How Plenty is Using Vertical Farms to Bring Produce to Compton’s Food Desert

Samson Amore

Samson Amore is a reporter for dot.LA. He holds a degree in journalism from Emerson College. Send tips or pitches to samsonamore@dot.la and find him on Twitter @Samsonamore.

How Plenty is Using Vertical Farms to Bring Produce to Compton’s Food Desert
Plenty Farms via Samson Amore

In the middle of downtown Compton, California, fresh produce is scarce. According to the Compton Chamber of Commerce, the city is both a food desert and also a food swamp.

Drive through Alameda St. or Rosecrans Ave., and you’ll notice that grocery chains are sparse but fast food joints are numerous: Jack in the Box, McDonald’s, Popeye’s, IHOP. With the exception of a Walmart Supercenter off Long Beach Blvd., I couldn’t identify anywhere else to get fresh produce, unless it was a small, local corner store.


Agricultural tech startup Plenty, co-founded in 2014 in San Francisco by chief science officer Nate Storey, aims to help the city of Compton access healthier food by installing complex indoor vertical farms in warehouses and industrial areas that otherwise don’t have farming land.

Plenty’s intricate vertical farming operation in Compton opened May 18. It’s the company’s second farm after a test facility in San Francisco and the largest yet—the farm produces roughly 20 times the output of the Bay Area facility, according to Plenty spokesperson Erin Santy. Once it’s running at full capacity, Plenty’s indoor Compton farm is expected to produce 4.5 million pounds of food per year on about 1% of the land a regular terrestrial farm would need.

Plenty Farms

Plenty’s connections with local grocers

The Plenty farm I toured in Compton was nearly 100,000 square feet and home to roughly 80 full-time employees — 30% of whom are local hires. And, unlike seasonal agriculture work, these locals can work at Plenty’s indoor farm year-round.

Right now the Compton farm only grows leafy greens (baby kale, baby arugula, crispy lettuce, spinach) with plans to expand to crops people want to eat year-round regardless of growing seasons. “Greens are pretty simple from a lifecycle standpoint,” Storey explained. “They’re relatively inexpensive to grow, there’s not a whole lot of risk because they grow really fast.”

Storey said that Plenty is working with local grocers in Compton plus big-name brands like Bristol Farms and Amazon’s Whole Foods to distribute its produce to their neighboring stores. It also recently inked a deal to sell its vertically farmed greens directly to Walmart.

Right now, Plenty’s produce retails at health food stores for about the same price as other organics but Storey said he hopes to see that price drop so more people can afford it. “Over the next couple of years, it's going to become cheaper to build our farms, and it will be [cheaper] to buy the land that can produce the same amount of food… and cheaper if you compare on quality,” Storey said.

How the robot-powered farm works

Walking into Plenty’s Compton farm, I passed by a chute pushing composted produce out into a bin in the parking lot. From the outside I caught a whiff of an overpowering smell of fresh spinach and lettuce, which somehow still smelled fresh despite sitting in the beating sun. The entire air around Plenty’s farm seemed to me to carry the scent of arugula.

Before touring the hydroponic farm, which is a large series of maze-like rooms filled with heavy machinery, I readied myself in what felt like a hazmat suit getup: Hair and beard nets, hard hat, goggles, coveralls, shoe coverings and plastic bags over them. Santy directed me to thoroughly sanitize my hands before we entered the facility – removing any lingering germs helps negate the need for pesticides.

Unlike other farming outfits which usually stack horizontal shelves of seedlings, Plenty uses metal pylons about two stories high to grow its greens vertically. Plant roots run down the long hollow center of the towers and the nutrient-rich water they produce runs off into a trough below to be recycled. Storey told me that Plenty uses about 90% less water than field-based growers—a clear advantage for Plenty, since it operates in a drought-stricken state and the Colorado River, California’s main source of water for agricultural operations as well as in other western states, is drying up.

When Plenty’s greens are ready to harvest, a huge bright yellow robotic arm brings the towers down from their hanging places on the ceiling, and harvests the greens to be packed.

