Elevate Farms

About Elevate Farms

Elevate Farms, a Toronto-based vertical farming company established in 2018, designs, builds, and operates large-scale indoor farms for leafy greens and herbs. The company was co-founded by Amin Jadavji, CEO, and Per Aage Lysaa, CTO. Jadavji brings over two decades of experience from the manufacturing sector, where he transformed a paper products business by focusing on high-volume, low-margin production and automation before a successful exit. This background shaped Elevate Farms' strategy to tackle the wholesale market with competitively priced produce. Lysaa contributes extensive expertise in photobiology, with the company's core technology rooted in decades of academic research, some of which was in partnership with the University of Guelph.

The company's business model centers on producing high-quality, pesticide-free greens at a cost-effective price point for the mass market, primarily serving retail and food service clients. Elevate Farms focuses on developing wholly-owned facilities as well as a partner-operator model to expand its global footprint. This strategy has led to the establishment of farms in Canada, the United States, and New Zealand, with further expansion planned for Europe, including Switzerland, and additional U.S. sites in Pennsylvania and Arizona. The company has secured significant funding to fuel this growth, raising over C$26 million (US$19 million) by October 2022 and another US$2.5 million in a pre-Series B round in July 2024, with Brightspark Ventures as a leading investor.

Elevate Farms' proprietary system distinguishes it in the controlled environment agriculture sector. This technology integrates patented automation, photobiology, and proprietary LED lighting to create highly efficient, climate-controlled growing environments. A key feature is the fully autonomous grow room, which significantly reduces labor costs—a major challenge for the industry. This automation allows a facility like the one in Orange, New Jersey, to produce up to 500,000 pounds of greens annually with fewer than 15 employees. The system is also resource-efficient, using 95% less water than conventional farming by recycling water consumed by plants and capturing moisture from the air. Their technology achieves a high production density, yielding over 105 pounds per square foot of grow space annually, enabling them to compete with traditional agriculture on price.