STA was proud to welcome Irving Fain as part of our continued virtual “Tech Talks” events this Spring! Founded in 2014, Bowery is on a mission to reimagine farming from the ground up. Bowery is the largest vertical farming company in the United States, serving more than 680 grocery stores and major e-commerce platforms.

A seasoned entrepreneur, Irving saw an opportunity to leverage technology and human ingenuity to build an agriculture company that gives back more to the people and planet than it takes. Bowery’s smart indoor farms located near cities are powered by the BoweryOS, its proprietary operating system, which leverages robotics, automation technology, machine learning, cameras and sensors to monitor plants and all the variables that drive their growth 24/7. The BoweryOS creates the optimal conditions for Bowery to grow local pesticide-free Protected Produce all year round in far less space, with a fraction of the water and waste than traditional farming.

Based in New York City, Bowery has raised over $172.5 million from leading investors, including Temasek, GV (formerly Google Ventures), General Catalyst, GGV Capital, First Round Capital, Henry Kravis, Jeff Wilke, and Dara Khosrowshahi, as well as some of the foremost thought leaders in food, including Tom Colicchio, José Andres, and David Barber of Blue Hill. Previously, Irving was co-founder and CEO of CrowdTwist, a venture-backed loyalty marketing SaaS business later acquired by Oracle. Prior to that, he helped launch iHeartMedia and began his career helping early-stage companies raise capital as an investment banker at Citigroup.