South Korean Agritech Startup Green Labs Secures $38.4 Million in Debt Financing

Green Labs, a Seoul-based agritech startup, has secured $38.4 million (50 billion won) in debt financing from existing investors including BRV Capital Management and Skylake Incuvest, per a report by TechCrunch.

Launched in 2021 by Scott Sungwoo Choi, Charlie Sanghoon Shin, and Luke Donghyun Ahn, the Seoul-based startup offers smart farming software that provides data-driven recommendations to farmers on crop growth and precision control of factors such as temperature and humidity in real-time.

Green Labs also operates Sinsun Market, a B2B marketplace for fresh produce connecting growers. It acts as a middleman for farmers and buyers, by purchasing agriculture products from farmers and selling them to buyers/B2B partners with outstanding invoices.

The startup claims over 900,000 farmers currently use its Farm Morning app in South Korea, and another 300,000 users in Japan after launching there in the fall of last year. On its webpage, the company claims a generated sales of $100 million in 2021 and approximately $500 million in expected sales in 2022.

The new funding comes just a month after the startup laid off around 70% of its workforce, or 350 people, in February as part of a restructuring leaving the company with a current workforce of 150 people.

Green Labs, which bagged $140 million in a Series C in January 2022 and was within shooting distance of unicorn status, ran out of money as it overstretched its expansion and had to undergo a restructuring, according to a TechCrunch report last month.

The startup says the new funding will go toward advancing its digital farm morning app and expanding its business in South Korea and Japan and a later expansion to other countries this year.