Plenty’s indoor LED lights are staggeringly bright, and designed to mimic the sun’s peak output, around the clock. “The big problem in these farms is energy,” Storey said. “Plants will use a lot more energy than we give them, so if we give them more energy per plant, we’ll get twice the growth rate.”

But the lights aren’t even the most high-tech part of the facility. Most of the processes at Plenty’s plant, from planting seeds to watering them, cleaning, harvesting and packing them, are all done by robots with trained human operators wearing earplugs standing by to oversee the processes every step of the way..

Most of the robots Plenty uses were bought off the shelf rather than customized, Storey said. All of Plenty’s robots are made by Fanuc, a Michigan-based supplier. During my tour, Santy pointed out that Plenty’s engineers had developed special tweezer-like pincers as “fingers” for some robots tasked with sorting through produce. The size of these bots varies immensely from smaller mechanisms used to feed seeds into small trays and pack them down, to large armlike robots that move the large vertical farming towers with greens around the facility and harvest them.

“The ideal for us is to be able to buy things off the shelf, because it's cheaper and it's easier if someone else is responsible for the design and manufacturing,” Storey told me. “The vertical plane architecture is fundamental to who we are as a business because we can put way more energy and light into the system.”

Storey likened Plenty’s footprint to a soccer field: The goal box of the field would be how much land Plenty uses to produce the same amount of food as the rest of a typical farm’s land.

Samson Amore

The challenges of vertical farming

Even though Plenty recycles much of its water, the electric bill isn’t cheap. Storey said he thinks the overall agricultural industry has to invest more in tech to bring prices of equipment down.

“A major challenge for the industry is, they just expected to ride all of the gains from other industries, like LEDs. They haven't done enough internal investment, to kind of work out the ideal economics,” Storey said. This cost curve is steep especially as global energy prices continue to rise. “The amount of money that it takes to stand up farms is high enough that it's going to select for a few large businesses, rather than lots of teeny tiny competitors all over the place,” said Storey.“It's an awfully tough business.”

Plenty has raised roughly $1 billion to date, Storey said. Funding came from investors including SoftBank, Walmart, and One Madison Group. Most recently, Plenty raised a $400 million Series E round last January.

Storey said he aims to transition Plenty’s operations to renewable energy once it’s cost-effective. “Energy is becoming more sustainable at a pace that no one expected,” he noted. “We're betting on a future that's much more renewable than it is today when it comes to electrical power… We’re super concerned about power, it’s a major part of our costs.”

There’s indications that the vertical farming market is on the rise. Grand View Research reported last year that the global vertical farming industry is expected to grow more than 25% to $33 billion by 2030. And farms like Plenty’s are leading the charge, a separate study estimated North American operations make up 35% of vertical farming done today.

How the produce tastes

Being grown in a clean environment means no pesticides, so the greens could be eaten without washing and were both tastier and crisper than anything I’ve ever found at a grocery store. Those I took home lasted about a week.

I’m no professional food reviewer, and I’m also not typically one to eat greens on their own. But the sheer density of taste (and smell!) packed into a small leaf of arugula from Plenty’s farm was remarkable. I found myself eating handfuls of it raw. And as someone who’s usually a fan of dressing, I must add that Plenty’s produce really didn’t need it – a splash of lemon juice and a bit of fresh black pepper, if I was feeling spicy, was sufficient.

According to Storey, arid areas like southwestern deserts can especially benefit from farming indoors. “The world is entering a phase where the fields will become less dependable,” he said. “People will have less reliable access to fresh produce, in particular [as] fresh water is more scarce.”

Which is why Plenty is ambitiously expanding. It recently made a deal with real estate firm Realty Income for up to $1 billion in financing to build more facilities. The first investment from the investment will be $40 million dedicated to securing land and building the infrastructure for Plenty’s planned third operation, a strawberry farm that’s a joint venture with Driscoll’s and will open in Virginia in 2024.

