May 2026 Indoor Ag Update: Oishii’s $150M Headlines a Quiet Month as AeroFarms Steps Back from the Brink

May was a month of contrasts. A single, very large strawberry raise accounted for almost all of the month’s funding dollars, while the rest of the sector saw a scattering of smaller agtech rounds in Europe. On the operations side, AeroFarms pulled back from a five-month closure process, while 80 Acres Farms began trimming the operation it absorbed last summer. Eight of the listed companies we track reported quarterly results, with greenhouse and equipment names diverging sharply.

Oishii Takes the Month with a $150M Series C

One deal represented most of May’s private funding. New Jersey vertical strawberry grower Oishii announced the first close of a $150 million Series C on May 13, led by Tokyo’s SPARX Asset Management with participation from Nomura Real Estate, MISUMI Group and Mizuho Bank. The round takes Oishii’s lifetime funding to $370 million since its 2016 founding. Proceeds are earmarked for production capacity, robotics integration, infrastructure and new product formats across its U.S. and Japan operations, including an Open Innovation Center in Tokyo. The company told AgFunderNews it has reached positive unit economics.

The balance of the month’s activity was European and early-stage. Belgian biocontrol developer Biotalys (Euronext Brussels: BTLS) secured a €12.05 million ($13.2 million) private placement from its existing shareholders to push its EVOCA NG and BioFun-6 programs toward EU and California approval. London crop-immunity biotech Resurrect Bio closed an oversubscribed $10.3 million Series A led by Corteva’s Catalyst arm. Smaller rounds went to German CEA-analytics firm vGreens (€2 million / $2.2 million), UK biostimulant developer SugaROx (£2.5 million / $3.2 million, from fertilizer major The Mosaic Company) and Danish precision-spraying firm Perplant (€1 million / $1.1 million).

AeroFarms Steps Back, 80 Acres Trims

Virginia microgreens grower AeroFarms, which had spent five months issuing serial WARN extensions after its largest investor withdrew last December, rescinded its WARN notice. The move keeps its 140,000-square-foot Ringgold facility open and saves the 120-plus jobs that had been at risk. The company said it would continue building “a stronger, more stable business,” though it has not disclosed the buyer or terms behind the rescue.

Consolidation, meanwhile, produced its first visible cost. Ohio-based 80 Acres Farms, which merged with Soli Organic last August, filed a WARN notice on May 27 to close the former Soli packing plant in Harrisonburg, Virginia by July 21, eliminating roughly 80 jobs as it shifts work to other sites in its network. The Harrisonburg site had operated as Shenandoah Growers before the 2021 Soli rebrand.

In Washington, a group of senators introduced the Supporting Urban and Innovative Farming Act (S.4470), which would explicitly fold controlled environment agriculture into the USDA Office of Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production, authorize $15 million in mandatory plus $50 million a year in discretionary funding through 2030, and fund a national CEA data initiative. Passage in the current Senate is uncertain.

Listed Sector: Greenhouses Up, Equipment Down

Eight of the companies we track reported quarterly results in May, and the split between produce growers and equipment suppliers was stark. Village Farms (NASDAQ: VFF), the greenhouse grower now focused on cannabis, posted record international export sales.  Local Bounti (NYSE: LOCL) grew its top line for a third straight quarter. On the equipment side, hydroponics distributor Hydrofarm (NASDAQ: HYFM) reported a near-30% sales decline and continued liquidity stress, having entered a forbearance agreement on its term loan in April.

Source: Company Reports

Listed Sector Turns to AI

Two of the smaller names made strategic moves worth noting. iPower (NASDAQ: IPW), the grow-equipment e-commerce operator, launched an “AI infrastructure” strategy on May 19, committing up to $3 million to digital-asset purchases alongside its core business. Nature’s Miracle (NMHI), the CEA solutions provider, signed both an MOU with DROMNI Intelligence on AI-enabled agriculture robotics and an LOI to acquire 55% of fabrication firm CM Fabrication and CEA Studios, and swung to a small Q1 profit. Separately, urban-gro (NASDAQ: UGRO) confirmed in a shareholder letter that it has completed its move out of CEA design services and into sports and media, and plans a name and ticker change.

Featured image courtesy of Unsplash.

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