This article will briefly review the most important information. Jeff Ubben, Inclusive Capital Partners founder and AppHarvest investor, and Jonathan Webb, AppHarvest CEO, join 'Closing Bell' to discuss what makes AppHarvest You have to get permitting, communities [buy-in], state and federal support, infrastructure, inspections. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. But if you look at the world, China and India account for 40% of the world's population. I mean, I think that kind of speaks for itself. Jason Moser has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Visualize our facility in Murray, Kentucky, it's 2.8 million square feet, nearly 50 football fields under-glass. I could be in a penthouse in New York City, managing AppHarvest from the 32nd floor of some high-rise. Jonathan Webb's Appharvest shares are currently valued at $20.96M. The first harvest at its Morehead facility is slated for early 2021. He has published numerous papers on the topic of knee ligament injuries, arthroscopic surgery, and other techniques. Get 5 free searches. Your email address will not be published. I was really excited to be able to recommend it after all of the work I had done on the business, learning more about it, listening to you in your passion regarding this company, I think it would be beneficial for our members, for our listeners to hear it from your own words as the founder, as the CEO of AppHarvest. Moser: I guess you're saying, and a lot of us would agree, you can't have your cake and eat it too. With significant tailwinds from heightened investor focus on ESG initiatives and the secular shift to plant-based foods, we believe AppHarvest is well-positioned to execute on its strategy for rapid growth and value creation, he continued. I've tried to say, we have a team that looks at this as this is our 30-year journey here at AppHarvest. To make the world smarter, happier, and richer. Karrie, on the other hand, has not disclosed her salary or income. All Rights Reserved. In the 1992 Five Nations, England won the title back-to-back for the first time since 1924, thanks to Webbs brace. We're a public benefit corporation, and we're B Corp certified. The human spirit is willing to do a lot. Again, tomatoes are our first crop, but by next year, strawberries and leafy greens. I love your long-term focus. It hopes to expand into leafy greens, berries, cucumbers, and bell peppers in the future. 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AppHarvest has invested in a 2.76million-square-foot greenhouse in Morehead (Ky.) to help meet this goal. The same way there won't be one energy company powering the world. Your email address will not be published. Those are always famous last words as we move into some disruptive phase. It's so cool to think about what you guys are doing there. Jonathan Webb: AppHarvest, we're based here in Central Appalachia and we're building some of the world's largest controlled environment agricultural facilities. I graduated from the University of Kentucky. 20years ago it was renewable energy. We're in that classic scenario of demand exceeding supply. You have illegal chemical pesticides where the EPA cannot track the chemicals being used on these farms in Mexico. But then there's the other side, and introducing robotics that's operating on AI, that's collecting data in our facility and making data-driven decisions. In the 1987 Rugby World Cup, Webb made his debut for England. A former England international, he reached the World Cup Final in 1991 and was a two-time grand slam champion in the Five Nations. Of course, the future is what really matters. I love that passion. As investors were looking for the biggest market opportunities we can find, market opportunities that are growing. Yes, maybe we're paying marginally more in the short-term, but that workforce is the one that's beating production targets daily. The method of farming uses technology like artificial intelligence and robotics to grow fruits and vegetables, producing 30 times the yield of traditional farming while using 90% less water, the company claims. I hope you enjoy our conversation. You've had fast-food chains, that is one of the biggest risk to a grocer is the paranoia and being terrified of where that product is being grown. I was hoping maybe we could talk a little bit about that idea that you're farmers and futurists. Almost every company in the coal industry has gone bankrupt over the last 10 years. No one else in America is doing something at that scale. The business combination values AppHarvest at a $1.0 billion pro forma equity value, at the $10.00 per share PIPE price and assuming minimal redemptions by Novus Capital shareholders. That to me, was in a nutshell what it's all about. Its easier than ever to find a trustworthy doctor. Why is that important? I think it's clear that investors should really be excited for the future of AgTech. A universal harvester robot at AppHarvest's Morehead, Kentucky greenhouse, AppHarvests crops are monitored for quality control 24/7 and harvested robotically, a labor-saving advancement that lets the staff treat farming almost like a manufacturing process. Well, you need water you need food, and you need energy. No, weve made some mistakes. Amid the verdant rolling hills of central Kentucky, in the heart of Appalachian coal country, youll Is that drought going to impact yield and you don't end up being able to get product to the grocery store? We believe controlled environment agriculture is the third wave of sustainable infrastructure. more. Photo credit: US controlled environment agriculture (CEA) startup, has announced a merger with NASDAQ-listed special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), The deal is slated to