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The $260M Robot Revolution Happening in Torrance

🔦 Spotlight

Hello Los Angeles,

Forget rockets. This week, the loudest move in the defense tech scene came from a factory floor in Torrance, where Hadrian secured $260 million to fuel its robot-run revolution.

The company, which builds AI-powered, robot-run factories for America’s aerospace and defense industries, announced the massive Series C raise, led by existing investors like Lux Capital and Founders Fund, along with a factory expansion loan facility arranged by Morgan Stanley. The funding will power Hadrian’s third factory (in Arizona), unlock full product manufacturing, and accelerate its mission to bring American manufacturing roaring back faster, smarter, and more automated than ever.

And here’s what makes them fascinating: Hadrian isn’t just churning out parts. They’re reinventing what a factory is. Their facilities look more like giant humming circuit boards than the smokestacks of old, packed with robots, AI, and ambition to move at the speed of software.

It’s the kind of vision you’d expect from a founder who speaks about reshoring U.S. manufacturing as if it were a moral obligation and then backs it up with billion-dollar contracts and steel-and-silicon proof.

We’ll be watching closely to see what Hadrian assembles next. One thing’s certain: the robots are already working overtime, and if you’re smart (or a robot whisperer), you might want to join them.

🤝 Venture Deals

LA Companies

  • Boulevard, a SaaS startup that helps salons and self-care businesses manage scheduling and operations, has raised an $80M Series D led by JMI Equity at a valuation near $800M. The funding will fuel enhancements to its AI-powered scheduling tools and support continued product innovation and market expansion. - learn more
  • Rwazi has raised $12M in Series A funding to expand its AI-powered decision-making platform, which helps businesses replace gut-based decisions with real-time insights and simulations based on consumer behavior. The round was led by Bonfire Ventures and will support the growth of Rwazi’s simulation engine and data infrastructure to help companies make more precise, data-driven decisions across marketing, product, and operations. - learn more
  • Lexington Bakes, an artisan bakery known for its gluten-free, organic oat bars and luxury brownies, has raised $1M in a seed round. The investment was led by Rainfall Ventures. The funding will help the company transition to co-manufacturing, expand its retail reach from about 100 to a projected 1,000 doors in the next year, and scale up its team and operations. - learn more

LA Venture Funds

  • TCG (The Chernin Group) participated in Substack’s latest $100M funding round, joining Andreessen Horowitz, and other investors. Their investment underscores confidence in Substack’s vision to grow its subscription publishing platform and expand its tools for independent writers and creators. - learn more
  • Acre Venture Partners participated in Zucca’s $5M funding round to help the Seattle startup scale its platform, which uses AI to design and develop plant-based food products faster and more efficiently. Their investment will support Zucca’s mission to create sustainable, health-focused foods and expand its operations. - learn more
  • Sound Ventures joined XMTP’s $80M Series B to back its vision of redefining how people communicate in the web3 world. With this funding, XMTP plans to scale its decentralized, privacy-focused messaging protocol, enabling secure, wallet-to-wallet conversations across the blockchain ecosystem. - learn more
  • Morpheus Ventures and Sage Venture Partners participated in Datavations’ $17M Series A funding round, with Morpheus joining as a new investor and Sage returning as an existing backer. Datavations, an AI-driven analytics platform for the building materials and home improvement industries, uses machine learning to deliver actionable insights on pricing, inventory, assortment, and supply chains. The funds will be used to grow the team, accelerate development of its Commerce Alert Hub, and expand its presence across North America. - learn more
  • Mucker Capital led the $3.3M seed round for Bidbus, an AI-powered consumer-to-dealer used car marketplace in the U.S. The platform enables car owners to auction their vehicles online and receive competing offers from dealers, while dealers gain access to high-quality inventory more efficiently. The funding will help Bidbus enhance its AI capabilities and expand into new markets. - learn more
  • Creative Artists Agency (CAA) participated as a strategic investor in Moonvalley’s $84M funding round, signaling strong industry confidence in the company’s development of a fully licensed, AI-powered video generation platform tailored for professional filmmakers and studios. CAA’s investment reinforces Moonvalley’s commitment to ethical AI practices and provides it with a direct pipeline to top-tier creative talent and entertainment partners. - learn more
  • MANTIS Venture Capital joined Zip Security’s $13.5M Series A funding round, backing the company's mission to deliver automated, AI-driven cybersecurity and compliance solutions. Their participation supports Zip’s efforts to expand its engineering team, build deeper platform integrations, and scale into regulated industry verticals like defense, finance, and healthcare. - learn more
  • Rebel Fund participated in Apolink’s oversubscribed $4.3M seed round, joining other notable backers such as Y Combinator and 468 Capital. By investing in this 19‑year‑old–led space tech startup, Rebel Fund is supporting Apolink’s mission to deliver continuous LEO satellite connectivity and facilitate its planned demo missions and constellation build‑out. - learn more

    LA Exits
    • Retina AI is to be acquired by Onar in a deal that will enhance Onar’s AI-powered customer analytics and personalization offerings. By integrating Retina’s predictive customer lifetime value technology, Onar aims to provide businesses with deeper insights into customer behavior and more precise targeting. The acquisition highlights Onar’s commitment to delivering data-driven solutions for optimizing customer relationships. - learn more
    • Nearsure, a U.S.-based tech services company with over 600 professionals across 18 Latin American countries, has been acquired by Nortal to bolster its AI and enterprise solutions in the Americas. Known for its AI-driven transformation, custom software, and partnerships with major platforms, Nearsure will merge into Nortal’s U.S. operations and rebrand later this year. The acquisition allows Nearsure to expand into U.S. and European markets while enhancing its AI, cybersecurity, and enterprise offerings. - learn more
    • InsideOut Sports & Entertainment, the event production company behind high‑profile sports events like The Pickleball Slam, Pro Padel League, and Major League Pickleball, has been acquired by GSE Worldwide, marking GSE’s first foray into live event production. Founded by tennis legend Jim Courier and Jon Venison, who will now serve as EVP and head of the new GSE Productions division, InsideOut’s team will integrate into GSE to help scale its live-event operations into new markets. - learn more

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      From Sunset Boulevard to Outer Space: LA’s Latest

      🔦 Spotlight

      Good Morning Beliebers and Los Angeles!

      While Justin Bieber’s new album dropped last night, here’s what else is making headlines in Los Angeles this week.

      Luma has opened its Dream Lab on Sunset Boulevard, boldly positioning itself at the forefront of AI-powered creativity. Known for transforming ordinary photos into cinematic 3D scenes, Luma is combining cutting-edge research with practical tools to build a playground for artists, engineers, and anyone ready to push the boundaries of visual storytelling. In their words: “From Hollywood blockbusters to the next generation of immersive media, this is where the magic happens.”

      Meanwhile, well beyond our skyline, SpaceX reportedly hit an eye-popping $400 billion valuation in a recent share sale, making it one of the most valuable private companies ever. The milestone reflects both investors’ fervor for the commercial space race and LA’s unrivaled role as the launchpad of aerospace innovation.

      LA continues to prove it can deliver on the ground, in the cloud, and far beyond the stars. See you next week.

      🤝 Venture Deals

      LA Companies

         
      • Varda Space Industries, the El Segundo–based company manufacturing pharmaceuticals in microgravity, has raised $187M in a Series C round led by Natural Capital and Shrug Capital, bringing its total funding to approximately $329M. The funds will support an increased launch cadence of robotic drug-production capsules, expansion of its El Segundo lab for biologic drug crystallization, and broader efforts to scale commercial microgravity-driven drug formulation and hypersonic reentry testing. - learn more

      LA Venture Funds

      • Rebel Fund participated in Vellum’s $20M Series A round, which was led by Leaders Fund. The company helps businesses build and optimize LLM-powered applications. Vellum plans to grow its team and speed up product development with the new funding. - learn more
      • Bold Capital participated in a $31M Series B funding round for Aqtual, a Hayward, California based precision medicine startup developing a cutting edge cell free DNA (cfDNA) multiomics platform. The capital will help commercialize Aqtual’s flagship rheumatoid arthritis diagnostic, currently being tested in a 1,300 patient trial, and support expansion into other chronic and autoimmune diseases. - learn more
      • Strong Ventures invested in VERAMORE, a skincare brand focused on addressing early signs of aging in women. Since launching in March 2022, VERAMORE has grown over 300% annually, expanded to more than 16 products, and entered markets including Japan, Singapore, Vietnam, Taiwan, Europe, and Korea. The funding will support its D2C growth, product-driven marketing, and planned global expansion starting with Japan in 2025 and the U.S. and Europe in 2026. - learn more
      • Mucker Capital joined a $3.7M seed funding round for Velvet Capital aimed at launching its DeFAI operating system and $VELVET governance token. Velvet’s vertically integrated DeFi toolkit combines AI-powered trading, portfolio management, APIs, and a native token to streamline on-chain investment for funds, DAOs, and individual traders. The funding will accelerate platform development, the rollout of its tokenomics, and broader adoption of its intent-based DeFi suite. - learn more
      • Btech Consortium Fund participated in a $8.5M Series A funding round for Castellum.AI, a New York based financial crime compliance platform that uses in‑house risk data, AI, and screening tools to help financial institutions manage AML/KYC compliance. The funds will be used to expand their team, enhance integrations with financial institutions, and accelerate adoption of their AI‑powered compliance solutions. - learn more
      • Bold Capital Partners joined the oversubscribed $45M Series A round for Centivax, a South San Francisco biotech company dedicated to developing a universal flu vaccine using a proprietary mRNA-based immune-engineering platform. Led by Future Ventures, the funding will help Centivax advance its lead candidate into Phase I clinical trials and expand its broader universal immunity pipeline targeting pathogens like RSV, HIV, and malaria. - learn more
      • Alpha Edison participated in Honor Education’s $38M Series A funding round for the San Francisco–based learning platform. Honor uses AI‑enhanced, mobile-first courses and credentialed programs to improve engagement and leadership development. The funding will be used to scale AI capabilities, personalize learning experiences, and expand the company’s operations and customer‑success teams to meet rising demand. - learn more
      • Wasserman Ventures participated in a $7M seed round for Fantasy Life, the fantasy sports platform founded by Matthew Berry. The funding will support the launch of Fantasy Life’s revamped platform, featuring new “Guillotine Leagues,” a modernized app experience, and enhanced content and tools to scale its audience and technology offerings. - learn more

      LA Exits
      • El Segundo based Kaye Capital Management, a fee only RIA with approximately $700M in assets under management and $300M in assets under advisement, was acquired by Modern Wealth Management, marking its 17th acquisition and pushing its total AUM over $8.5B. The deal strengthens Modern Wealth’s presence in California and adds Kaye’s institutional retirement plan expertise to its suite of financial and retirement solutions for clients. - learn more
      • NIRx Medical Technologies was acquired by Gilde Healthcare’s private equity fund and combined with Artinis Medical Systems to form a world-leading neuroimaging group. Both companies will retain their brands and locations while collaborating on R&D, product development, and global expansion of their functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) tools to advance research in mental health, neurodegenerative diseases, and stroke rehabilitation. - learn more
      • Emotive, a conversational SMS marketing platform, has been acquired by Privy to create a unified solution for e-commerce brands that combines email, SMS, pop-ups, and real-time customer conversations. The integrated platform will help over 10,000 merchants simplify their marketing, personalize customer interactions, and strengthen relationships with dedicated strategists and transparent pricing. - learn more

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      Tinder, Starlink, and Apple’s New Studio: This Week in LA

      🔦 Spotlight

      Happy Independence Day, Los Angeles! 🇺🇸

      While you're celebrating freedom, here are some electrifying updates lighting up LA’s tech, satellite, and music scenes:

      🔥 Tinder mandates Face Recognition in California

        Image Source: Tinder

      Tinder is now requiring all new users in California to complete a biometric face check, a brief video selfie processed via FaceTec, to verify profiles are genuine. The video is deleted post-verification, though an encrypted face map remains while the account is active. This West Hollywood based move could redefine trust, safety, and privacy in mainstream consumer apps.

