chain by combining IoT technology and data. It developed the world’s first modular vertical farm ‘CUBE’ which is easy to expand. N.THING CUBE is a modularized farm with mass productivity where a dedicated OS provides the most optimized environment for each crop so as to create maximized efficiency. N.THING is the world’s first smart farming company that won the iF Design Award, Architecture in 2020. Also, it is a winner of Best of Innovation at the CES 2020 for its excellence in technology, which is the first ever in the agricultural field. N.THING is planning to expand its business on a large scale this year after it successfully completes the PoC process in the U.A.E.
(website) www.nthing.net
(LinkedIn) https://www.linkedin.com/company/n.thing
About Sarya Holdings
Sarya Holdings is a general trading business of the U.A.E. that owns Smart Acres, an agritech business that launches and operates IoT-based hydroponic vertical farms in tandem with N.THING in the Middle East. It is also a parent company of Sarya General Trading, a food trade company, and Sarya Industries, a chemical manufacturer and distributor. For more information; https://www.sarya.ae
About InterVest
Established in 1999, as a top-tier VC in Korea, Intervest provides a differentiated value proposition to superb startups by providing hands-on management support and a world class globalization platform. Investing globally, gradually expanding its geographical presence from Southeast Asia with currently managing approximately $1 billion assets. For more information; https://www.intervest.co.kr
N.THING footage: link