AeroFarms ($ARFM), a leading vertical farming company, announced Friday morning that it plans to go public via a merger agreement with a special purpose acquisition vehicle.
The $1.2 billion deal brings together a cutting-edge green company with Wall Street's new favorite financial short-cut to public markets.
David Rosenberg, co-founder and CEO of AeroFarms, said the company founded in 2004 chose now to go the SPAC-route because of the massive potential of vertical farming.
"The customer loves our product, so now it's the right time to take our business model and expand it geographically and utilize our platform to have a bigger and bigger impact in lots of different plants," he told Cheddar.
AeroFarms has relied on partnerships in the past to spread the word about indoor vertical farming — a method that allows growers to layer plants on top of each other in highly-controlled environments. The company has partnered with Singapore Airlines to provide fresh produce for flights between Singapore and New York area airports. AeroFarms is based in Newark, N.J.
Rosenberg said the company's method requires 95 percent less water and zero pesticides using a combination of UV lights and a slurry of targeted nutrients.
"Plants don't need sun. They don't need soil. They need spectrum, and they need nutrients and micronutrients," he said.
Though the company has made its name in leafy greens, which Rosenberg said remain the company's "beachhead," it's since expanded to providing other types of produce, such as strawberries and tomatoes.
He added that the company is also looking into growing medical and therapeutic supplements.
"We're growing a plant to produce a protein to treat highly-symptomatic people with COVID-19," he said.
As for its geographical expansion, the company is breaking ground on two new farms in April: one in Virginia and the other in the United Arab Emirates.
Rosenberg said the Middle East region, in particular, is a perfect fit for AeroFarms, given the lack of arable land.
The SPAC deal is expected to close in the second quarter of 2021 and will begin trading on the Nasdaq.
A big-screen adaptation of the anime “Chainsaw Man” has topped the North American box office, beating a Springsteen biopic and “Black Phone 2.” The movie earned $17.25 million in the U.S. and Canada this weekend. “Black Phone 2” fell to second place with $13 million. Two new releases, the rom-com “Regretting You” and “Springsteen — Deliver Me From Nowhere,” earned $12.85 million and $9.1 million, respectively. “Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc” is based on the manga series about a demon hunter. It's another win for Sony-owned Crunchyroll, which also released a “Demon Slayer” film last month that debuted to a record $70 million.
The Federal Aviation Administration says flights departing for Los Angeles International Airport were halted briefly due to a staffing shortage at a Southern California air traffic facility. The FAA issued a temporary ground stop at one of the world’s busiest airports on Sunday morning soon after U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy predicted that travelers would see more flights delayed as the nation’s air traffic controllers work without pay during the federal government shutdown. The hold on planes taking off for LAX lasted an hour and 45 minutes and didn't appear to cause continued problems. The FAA said staffing shortages also delayed planes headed to Washington, Chicago and Newark, New Jersey on Sunday.
Boeing workers at three Midwest plants where military aircraft and weapons are developed have voted to reject the company’s latest contract offer and to continue a strike that started almost three months ago. The strike by about 3,200 machinists at the plants in the Missouri cities of St. Louis and St. Charles, and in Mascoutah, Illinois, is smaller in scale than a walkout last year by 33,000 Boeing workers who assemble commercial jetliners. The president of the International Association of Machinists says Sunday's outcome shows Boeing hasn't adequately addressed wages and retirement benefits. Boeing says Sunday's vote was close with 51% of union members opposing the revised offer.
