2. Pure Harvest Smart Farms
$ Total funding: $272 million Technology-enabled agribusiness Founders: Sky Kurtz, Mahmoud Adi, Robert Kupstas Nationality: American, Emirati, American/Lithuanian Investors: IMM Investment, Abu Dhabi Investment Office, ADQ, Franklin Templeton, Sancta Capital, Shorooq Partners, Shuaa, Wafra International Investment Company, Mission 2040, Archer Private Investments, other institutional and individual investors Headquarters: U.A.E. Established in: 2017
Pure Harvest designs, builds and operates controlled environment agriculture technology to produce greenhouse fruits and vegetables, with three farms in the U.A.E. and two projects under development in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait that will increase the area it covers to 18 hectares. It produces a variety of crops, including tomatoes, leafy greens, and strawberries. The startup was jointly founded by three Stanford graduates who met in the U.A.E. The company secured $64.5 million in convertible funding in October 2021, led by South Korea's IMM Investment Corp and eyeing expansions across the GCC, along with Asian countries such as Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines.