Future Crops, a vertical farming technology company, recently announced the completion of another investment round led by the investment firm Tencent. The company has established a fully automated indoor vertical farm in Westland, Netherlands.

Future Crops is an Israeli-Dutch venture developing advanced vertical farming from technology which uses a soil-like substrate to reproduce the natural environment. The high-tech farm grows fresh, sustainable, and high-quality crops at competitive price points, and is led by a team including researchers from Israel’s Agricultural research Organization (ARO).

Future Crops has raised over $30 million in seed funding from a private equity arm run by the Lerman Family, who are leaders in the American steel industry, in order to finance the construction of their facility and build a team of experts. This is the first time Future Crops has sought investment beyond its initial round of funding.

“We are tremendously excited about this investment,” said Gary Grinspan, CEO and co-founder of Future Crops. “Tencent’s investment reflects the company’s focus on sustainable innovations and support for technologies, like vertical farming, which can create clean, locally grown sustainable food while helping to mitigate the negative impacts of climate change. We believe our soil-substrate-based platform is closer to nature and produces fresh, longer-lasting, higher-quality produce at improved yields, as plants grow best in soil”.

“Tencent supports companies creating solutions to the world’s most critical challenges, including technologies that can feed more people using fewer resources” said Ling Ge, chief European representative, Tencent. “Investments in sustainable agriculture technologies, such as vertical farm systems, aligns with our mission to apply technology for good.”

“The timing of this investment round is perfect for us as Future Crops has recently scaled up to mass production capacity,” Grinspan added. “We’re already supplying fresh high-quality herbs to leading European retailers, both under private label and our own brand. Currently, we market all our produce, so this investment will allow us to expand our capacities to meet demand and continue to increase our R&D capabilities and develop proprietary technology.”