Bowery Farming
Agritech/vertical farmingUSA
New to Unitard
💀 Dead / Bankrupt
Peak $2.3 BillionToday
~-99%
from peak
- 🦄Became a unicorn2018
- 📈Peak valuation$2.3 Billion ’21
- 💔Became a UnitardNov 2024
- 💸Last valuationWiped out
🔥 Raised & burned
$700M
Total raised
$204K/day
Burned · 9.4y alive
Funding: TechCrunch/Axios/PitchBook
Current status
Ceased operations (late 2024)
The rise & fall
6 moments · 2015–2024The key moments, with employee sentiment along the way.
2015
2015
Founded by Irving Fain
The pitch: "modern farming" — pesticide-free greens grown in indoor vertical farms next door to the cities that eat them.
TechCrunch
2018
2018
Joins the unicorn club
Investors bet warehouse farms can beat the field on freshness and logistics.
TechCrunch
May 2021
May 2021
The peak: Fidelity leads at $2.3B$2.3B
A Fidelity-led round crowns Bowery as vertical farming's best-funded startup, on its way to ~$700M raised in total.
Axios
2022–24
2022–24
The economics wilt
Energy costs, capital intensity, a crop pathogen and a failed acquisition overwhelm the unit economics of indoor lettuce.
TechCrunch
2023–24
From the inside · Glassdoor reviews, 2023–24
Employees counted repeated layoff rounds from 2023 on, and Glassdoor reviews described a lettuce business run like a tech startup — cash burned with no path to profit — plus a widening divide between the New York office and the hourly "modern farmers" working 12-hour cold-room shifts. By 2024, insiders were openly predicting the shutdown.
Nov 2024
Nov 2024
Shuts down — joins the Unitard Club 💔
A wind-down ends operations late in 2024; Fidelity writes its stake down by more than 99%.
TechCrunch
$2.28Bof peak value erased · 9 years
💬 entries paraphrase anonymous, unverified reviews posted publicly on Glassdoor ↗; dated facts carry their source.
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%.
Source: Fidelity wrote down stake >99%
