UAE-Based Agritech Pure Harvest Raises $64.5 Million in Growth Capital

Pure Harvest Smart Farms, a UAE-based Agritech startup has raised $64.5 million in growth capital from Korean private investment firm IMM investment along with existing investors. At the same time, the startup has also joined a joint partnership with Korean PlanTFarm, a vertical farming solutions provider. The startup plans to channel its new funds into further developing its technology and R&D efforts, growing its team, and supporting its growth across the MENASA region.

Since its founding in 2016 by Sky Kurtz, Mahmoud Adi and Robert Kupstas, Pure Harvest has raised USD 271.6 million in funding for its hydroponic technology used to grow produce in difficult desert climates. Currently the company operates three farms in the UAE with projects being developed in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. It is now recognized as the GCC’s homegrown controlled-environment agriculture (CEA) champion. 

Sky Kurtz, Founder and Chief Executive, commenting on the new achievement, said: “We are delighted to welcome IMM as the latest global institutional investor to fund our mission. This is a landmark financing for Pure Harvest two reasons: first, IMM is one of Asia’s most respected and successful alternative investors, signaling the strength of our investment case; and second, the firm has been a longstanding investor in controlled-environment agriculture (CEA) through serial investments in Farm8 and PlanTFarm, leading Korean agribusiness and vertical farming ventures.”

Along with the funding comes a joint venture partnership with one of the world’s most cutting edge vertical farming solutions providers, PlanTFarm. The partnership allows Pure Harvest to serve as an ‘omnibus’ CEA provider, adding a new growing system to its portfolio of farms and more than 100 commercially proven crops. Upon completing its projects in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, Pure Harvest will operate more than 18 hectares of production capacity and employ more than 300 people.