      🌐 Starlink clears hurdle to launch in India

      Elon Musk’s SpaceX backed Starlink has cleared most regulatory and licensing hurdles with India’s Department of Telecommunications, marking a key step toward launching satellite broadband in one of the world’s fastest growing markets. Final approvals from the national space regulator are pending, and services, expected to deliver high speed connectivity to underserved regions, could launch in the coming months. This is a major milestone for Starlink’s global expansion.

      🎧 Apple Music opens Culver City creative hub

        Image Source: Apple

      Apple Music is celebrating its anniversary by launching a brand new 15,000 square foot, three story studio in Culver City. The facility, featuring a 4,000 square foot soundstage, spatial audio suites, podcast booths, and more, is designed by Eric Owen Moss and slated to open mid August. It solidifies LA’s reputation as a creative powerhouse and reaffirms Apple’s commitment to investing in and nurturing our city's cultural ecosystem.

      From dating apps to deep space to sound stages, LA isn’t just watching the future unfold, we’re building it.

      Here’s to independence, imagination, and everything this city dares to launch next. Happy Fourth, Los Angeles.

      🤝 Venture Deals

      LA Companies

      • Castelion has raised a $350M Series B round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners alongside Altimeter Capital to scale its hypersonic missile production capabilities. The El Segundo-based defense startup plans to use the funds to expand manufacturing, accelerate testing through its SpaceX-inspired rapid development model, and position itself as a cost-effective supplier of hypersonic weapons to the U.S. military and its allies. - learn more
      • Earth Sama, a Calabasas, California–based climate-tech platform that helps rural farming and Indigenous communities generate and manage carbon credits, secured investment from Omtse Ventures. The funding will support the rollout of Earth Sama’s blockchain-powered field app, climate-creator platform, and smart-contract tools to scale community-led carbon credit projects globally under the Paris Agreement’s Article 6.4 framework. - learn more

                LA Venture Funds

                • Plassa Capital participated in Metafide’s $3.275M funding round. Miami based Metafide, the creator of SURGE, a gamified trading platform that combines AI neural networks and human insight, will use the funds to scale and launch SURGE into the market. - learn more
                • BOLD Capital Partners participated as a founding investor in Syntis Bio’s $33M Series A round, with an additional $5M in NIH grants. The Boston-based biotech is developing oral therapies for obesity and rare diseases, and the funding will help advance its SYNT platform, moving its lead obesity treatment, SYNT-101, into Phase 1 trials and supporting development of SYNT-202 for homocystinuria. - learn more
                • BAM Ventures participated in Cred’s $15M seed round for its predictive intelligence startup. San Francisco based Cred uses AI to unify company data with real time market signals and deliver actionable insights for sales and operations. The funding, led by defy.vc, will be used to scale Cred’s platform, expand its customer base, and grow team and product capabilities. - learn more
                • BOLD Capital Partners participated in Gallant’s $18M Series B round to advance its ready-to-use stem cell therapies for pets. The funding, led by Digitalis Ventures with additional support from NovaQuest Capital, will help Gallant bring its off-the-shelf regenerative treatments to market. - learn more
                • Rebel Fund joined the seed round for Rocketable, contributing to the $6.5M raised to build a portfolio of fully automated SaaS companies. San Francisco-based Rocketable, backed by True Ventures and others, uses AI agents to operate acquired software products, and Rebel’s support will help scale both the platform and acquisitions. - learn more 
                        LA Exits
                        • Leasepath, a cloud-first provider of equipment lease and loan management software, has been acquired by Solifi to enhance its mid-market offerings. The deal allows Solifi to expand Leasepath’s Microsoft Dynamics-based platform into new global markets while keeping Leasepath’s team and leadership in place. - learn more

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