Oishii Raises $150M Series C as Vertical Farming Grows Up Fast

Oishii just pulled in $150M in the first close of its Series C funding round, led by SPARX Asset Management Co., Ltd., with participation from Nomura Real Estate Development Co., Ltd., MISUMI Group Inc., Mizuho Bank Ltd., and additional investors. The New Jersey-based company operates what it calls the world’s largest indoor vertical strawberry farm, and unlike many companies that rode the pandemic-era controlled agriculture wave straight into a wall, Oishii is still standing while continuing to scale operations across infrastructure, automation, and production.

Vertical farming spent the last several years getting humbled in public as capital flooded into the sector during the pandemic, when supply chain panic and climate anxiety convinced investors indoor agriculture was inevitable. Then reality showed up carrying utility bills, labor costs, and ugly unit economics, wiping out companies trying to industrialize agriculture with business models held together by optimism and expensive pitch decks. Oishii survived because Hiroki Koga and Brendan Somerville built the company around premium fruit, operational precision, and controlled scarcity before aggressively pursuing scale, which increasingly looks less like branding strategy and more like survival instinct.

What Happened

Oishii announced the first close of its Series C at $150M, with SPARX Asset Management Co., Ltd. leading the round alongside Nomura Real Estate Development Co., Ltd., MISUMI Group Inc., and Mizuho Bank Ltd. The funding will support production expansion, robotics integration, infrastructure growth, and continued research and development across operations in the United States and Japan, positioning Oishii as one of the few controlled-environment agriculture companies still attracting serious institutional capital after the sector’s broader correction.

The company was founded in 2016 by Hiroki Koga, CEO, and Brendan Somerville, COO. Oishii operates large-scale indoor farms in New Jersey, including the Amatelas Farm in Phillipsburg, a facility spanning more than 237,000 sq. ft. and powered primarily by a neighboring 50-acre solar field. Oishii’s products include the Omakase Berry, Koyo Berry, Nikko Berry, and Rubī Tomato, all positioned around premium flavor rather than commodity-scale pricing, a strategic decision that now looks increasingly aligned with where investors believe sustainable margins actually exist.

Why This Matters

Agriculture spent decades optimizing around durability, transportation, and shelf life while flavor quietly became collateral damage somewhere between industrial logistics and supermarket margins. Oishii built its business around the opposite assumption: consumers still care about quality when quality actually exists. That sounds obvious until you walk through a grocery store strawberry aisle in February and realize how much produce has been engineered to survive shipping routes instead of creating memorable consumer experiences.

The company’s strategy reflects a broader shift happening across climate technology, infrastructure, and food production markets, where investors have become significantly less patient with businesses promising societal transformation without operational fundamentals attached. SPARX Asset Management Co., Ltd., Nomura Real Estate Development Co., Ltd., MISUMI Group Inc., and Mizuho Bank Ltd. are not behaving like speculative venture tourists chasing a trend cycle. These are institutional players backing long-term infrastructure tied to supply chain resilience, automation, controlled manufacturing environments, and premium agricultural production that can operate independently from weather volatility and increasingly fragile global logistics systems.

Market Context

Controlled-environment agriculture entered the mainstream investment conversation during the pandemic when global supply chains started behaving like they were held together with expired tape and caffeine. Food security, labor shortages, transportation instability, and climate volatility pushed indoor farming into investor conversations everywhere from Silicon Valley to sovereign wealth funds, creating a wave of enthusiasm that rapidly outpaced operational reality.

The correction came fast. Vertical farming companies struggled under rising energy costs, weak margins, expensive expansion plans, and unrealistic growth expectations while public agtech valuations collapsed across the sector. Investors stopped funding abstract climate optimism and started asking operational questions around profitability, automation, and scalability. Oishii appears to have separated itself from many peers by focusing on high-margin premium products instead of commodity greens, creating stronger pricing power and clearer product differentiation in a market where consumers can immediately recognize quality differences instead of treating produce as interchangeable inventory.

Competitive Landscape

Oishii operates in a market that includes companies like Bowery Farming, AeroFarms, Plenty, and Gotham Greens, although direct comparisons become complicated because the business models differ significantly across crop selection, pricing strategy, infrastructure costs, and distribution models. Many vertical farming operators concentrated heavily on leafy greens due to shorter production cycles and simpler operational requirements, while Oishii pursued premium fruit production, which is significantly harder from both technical and operational perspectives.

Fruit production inside controlled environments requires precision around pollination, climate control, lighting, harvesting, and environmental stability, meaning operational mistakes become expensive very quickly. The tradeoff is stronger product differentiation and potentially more durable pricing power. Oishii increasingly resembles a hybrid between an agriculture company, a robotics company, and a precision manufacturing operation, which helps explain why investors focused on infrastructure and industrial systems continue paying attention despite broader skepticism surrounding vertical farming economics.

What This Signals

The Oishii funding round signals institutional capital still sees long-term potential in vertical farming, but the standards have changed dramatically. Narratives alone no longer work, and investors now expect operational discipline, measurable infrastructure, automation strategies, and realistic scaling plans capable of surviving outside favorable capital markets. The era of raising massive funding rounds based purely on climate optimism appears largely over.

Oishii also reflects a broader market shift where physical infrastructure is becoming strategically important again after years of software-dominated venture economics. Supply chains became geopolitical, energy became strategic, and food production became fragile enough that governments and institutional investors started paying closer attention to agricultural resilience and manufacturing independence. Indoor agriculture now sits directly inside those conversations because controlled production environments offer a degree of predictability traditional farming increasingly struggles to maintain.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Oishii?

Oishii is a New Jersey-based indoor vertical farming company focused on premium fruit production, including strawberries and tomatoes grown in controlled environments.

How much funding did Oishii raise?

Oishii raised $150M in the first close of its Series C funding round.

Who led Oishii’s Series C funding round?

SPARX Asset Management Co., Ltd. led the Series C round, with participation from Nomura Real Estate Development Co., Ltd., MISUMI Group Inc., and Mizuho Bank Ltd.

Who founded Oishii?

Oishii was founded in 2016 by Hiroki Koga and Brendan Somerville.

What is the Amatelas Farm?

The Amatelas Farm is Oishii’s large-scale indoor vertical farming facility in Phillipsburg, New Jersey, spanning more than 237,000 sq. ft.

Why does Oishii matter in the vertical farming market?

Oishii represents a more infrastructure-focused and operationally disciplined approach to vertical farming at a time when investors are demanding profitability, automation, and scalable production models.