by Grow Up Farms Admin | Jul 29, 2024 | News
Just over two years on from its initial investment in GrowUp, leading sustainable infrastructure investment and operating company, Generate Capital, has shown its faith in our vision and purpose with a further investment of £38 million.
The new funding will help us to expand capacity at our Kent vertical farm, accelerate our leadership of the UK salad category, support the growth of our popular salad brands Unbeleafable and Fresh Leaf Co., drive R&D at the GrowUp Lab site in Cambridge, and increase our influence as a certified B Corp.
It also extends our existing partnership with Generate Capital following an initial financing in 2021 that enabled us as team to prove GrowUp’s energy-efficient growing system and start converting a five-acre brownfield site into the equivalent of 1,000 acres of grade 1 farmland in Kent.
And this cash injection back in 2021 helped us to achieve our vision of being the first vertical farm to supply branded, bagged salads to the country’s largest supermarket chain, Tesco, and to Iceland, SPAR, as well as other major food service customers.
Our CEO Marcus Whately has welcomed the latest round of funding from Generate Capital, a $10 billion sustainable infrastructure investor saying:
“We partnered with Generate Capital because, as a $10 billion sustainable infrastructure investor with a mission to ‘rebuild the world together’, Generate Capital aligns with our ethos. With Generate Capital’s support, we have proved that vertically farmed salads are sustainable, cost competitive, and commercially viable, as well as tasty, healthy and long lasting. Together we can unlock a new salad category and meet growing consumer demand.”
The future looks bright for GrowUp and our best-selling salad brands.
by Grow Up Farms Admin | May 20, 2024 | News
Another week, another win, and this time it was at the Oscars for the sandwich and food to go industry, otherwise known as the Sammies.
Unbeleafable scooped the New Product Award at the glittering and glamourous awards ceremony at the Royal Lancaster Hotel in London. Tom Robb, National Account Manager, and Lisa Harrison-Bell, Head of Marketing, who were both equally glamourous, were there to pick up the award, which recognises development and innovation by suppliers within the industry and looks at both ingredients and packaging/equipment.
It’s such a fantastic boost for our fabulous team that have been working tirelessly on Unbeleafable. It’s the fourth award for the vertically grown salad since its launch in Tesco stores last summer with Unbeleafable rocket and baby leaves being named the Champion brand in The Grocer’s New Product and Packaging Awards 2023 Deli category and also winning the silver award in the Quality Food Awards 2023.
And earlier this year, Unbeleafable rocket and baby leaves were named the best vegan side at the highly sought-after Vegan Food and Living Product Awards 2024.
GrowUp is in the running some more awards later this year, so let’s hope we continue our winning streak!
by Grow Up Farms Admin | May 20, 2024 | News
We are over the moon to share that GrowUp Farms has been recognised by the Sunday Times as being one of the best places to work in the UK for 2024, for the second year in a row!
The Sunday Times Best Places to Work list is like the ultimate validation for companies that know how to keep their employees happy and motivated leading to an Unbeleafably positive work environment.
The newspaper once again partnered with the career development platform, WorkL, to create a comprehensive employee survey to build an in-depth picture of employees’ engagement and wellbeing in the workplace. To make the cut, you’ve got to score at least 70% in overall engagement. And guess what? We smashed it!
We’re delighted to be in the top 200 medium-sized businesses in the UK to snag this honour. And with WorkL checking out 50,000 companies, it’s no mean feat.
Our aim at GrowUp Farms is to nurture, educate and develop our employees to be the best they can be, and to encourage their curiosity and their passion.
Our team is the heart and soul of our operation, and we’re committed to making sure they have the most inspiring, rewarding, and—let’s not forget—fun place to work! 🌟
by Aidan Wogan | Apr 29, 2024 | News
Our wonderful founder, Kate, teamed up with the amazing charity, Institute of Imagination for a fun, educational workshop.
What went down? Well, Kate got to talk about the work we’re doing at GrowUp and answered brilliant, impactful questions from the Institute of Imagination. They dived deep into GrowUp’s ground-breaking sustainable farming methods, and let us tell you, it was anything but your average classroom lesson!
The theme of the event was ‘Save, Make, Reinvent!’ – Kate spilled the tea on sustainability and vertical farming. Her lively chat and passion for her craft sparked imaginations and inspired the next generation. Plus, she gave us the inside scoop on some seriously exciting job opportunities in sustainability.
But it wasn’t just about fun and games – this workshop highlighted the importance of thinking outside the box when it comes to farming. With the world facing some serious climate challenges, innovative techniques like vertical farming are more important than ever. And thanks to Kate’s infectious enthusiasm and endless knowledge, we’re willing to bet there’s a whole bunch of future entrepreneurs out there, ready to make their mark on the world.
by Aidan Wogan | Apr 25, 2024 | News
GrowUp Farms founder Kate Hofman has been named in The Grocer’s top 10 women shaping the future of grocery technology.
Talking about making this impressive top 10 of tech trailblazers, Kate said: “I’m both honoured and excited to be included on this list – and also a good shake-up of my imposter syndrome because I don’t think of myself as a woman in tech!
“I am really starting to take my position as a role-model in business seriously – again, not easy with that imposter syndrome whispering in my ear. And there is always more we can do to improve representation so that any young person with brilliant potential can look at people in positions of authority and power and think “that could be me one day!”
According to Kantar research commissioned by HelloFresh that The Grocer featured in their focus on this top 10, 49% of young women in the HelloFresh survey said that seeing more women in leadership roles would encourage them to enter the sector, and they are inspiring others to join them.
Kate is rubbing shoulders in this top 10 of tech trailblazers with some very impressive women, including: Hannah Gibson, CEO, Ocado Retail; Rachel Higham, chief digital and technology officer, M&S; Suzy McClintock, grocery and retail VP, Deliveroo; Claire Pointon, MD, Just Eat UK; Clodagh Moriarty, chief retail and technology officer, Sainsbury’s; Anne Marie Neatham, chief solutions officer, Ocado Intelligent Automation; Sophie Trueman, UK MD, Too Good To Go, Ursula Lavery, technical & RD director, Moy Park; and Taisiya Merkulova, data and tech e-commerce director – Europe, PepsiCo.
by Aidan Wogan | Apr 25, 2024 | News
GrowUp Farms’ Unbeleafable rocket and baby leaves salad was named the best vegan side at the prestigious Vegan Food and Living Product Awards 2024.
The Unbeleafable range launched in Tesco stores across the UK last summer and the judges at the Vegan Food and Living Product Awards 2024 gave the rocket and baby leaves salad the gold award, describing it as “the perfect combination of fresh, healthy ingredients, innovative farming and sustainable practices”.
This is the third award for Unbeleafable after the rocket and baby leaves were named the Champion brand in The Grocer’s New Product and Packaging Awards 2023 Deli category and they also won the silver award in the Quality Food Awards 2023.
https://unbeleafable.co.uk
