by Jodie Simm | May 9, 2025 | News
This week, GrowUp Farms submitted our B Impact Assessment as part of the recertification process to remain a Certified B Corporation. A B Corp goes through this process every three years to ensure accountability and continuous improvement.
To explore what this means in practice, we asked our Impact Analyst, Elliot Baird, to share his perspective:
“Being a Benefit Company and a Certified B Corp means we consider the impact of our business decisions on all our stakeholders – not just shareholders. We don’t just think about financial success, we take what’s called the ‘triple bottom line’ approach. This means we evaluate not only our financial performance but our social and environmental impact too.
Before I joined GrowUp, I didn’t know what B Corp was. Now my mum is looking for B Corps on the shelves. For me, it’s about transparency: consumers flicking on the lights and peering through the one-way mirror. How does this business work? How do they treat their people? Are they doing good by the planet? Being a B Corp empowers us as a purpose-driven organisation, and purpose is what gets me out of bed in the morning.”
The B Corp legal commitment matters. It ensures our company exists to have a positive impact on society and the environment, as well as making a profit. Purpose isn’t just about the people in the business today; it’s embedded in the business itself, no matter the changes or competing interests.
by Jodie Simm | Mar 14, 2025 | News
This week, our Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer, Tom Webster, joined a panel at Economist Impact’s 10th Annual Sustainability Week. The discussion brought together leaders from across the food sector, including Jeff Tripician (Creminelli Fine Meats), Sally Smith (Flora Food Group), Roel van Poppel (Olam Food Ingredients), Isaac Berzin (Vaxa Life), and Sara Guaglio (FUL Foods), to explore the biggest challenges in our food system and the innovations that could reshape it.
The panel addressed one central question: how can we build a secure, sustainable food system for a growing global population?
Key insights from the discussion
- The next generation of food: Ensuring security and sustainability will require innovation across the entire system.
- Consumer demand drives change: People’s choices shape the pace and direction of transformation.
- Hybrid production is the future: A mix of traditional farming, vertical farming, and alternative production methods will be needed to feed the world.
- Food is an experience: Beyond sustainability and efficiency, we must protect the cultural and emotional value of food.
- Taste, price, and convenience: These remain the biggest drivers of change, and are essential to winning consumer adoption of new systems.
As Tom highlighted, no single solution can solve food security. Vertical farming is one important piece of the puzzle, but progress will depend on collaboration across the food system.
by Jodie Simm | Mar 10, 2025 | News
At GrowUp Farms, we’re proud to celebrate the incredible people who make our business what it is. This month, two members of our team were recognised at Discovery Park’s Inspirational Women Awards.
Lauren Hibbert was nominated for her outstanding contribution and leadership.
Rixta Sievers was awarded runner-up in the Excellence in Leadership Award category.
Both Lauren and Rixta have played a key role in shaping GrowUp Farms’ culture and growth, and their nominations are a brilliant recognition of the impact they’ve made.
Our HR & Office Manager, Sarah J., represented GrowUp Farms at the Future is Female event, where the awards were announced. She joined an inspiring line-up of women leaders and innovators from across industries.
We’re incredibly proud of our colleagues and grateful for the opportunity to celebrate the achievements of women who are driving positive change, both at GrowUp and across the wider community.
by Becky Hawes | Dec 30, 2024 | News
We’ve got some Unbeleafable good news to share to freshen up your day. Our Unbeleafable zesty baby leaves have just been crowned Top Launch of the Year 2024 in the Fresh Fruit and Veg category by The Grocer! 🌟
This award celebrates the innovation and passion behind our vertically farmed, pesticide-free baby leaves, grown right here in the UK. We couldn’t be prouder to lead the way in shaking up the salad aisle with bold mixes that wave goodbye to sad, bland salad. Our mission is all about bringing innovative, fresh leaves to the produce category, delivering only the best of the
Top Products is a survey of 45 FMCG categories, compiling key data like sales growth, market share, trends, and market developments. It ranks the UK’s top-selling supermarket brands by value and volume across major retailers, online stores, co-ops, off-licenses, and even independents. This award highlights key players in the FMCG field that are bringing something new and exciting to the fresh produce market!
This award celebrates brands in fresh produce bringing something new and innovative to the market! Top Products is a survey of 45 categories within the FMCG market, this compiles data such as… Sales increase, market share, trends and market developments. Ranking the UK’s top-selling supermarket FMCG brands by value and volume. It covers all of the biggest food, drink, and household categories across major retailers, online stores, co-ops, off-licenses, and even independents.
This award comes hot on the heels of our recent Champion of Champions win at The Grocer’s New Product and Packaging Awards last month. 🙌
These wins truly highlight the hard work and passion of our entire team, and we couldn’t thank everyone enough for the incredible support we’ve received from our consumers, supporters, and partners. You inspire us every day to keep growing—pun intended! 🍃
Here’s to another big milestone on our mission to bring fresh, sustainable, and downright delicious produce to plates across the UK. We’re beyond excited to keep pushing the boundaries of fresh produce and sharing more leafy goodness with you all!
by Becky Hawes | Dec 18, 2024 | News
Friday 8th November was one for the books at GrowUp! We had the honour of walking the red carpet of the food world—The Grocer’s New Product & Packaging Awards 2024—and it turned out to be an Unbeleafable night. Our Unbeleafable zesty baby leaves didn’t just win one award… it took home TWO!
Our zesty baby leaves was crowned CHAMPION in the Deli Category. But the excitement didn’t stop there—it also claimed the ultimate title of CHAMPION OF CHAMPIONS, standing out as the best of the best across all categories.
These wins mean so much to us. They celebrate not only an amazing product but the hard work, creativity, and dedication of the entire Unbeleafable team. From harvesting the freshest, tastiest leaves to perfecting that bold zesty flavour that we all know and love. Our team has worked tirelessly to deliver something truly special. Who says salad leaves have to be boring?
A huge thank you to The Grocer for hosting such a brilliant evening, with the brilliant Jamie Laing as host, the night truly was one to remember! It was also an absolute highlight for us to celebrate alongside so many talented brands in the food world. See more on the awards here.
We couldn’t have done this without the support of our amazing customers and partners. Your belief in our purpose to transform the world of fresh produce has been unwavering. This recognition shows just how far we’ve come, and we couldn’t be more grateful!
Moments like these remind us of the importance of why we do what we do. Sustainable, delicious, and innovative food SHOULD be available to all, which is why it’s so important to us to deliver on our purpose: better food for all. Thank you for being part of this incredible journey, for choosing Unbeleafable, and for cheering us on as we continue to grow.
Here’s to many more “Unbeleafable” wins, bold ideas, and moments worth celebrating. Stay tuned!
by Becky Hawes | 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.
