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The three-year-old old company aims to reduce food insecurity, carbon, fresh water use in food sectors
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A patented system of solar and growth monitoring technologies allows use of salt water for cooling greenhouses, irrigating crops
A Saudi AgTech firm that uses salt water to grow crops has attracted $10 million in venture capital.
The investment in Red Sea Farms, which is based at King Abdullah University for Science & Technology (KAUST) 60 miles north of Jeddah, is one of the sector’s biggest investments to date.
The funding, according to Arab News, is being led by a group of Saudi and UAE investors including the Aramco entrepreneurship arm Wa’ed, the non-profit foundation Future Investment Initiative Institute, KAUST and Global Ventures, a UAE venture capital group, it said in a statement on Monday.
Red Sea Farms was established in 2018 with a vision to reduce food insecurity, carbon and fresh water use in the global and Gulf food sectors. Its system primarily uses salt water, cutting fresh-water consumption by 85 to 90 percent. Through a patented system of new, more efficient solar and growth monitoring technologies, salt water replaces fresh water typically used to cool greenhouses and irrigate crops, it said.
It is initially using its technology to grow and sell tomatoes in Saudi Arabia, but ultimately plans to sell entire turn-key growing systems to buyers around the world. The company intends to use the funding to build and retrofit more than six hectares of commercial farming operations in central and western Saudi Arabia. It currently operates a salt-water pilot greenhouse at the KAUST Research & Technology Park.
“We are proud to have designed, developed and delivered one of the world’s most sustainable agricultural systems from our base in Saudi Arabia,” said Ryan Lefers, Red Sea’s CEO. “The investment from our new partners will help us improve global food security while reducing the carbon and fresh-water footprint.”