Kalera Public Limited Company, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a leading vertical farming company.
The company utilizes proprietary technology and plant and seed science to sustainably grow local, delicious, nutrient-rich, pesticide-free, non-GMO leafy greens year-round. In contrast to produce that requires costly and extended long-haul supply chains, the company’s leafy greens are delivered within hours of harvesting, always fresh, and maintains a longer shelf life. The company’s h...
Kalera Public Limited Company, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a leading vertical farming company.
The company utilizes proprietary technology and plant and seed science to sustainably grow local, delicious, nutrient-rich, pesticide-free, non-GMO leafy greens year-round. In contrast to produce that requires costly and extended long-haul supply chains, the company’s leafy greens are delivered within hours of harvesting, always fresh, and maintains a longer shelf life. The company’s high-yield, automated, data-driven hydroponic production facilities have been designed for rapid roll-out with attractive unit economics to grow leafy greens faster, cleaner and in a manner that is better for the environment than traditional farming. The company produces lettuce and leafy greens inside controlled environment growing facilities.
The company mainly operates in the lettuce and chicory market. Geographically, the company primarily operates in the United States (U.S.), which is the world’s second largest producer of lettuce with approximately 8.6 billion heads of lettuce produced in 2020 according to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).
The company focuses its product varieties on the leafy and romaine lettuce market and not traditional head (Iceberg) lettuce. The company produces various types of lettuces, baby leaves, microgreens, and other leafy greens and herbs. These products are grown from non-GMO seeds and are marketed as better than organic as traditional organic produce may use small amounts of pesticides. The company’s flagship product is Kalera Krunch, and it also sells other kinds of lettuce, such as Butter Lettuce, Red Oak Leaf, Baby Romaine, and Frisee. The company’s products are excellent sources of several beneficial minerals, such as potassium, calcium, phosphorous, and magnesium and are packed with vitamins A, C, and K, folates, phenols, and antioxidants. The company also grows specialized microgreens from non-GMO seeds. These microgreens are delicate, colorful, and tasty, and include, cilantro, red sorrel, pea shoots and basil.
Regulatory Environment
The company is subject to extensive laws and regulations in the U.S. administered by various federal, state and local government agencies in the United States, such as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Federal Trade Commission (the FTC), the Environmental Protection Agency (the EPA), the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The company is restricted by FDA and USDA from making certain types of claims about its products, including nutrient content claims, health claims, organic claims, and claims regarding the effects of its products on any structure or function of the body, whether express or implied, unless it satisfies certain regulatory requirements.
Intellectual Property Rights
The company’s intellectual property mainly relates to production processes and methods, plant nutrient mixture formulas, custom hardware and software code, as well as its trademarks and is an inherent part of its business strategy. The U.S. Patents and Trademark Office issued a patent on November 24, 2020, for the company’s application Hydroponics Apparatus, System and Method. The German Patent and Trademark Office issued a patent on January 18, 2018, to &ever GmbH titled Climatically Sealed Climate Cell for Cultivating Plants Indoors.
The company (including through its acquisition of &ever GmbH) and Vindara has applications for 16 patent families. The company’s main trademarks are Kalera, HyCube, HyTaste and Pick-to-Plate. The company has 43 granted patents throughout the United States, Europe, Turkey, Hong Kong and Australia. These granted patents will expire between 2036 and 2038. The company also has 10 published patents in the United States, Europe, Canada, China and the Republic of Korea. Further, the company has 38 pending patent applications throughout Europe and Asia.
In addition to Kalera, Inc., the company has four other wholly owned subsidiaries, including Iveron Materials Inc.; Vindara, Inc.; Kalera Real Estate Holdings LLC; and &ever GmbH.
Iveron Materials Inc.
Iveron Materials Inc. is established for the company’s geopolymer concrete business (which is conducted separately from its vertical farming business). As of October 7, 2022, Iveron Materials Inc. held a license to patented technology related to geopolymer concrete.
Vindara, Inc. (Vindara)
On March 10, 2021, the company acquired Vindara, the first company to deliver genetic seed varieties bred exclusively for use in fast growing, high-tech indoor farming and other types of controlled-environment agriculture (CEA) operations. The company utilizes machine learning to breed tailor-made seeds in a compressed timeframe of only 12 to 18 months rather than traditional breeding methods that need five to seven years to achieve similar results. Vindara breeds the seeds entirely through analytics rather than gene-editing or GMOs.
Kalera Real Estate Holdings, LLC
On March 12, 2021, Kalera Real Estate Holdings, LLC completed the acquisition of a property in St. Paul, Minnesota to be converted into a vertical farm. Kalera Real Estate Holdings, LLC will manage all real estate operations separately from the company’s leafy greens production operations.
Kalera GmbH
On October 1, 2021, the company acquired all of the shares in &ever, a global leader in baby leaf indoor farming, for a total consideration reflecting an enterprise value for &ever GmbH. &ever focuses on the highly automated production of baby leaf products, including spinach, arugula and cilantro using proprietary technology and operations, enabling output of various scale from in-store grow-towers to mega-farms. The company’s products include whole head, teen and baby leaf, cut leaf, and microgreens. The company is a worldwide leader in the vertical farming industry with a truly global reach and international brand.
Strategy
The company seeks to expand in certain markets and communities that do not have accessibility to local and fresh produce. The company seeks to achieve its growth plan through five main avenues, namely, such as roll-out in additional US cities; international growth; expansion of business line; expansion of product line; and M&A and partnerships. The company aims to continue its growth plan in domestic markets, as well as in new, international markets. As of June 30, 2022, Kalera had five large-scale facilities in operation and announced five additional large-scale facilities. The company seeks to continue investing in its organization, to support the increased production footprint.
The company’s growth strategy includes the expansion of its product line. The company intends to strengthen its product offerings by improving the formulations for its existing portfolio of products and by creating new products that expand its portfolio. The company is continuously refining its products to improve their color, texture, flavor, firmness and nutritional value. In addition, the company is continually testing new varieties and recipes to enhance all the benefits of its products in addition to bringing a differentiation factor to the sector by growing custom plants that are unique to each customer.
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