Ag-tech company that opened eight vertical farms across the UK has appointed administrators after heavy losses and failure to secure more funding
Vertical farming outfit Vertical Future has appointed administrators after failing to secure more funding to continue scaling operations.
The London-based vertical farm and agri-tech company, which had raised over £37 million in capital and opened eight vertical farms across the UK, has been facing widening losses, according to business newspaper City AM.
After reportedly failing to find a buyer on the insolvency marketplace, documents filed with Companies House show administrators KBL Advisory were appointed today (13 August).
In a statement, the company said: ”Vertical Future can confirm that it has engaged advisors to explore strategic options for the business, including a potential sale. Like others in the vertical farming sector, we have faced significant headwinds in a difficult capital environment.”
Vertical Future had made a series of high-profile hires from the city and finance sectors in recent years, but saw losses exceed £10 million in 2024 after failing to scale quickly enough to economise operations.
The news is the latest high profile vertical farming business to go under, following the collapse of the UK’s biggest such operation, Jones Food Company, as well as Eider VF, Agricool and Future Crops Cooperative.
CEO Jamie Burrows previously told the Standard newspaper that the company was not facing the same challenges as rival vertical farming businesses.
“A lot of the bigger [vertical farming] companies that raised ridiculous sums of money were going to encounter difficulties because they didn’t really have the right approach to technology…they tried to scale too quickly with the wrong tech,” he told the Standard in 2023.