bring in $475 million in gross proceeds for Kentucky-based AppHarvest, including a private investment in public equity (PIPE) transaction worth $375 million from existing and new investors including, I cant say this was the exact plan but what accelerated all of this was Covid-19, AppHarvest CEO Jonathan Webb told, . Here are five relaxing scents you can use in your bedroom. Moser: Yeah, I'd tell you, I think you're right. Founder of AppHarvest, Inc., AppHarvest Morehead Farm LLC and We had 22 meetings and had almost 20 yeses. Very few passed on this deal and we eventually had to cancel meetings.. AppHarvest is known for its approach to CEA, which Webb called the "third wave of sustainable infrastructure." It is a non-profit organization that provides education and social services to low-income residents living in low-income apartments. In addition to his numerous social media fans, Jonathan Webb has also embraced a low-key approach to his career. I asked on a call earlier today, well, have you had issues hiring people? The mission-driven approach Webb has prioritized is the companys main selling point both for investors and potential employees, whom he works to lure away from billion-dollar conglomerates. This is the direction in which the world is going, so companies better get on board [laughs] or get out of the way. Because our services are focused on technology, 5G connectivity, and all of the different benefits we're going to get from that. There's a lot of different ways to go public and at the time and we did it, and I think it was definitely the best decision for us at the time. You have food safety concerns. Jonathan Webb is the largest individual Appharvest shareholder, owning 20.54M shares representing 19.04% of the company. We're going to be headquartered in Central Appalachia, execution at scale here in the U.S. but this is a global problem that we've gotten phone calls from around the world about how and when we can take our solution and go elsewhere. Its the single largest LED installation in the United States despite using constant passive solar, waters its plants using recycled rainwater, employs an integrated pest management system to avoid any pesticides, has a 30x higher production yield than traditional open field agriculture, and has the ever so modest goal of transforming the future of agriculture. On this week's episode of Industry Focus: Wildcard, host Jason Moser chats with AppHarvest (APPH) founder and CEO Jonathan Webb about the growing opportunity in the agtech space, what makes AppHarvest unique, his vision of the future of farming, and much more. Eventually, he found the right problem to solve. monitored for quality control 24/7 and harvested robotically. Earlier this year we did get listed on the Nasdaq. We're building these facilities here where we can access markets and get to about three-quarters of the U.S. on a day drive. We hit our Q1 guidance, $2.3 million in revenue. WebGet Givens McNeill's email address (g*****@windstream.net) and phone number (972988.) at RocketReach. What's that Harvest's secret sauce? We don't want to be selling just to the high-end. CSC Leasing: Non-dilutive Funding for AgTech Startups, Americas Cultivation Corridor: We Grow AgTech Innovation, As demand for protein grows Sustainable Planet bets on water lentils as a viable alternative to soya, How not to fail in vertical farming: Be on guard for hubris, say Indoor Ag-Con speakers, International Fresh Produce Association launches 2023 Fresh Field Catalyst Accelerator program, BREAKING: Perfect Day animal-free dairy patent in US challenged, What is the role of biotech in an ethical food system? By locating within Appalachia, the company is also less than a days drive to more than two-thirds of the U.S. population. I watch them, I watch their friends, the things that they care about. By us running on completely recycled rainwater, we have no water cost. I was very fortunate. The Kentucky-based agriculture tech company, which was founded in 2017, began trading on the Nasdaq in late February 2021 after completing a SPAC merger with Novus Capital Corporation. We're ramping up and scaling quickly. That's how quickly the energy industry shifted. In order to do that, you have to have rigor. We use bees to pollinate our plans. sold to the top 25 U.S. grocers. Typically, you would do 40 to 60 meetings to get a couple of investors. Thank you for accessing our content on the Topio Networks Market Intelligence Center. I did want to know here because I saw this in the earnings release and I just thought it was one of those quotes that stood out to me from Mastronardi, your distributor. Talk a little bit about what ESG means to you and some of the things that you've done, because corporately you set your business up to be able to account for some of that transparency and whatnot. WebGet Chad Hill's email address (c*****@appharvest.com) and phone number at RocketReach. Our job at AppHarvest, we need to make sure that we're keeping prices at a fair, good place where we're at today. We want to be at Kroger. I think you really keyed in on something important there, a 30-year journey. Webb is from Kentucky, where 16% of residents are below the poverty line, and when the coal jobs dried up, nothing came in to replace them. Similarly, she owns yachts and private planes and serves on the board of the Women Golf Club Foundation. But then it's pulling technology in to drive nature from behind. S&P Index data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. That might sound straight from science fiction, but AppHarvests CTO Josh Lessing, who designed many of these universal harvesting systems says we only think that because farming has been so slow to innovate. To learn more about AppHarvest, you