South Korea-based agritech startup Green Labs has raised $38.4 million in debt financing from current investors, including global growth investment platform BRV Capital Management and IT-focused Korean investment firm Skylake Incuvest, reported TechCrunch.
The company plans to use the new capital to develop its Farm Morning app and expand its presence in South Korea and Japan.
Green Labs had secured $142 million last year in a Series C funding round led by global growth investment firm BRV Capital Management, with participation from South Korean investor SK Square and early-stage venture capital investor Skylake Capital.
The agritech firm had fired around 70% of its workforce, or 350 people, last month as part of a restructuring. Green Labs currently employs 150 people as the company’s selling, general, and administrative expenses (SG&A) have come down by about 80% compared with year-end 2022, according to Tech Crunch.
Founded in 2017, Green Labs develops a digital agricultural platform for farm management. Its founders Scott Sungwoo Choi, Charlie Sanghoon Shin, and Luke Donghyun Ahn seek to digitise the entire value chain of agriculture space to address the global food supply problem.
The company said more than 500,000 domestic farms use its services through the “Farm Morning Smart Farm” app, which provides data-driven growing recommendations for farmers and supports growth management through precise control of the farm environment.
It also operates “Sinsun Market”, a B2B fresh produce marketplace for over 10,000 enterprise buyers.
The company, headquartered in Seoul, already has a presence in China and Vietnam and plans to expand further to other countries this year. It also plans to partner with local agritech and foodtech players.
Green Labs raised $18 million in its Series B round in January 2021 and $5.8 million in its Series A funding in May 2020.
