Kalera

Kalera was a vertical farming company based in Orlando, Florida, that grew leafy greens and herbs indoors.⁹¹¹¹⁶ The company went public through a SPAC merger with Agrico Acquisition Corp. in 2022, valuing it at $375 million.¹⁰¹⁴ Kalera filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on April 4, 2023, and later received approval for a liquidating bankruptcy plan.²¹⁶¹⁸

Timeline

Money raised

Kalera raised approximately USD 100 million (NOK 930 million) through a private placement in connection with its listing on Euronext Growth Oslo in October 2020.¹¹ The shares in the October 2020 offering were sold at NOK 30 per share, corresponding to an equity value of NOK 4.83 billion.¹¹ Before going public, Kalera raised $15 million in total equity funding across one round.¹³ In February 2022, Kalera announced a SPAC merger with Agrico Acquisition Corp. that valued the combined entity at $375 million.¹⁰¹⁴ Agrico Acquisition Corp. had $146.6 million cash in trust, which would provide funding to Kalera after the merger.¹⁴ In April 2022, Kalera secured a $30 million credit facility.⁹ In August 2021, Kalera agreed to acquire &ever in a deal worth €130 million ($153 million).⁹ Kalera's operations burned $8.7 million in the first nine months of 2021, with investing cash flow of -$110.0 million for the same period.¹⁴ Kalera closed the September 2021 quarter with $56.2 million in cash and equivalents.¹⁴

Investors named in the sources: Lightrock⁹, Agrico Acquisition Corp.¹⁰¹⁴, Sandton Capital Partners¹⁸.

What happened

Kalera was a technology-driven vertical farming company with unique growing methods combining optimized nutrients and light recipes, precise environmental controls, and clean room standards.¹¹ The company produced safe, highly nutritious, pesticide-free, non-GMO vegetables with consistent high quality and longer shelf life year-round.¹¹ Kalera's high-yield, automated, data-driven hydroponic production facilities were designed for rapid rollout with industry-leading payback times.¹¹ As of October 2020, Kalera had two facilities in Orlando and planned to open new facilities in Atlanta, Houston, and Denver in 2021.¹¹ Kalera intended to use the net proceeds from its private placement to finance construction of new facilities in the US and internationally.¹¹

Kalera claimed to grow fresh, clean, and secure vegetables 300 times more efficiently and with 95 percent less water than traditional farming.¹¹ In August 2021, Kalera agreed to acquire German vertical farming company &ever in a deal worth €130 million ($153 million).⁹ In February 2022, Kalera announced a merger with SPAC Agrico Acquisition Corp. that would value the combined entity at $375 million.¹⁰¹⁴ The SPAC merger was expected to close in Q2 2022 and would result in Kalera becoming a publicly listed company on NASDAQ and delisting from Euronext Growth Oslo.⁹¹⁴ At the time of the SPAC announcement, Kalera had farms operating in Orlando, Atlanta, and Houston, with additional locations under construction in Denver, Seattle, Honolulu, Columbus, and St. Paul.¹⁴

Kalera also operated international farms in Munich and Kuwait, with a third under construction in Singapore.¹⁴ Kalera's stock price had fallen from a 52-week high of $5.99 per share to $0.91 as of its most recent close before the SPAC announcement.¹⁴ Kalera's operations burned $8.7 million in the first nine months of 2021, and its investing cash flow was -$110.0 million for the same period.¹⁴ Kalera posted a net cash change of -$57.2 million in the first three quarters of 2021.¹⁴ Kalera closed the September 2021 quarter with $56.2 million in cash and equivalents.¹⁴

Kalera was actively pursuing different financing alternatives to satisfy its financing requirements for 2022, according to an investor presentation from December 2021.¹⁴ In April 2022, Kalera secured a $30 million credit facility.⁹ In August 2022, Kalera announced its retail store count had grown by 25% in 2022, reaching 1,370 retail stores.⁹ In September 2022, Kalera outlined a new strategy and path to profitability for analysts and investors.⁹ In October 2022, Kalera announced its intention to divest its seed genetics business Vindara and international assets.⁹

In January 2023, Kalera halted production at its Orlando and Atlanta facilities to focus on profitability at other locations.⁸ In February 2023, Kalera offloaded its international business to Dutch indoor agriculture company Growy.⁹ On April 4, 2023, Kalera filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas.²¹⁶ Kalera fired its CEO Jim Leighton around the time of the bankruptcy filing.² Kalera operated its business as a debtor-in-possession after filing for Chapter 11.²

Kalera sought approval from the Bankruptcy Court for a variety of first day motions, including authority to maintain ordinary course operations.¹⁷ In November 2023, Kalera won approval to wind down in bankruptcy and create a liquidating trust for unsecured creditors following a sale of its assets to private equity lender Sandton Capital Partners.¹⁸ Judge Christopher Lopez of the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas said Kalera ran a successful Chapter 11 case and was entitled to wrap up its insolvency proceedings.¹⁸ In March 2025, 80 Acres Farms acquired Kalera's farms in Georgia, Texas, and Colorado.¹ Kalera's Denver farm, opened in 2022, remained in operation as of March 2025, according to 80 Acres.¹

The other two sites acquired by 80 Acres, in Atlanta and Houston, were not specified as operating.¹

Legal outcomes

• filedKalera filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on April 4, 2023, in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas.²¹⁶
• settledKalera received approval for a liquidating bankruptcy plan on November 21, 2023.¹⁸

Sources

1. 80 Acres buys Kalera farms in Georgia, Texas, Colorado, bizjournals.com, Mar 4, 202
2. The Week in AgriFoodTech: Hardee Fresh grabs $56m, Upward Farms shuts down, Wine that tastes like climate change, AgFunderNews, 2023-04-06
5. Five reasons why vertical farming is still the future, despite all the recent business failures, The Conversation, Jan 28, 20
8. Indoor farming operations face bankruptcies, layoffs, closures, Blue Book, 2023-01-27
9. Kalera – Funding, Valuation, Investors, News, Parsers VC
10. The Week in Agrifoodtech: Waterdrop Series B, Kalera SPAC & Oatly ads ban, AgFunderNews, 2022-02-03
11. Kalera admitted to trading, euronext.com
13. Kalera - Multiples.vc - Public Comps and Valuation ..., multiples.vc
14. Vertical farming firm Kalera eyes SPAC deal | TechCrunch, TechCrunch, 2022-02-01
16. Vertical farmer Kalera files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, thepacker.com, Apr 5, 202
17. Kalera Public Limited Company, sec.gov
18. Vertical Farmer Kalera Gets Liquidating Bankruptcy Plan Approved, news.bloomberglaw.com, 2023-11-21

How this case file was put together

Every statement on this page carries a numbered note, and every note points to a court record, a regulatory filing or a named publication in the list of sources. Each statement was checked against the text of the sources it cites before it was published: a figure, a date or a name the cited source does not contain was cut rather than kept. Allegations are shown as allegations, with their status at the time of the source (filed, charged, convicted, pleaded, settled, dismissed or pending). Quoted lessons are the words of the person or publication named with them, copied from the cited source; nothing here is our own opinion of why the company failed.

If a fact on this page is wrong, use "Report an error" below and attach the record that shows the correct fact. Every report is reviewed by a person before anything changes, and a corrected page says when it was last corrected.

All case filesvertical farming