can visit appharvest.com. Not only picking, pruning, harvesting, being able to actually get the tomato off the vine, and ultimately, shipped out, but also the predictive analytics that we can use. I encourage anyone to go out there Google Root AI and go check out the videos of what some of this stuff does. Is there a benefit? Other AppHarvest investors include TV cook Martha Stewart, VC veteran Peter Thiel, ValueAct Capitals Spring Fund, Revolutions Rise of the Rest Seed Fund, Equilibrium Capital, and Narya the new VC firm co-founded by JD Vance, author of best-selling Appalachian memoir Hillbilly Elegy. Webb started his professional career in 1989 as a Durban maritime lawyer firm. Its flagship facility is a 60-acre indoor farm in Morehead, a town of 8,000 in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, and it solely uses rainwater for its irrigation. Jonathan Webb, a Maryland attorney, has experience in criminal defense and DUI/DWI defense. By the end of next year, we'll have five operating facilities. Everybody has full healthcare. We've been able, very fortunate, a very talented team, MIT team out of Boston that has a proven track record and great products that we've integrated them fully into the AppHarvest team. There's going to be a lot of companies hopefully working to solve our food and agriculture problems. We're building infrastructure in an area of the country where we're having record amounts of rainfall, and if you look at the climate maps, we continue to get wetter. Director recently sold US$216k worth of stock Nov 24 AppHarvest, Inc. That narrow focus on societal good is what has kept AppHarvest fully staffed throughout the pandemic. We're going to be based in Central Appalachia. You may opt-out by. We're feeding our country with people in Mexico who are making $5 a day. I write about the future of food, business, and culture. As I was listening, there was a quote, you said, "We are farmers and futurists." We'll head down here and then I would start or I would end with what I started with. Thats why AI scares people, we know tech can be used just as coldly as anything else. I pay attention to my kids. It feels like this is something that really is just getting some traction here. We have a phenomenal growing team. Never miss a story: Follow your favorite topics and authors to get a personalized email with the journalism that matters most to you. Non-planned trade are trades that It's a nice evolution in the investing world that we care more and more about it. We're farmers, we are growing fruits and vegetables, and we're utilizing sunlight, we're utilizing rainwater. Offers may be subject to change without notice. $157M Today's Change (-7.84%) -$0.08 Current Price $0.94 Price as of March 1, 2023, 1:16 p.m. I'm sure it was an exciting time. According to Webb, going public has helped the company focus on the big picture. St John Greek Orthodox Church Easter Schedule, 7 Residential Solar Maintenance Errors and How to Avoid Them, 4 Errors with Kitchen Renovations and How to Avoid Them, An Informative Guide to Livestock Transportation, A Tool That You Need If You are Into Live Stream. WebFounder & CEO, AppHarvest Kentucky native and University of Kentucky graduate Jonathan Webb is turning his dream of a high-tech farming hub in Appalachia into reality with AppHarvest. A Kentucky native and University of Kentucky graduate, Jonathan Webb is turning his dream of a high-tech farming hub in Appalachia into reality with AppHarvest. It made good logistical sense since Kentucky is within a days drive of 70% of the United States, plus there was an untapped labor force there ready and waiting to be hired. Then we have to remember this isn't just a U.S. problem we're trying to solve. Accomplish what they wanted to pursue? If were all doing that, we have a pretty phenomenal organization.. They're not going to be solved in a month or a year or a quarter and we just want to build an organization that's going to be able to go toe-to-toe with the larger incumbents out there, and the best way to do that is to have that rigor of being a publicly traded company. We've had 8,000 people apply to work at the company and we've hired 500 people in the middle of a global pandemic. The deal is slated to bring in $475 million in gross proceeds for Kentucky-based AppHarvest, including a private investment in public equity (PIPE) transaction I made the point at one point in regard to AppHarvest. The private markets don't need to be a part of the problem, but we can't just be quarterly earnings focused. Webb was named a World Rugby Council RFU representative in 2016. Every year, he gives a lecture to students enrolled in a post-graduate shipping LLM program. Jonathan was named one the Top 30 Most Influential Lawyers in Washingtonians 2018 list upon graduation. Now, his company AppHarvest (the name is a play on both Appalachia and the high-tech nature of what they do), operates a sixty acre greenhouse in Morehead, Kentucky that grows hydroponic tomatoes up to the ceiling. You are speaking our language here at The Fool. Yahoo Finance's Julie Hyman at the 2022 SXSW Conference, 3 big things in investing you might have missed this week, UPDATE 1-North Korea says US causing international arms control collapse, EU releases funds, prepares aid flight for eastern Congo, Rheinmetall in talks on building tank factory in Ukraine - report, Ukraine Latest: Metsola Urges More Sanctions Pressure on Russia. A specialist in knee surgery, Webb has performed countless surgeries in elite rugby union teams. Webb is a consistent presence at the companys flagship greenhouse in Morehead. Are we perfect? His military experience allows him to leverage private capital for his projects. Just wondering if you could share