Bowery Farming

How it happened

Bowery Farming ran indoor vertical farms it pitched as the future of local produce, reaching a $2.3B valuation in a 2021 round led by Fidelity. Energy costs, capital intensity, a crop pathogen and a failed acquisition overwhelmed the unit economics; it ceased operations in late 2024, with Fidelity writing down its stake by more than 99%. Glassdoor reviews add: employees counted repeated layoff rounds from 2023 on, complaining leadership ran a lettuce business like a tech startup, burning cash with no path to profit. Many described a divide between the New York office and the hourly line workers it called modern farmers — 12-hour cold-room shifts, high turnover — and by 2024 insiders were predicting the shutdown.

Employee accounts paraphrase anonymous, unverified reviews posted publicly on Glassdoor ↗. See our methodology.