some of the highlights, some of the things you're proud of in regard to this earnings release, and your excitement here for the year to come. I want to talk with you about in regard to AppHarvest. Appharvest has Webb grew up in Kentucky, and founded AppHarvest in 2017 after years in the solar development industry, based in New York. Fresh Take: A Make-Or-Break Food Trade Show, Inside The Food Labor Movement: An Update From Starbucks Front Lines, Its The Gourmet Toast Driving Expansion At Toastique, Fungi-Based Protein Company Meati Launches Scientific Advisory Board To Support Scale-Up, Nutrition Research, City Saucery Takes Pride In Its Ugly Tomato Sauces, By Helping The Ukrainian Community In Manhattan, Veselka Earns A James Beard Nomination For Outstanding Restaurant, French Wine Region Bourgogne Should No Longer Be Translated To Burgundy. If I can sell you a grocer, a product at around the same price, what are we solving for? Why? In 1985, he joined Bristol Rugby and won the John Player Cup. To access all the content for free, please sign up by entering your email. Many of our early investors have been very helpful with the company, and we knew that we are not just building one facility, we're building an organization that's going to go toe-to-toe with agriculture and food, globally. But really its water and food first. Again, for their CEO, for their team to say to them not just about money, we can have more impact at scale with AppHarvest and achieve our mission and achieve our goals by working together. could be sentient says Microsofts chatbot feels like watching the Shark Tank investor Kevin OLeary says a new generation of employee has never worked in an officeand its totally I cant afford to sell because I dont want to lose that rate: 3% mortgage rates will loom large over the U.S. CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice, Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information. But to our investors the question and I got this on the roadshow, I'm in this to make money, great. I go directly into the facility and talk to entry-level employees and people sweeping the floors. He is an ex-rugby player who represented England from 1987 to 1993, reaching the World Cup Final and winning two Five Nations grand slam titles. You've taken a lot of steps early on in the development of your business to address a lot of those ESG concerns. By being able to have robotics and AI they can have more real-time information. Theyre looking for purpose in their life; theyre looking for companies like us.. Making the world smarter, happier, and richer. The private markets can be a part of every solution we have that we're seeing today. Before founding AppHarvest, Jonathan worked with the U.S. Department of Defense on the largest solar project in the Southeastern United States. I like thinking about a future where AppHarvest and companies like you all are helping make our food supply not only here domestically, but really around the world better, more reliable, more transparent. You have labor concerns. To me, this feels like just that, a growing market opportunity that is global in nature, and really the opportunity, just getting started. Moser: That's going to do it for us this week, folks. Get the latest news and research from AFN & AgFunder in your inbox. If you look at the largest grocers in the U.S., we're selling to Kroger, Walmart, Publix, and we're selling to Wendy's. We always talk about investing for the future because that's really what investing is all about. Investors look at that, Peter Halt, AppHarvests newly appointed chief financial officer, told AFN. We were just talking earlier and you mentioned how you're in the DC area, it was fortunate that we had Steve Case, the founder of AOL, and he fundraised the rest. We're building large facilities to grow fruit and vegetables running completely on recycled rainwater using LED lights, software, and sensors. This helped the Army reach its goal of 20% renewable energy by 2025. I feel like with AppHarvest, at least, my takeaway, I found a lot of things that make you all special. Webb was also the first LPGA player to win $1 million in a single season, finishing first on the year-end money list. Running AppHarvest this way definitely creates extra workthe company even has facilitators who help employees navigate unexpected life events that might prevent them from coming to workbut its work Webb considers essential. When is it going to be able to ship? Is there any one thing or is it a collection of many things? AppHarvest CEO envisions 'couple-decade journey' after going public We had 22 meetings and had almost 20 yeses. Very few passed on this deal and we eventually had to cancel meetings., Webb describes the SPAC transaction and PIPE financing experience as absolutely phenomenal.. He played against Australia on 23 May. Webb grew up in Kentucky, and founded AppHarvest in 2017 after years in the solar development industry, based in New York. This commitment, at $10 per share, values the company at $1 billion. When people and robots work together, its actually more productive than robots alone or people alone. On a traditional farm, there are a seemingly infinite number of tasks to do at any given moment, so adding some computers to make it more efficient doesnt mean that human farmers will be anywhere near obsolete any time soon. But I think there are a lot of benefits that come with that. Good CEOs do both., Given the rapidly worsening climate outlook, all founders should focus on building a business that will be more powerful in 30 years than it will in 30 days, he said. Webb: Well, we built the company from day one. The regulators are pushing that direction.
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