Again, if we look at agriculture, there's a lot of trouble in our current agriculture system and we can use ESG metrics to clean up our food supply and create better food systems. No. You have labor concerns. Webbs England career totaled 67 points, breaking Hodgkinsons 60-point record. AppHarvest which raised $28 million in its Series C round in August is launching what it describes as the worlds largest greenhouse later this year, consisting of a 2.76 million square foot facility in Morehead, Kentucky. Moser: Yeah. AppHarvest is recovering from a challenging third quarter, in which it reported a net loss of over $17 million; Webb attributes it to hyper-growth. He noted that in traditional agriculture, most everything happens incrementally, But now is not a time for incrementalism the thing that needs to be added to that recipe is folks [like Webb] that want to be aggressive in getting us ready for a world where its hard to grow crops.. Here, we've had three years out of the last ten years in Kentucky have been our wettest years on state record. Offers may be subject to change without notice. It's so cool to think about what you guys are doing there. WebThe combined company will be led by Jonathan Webb, AppHarvests Founder & Chief Executive Officer. PIPE deals effectively allow institutional investors to buy larger quantities of public company stock, typically at a discount to public market prices. Europe, Menlo Park, China), Where the person is located (e.g. Although his net worth is impressive, its important that you remember that he doesnt have to act alone to be wealthy. To do that and look out for the long term is true sustainability, or resilience., Webb, who began his career developing renewable energy projects for the U.S. Army, believes any company is either part of destroying the planet or part of rebuilding its industry to align with the planet: I think its our obligation as CEOs to build companies that create long-standing values.. Did we help them reach their goals? WebAppharvest (: ) is owned by 29.32% institutional shareholders, 30.67% Appharvest 40.01% retail investors. Again to some of your viewers that aren't aware of Root AI just look them up and take a look at some of those videos. 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. He has also held roles in movies and television series. If we're going to be working with the largest players in the world, then we need to be in the big leagues, and the only way to do that is to be a publicly traded company. Required fields are marked *. We love DC, but we don't want to just be selling to the high-end restaurants in DC. Since then, AppHarvest shares have plunged 70%. Appharvest has 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, . It's nearly impossible to have full transparency. You said that we're a technology company working to disrupt agriculture. In the 1987 Rugby World Cup, Webb made his debut for England. Jonathan Webb is a dual-qualified lawyer. Investors look at that, Peter Halt, AppHarvests newly appointed chief financial officer, told, Step aside, alt-protein: Bioplastics are the real agrifoodtech opportunity, The rise of the reused machines: Germanys E-Farm raises $5.3m Series A. 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. WebThe following charts show the stock performance of securities subsequent to each open-market, non-planned trade made by Jonathan Webb. By us running on completely recycled rainwater, we have no water cost. Also referred to as blank check companies, the mechanism has existed for several years but has received increased attention of late. We'll talk a little bit about that in just a second. Visualize this, down the rows of our facility, we have a robust that's going to take thousands of photos of a tomato plant. Public asset : 44,698,475 USD. They can be competitive. All rights reserved. Your email address will not be published. Get 5 free searches. But with that said, what we have at AppHarvest is fairly unique. Again, for us, it's about keeping our head down, growing good fruit and vegetables. We dont talk about this at all in the US. Cell ag experts weigh in, Keep calm and carry on: Navigating the trough of disillusionment for plant-based meat, Its been a very dark week Miyoko Schinner hits back as company accuses her of hatching plot to steal IP, With $3bn in deals, top 10 climate x agrifoodtech startups prove themselves a vital part of climate tech ecosystem, BII eyes full-stack startups, ag marketplaces & embedded financing as it earmarks funds for Africa, Smoke & mirrors, not worth the extra cost: 50 US farmers speak out on carbon markets. Webb left for college, eventually pursuing a career in renewables at the DOE, a space where he felt he could be part of the solution. But the economic devastation in his home state still bothered him. You are speaking our language here at The Fool. AppHarvest is known for its approach to CEA, which Webb called the "third wave of sustainable infrastructure." 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. No, weve made some mistakes. Karrie, on the other hand, has not disclosed her salary or income. Webb: We've been very fortunate that some of our investors and board members, Fidelity was the largest investor in our pipe during the public process, Jeff Ubben of Inclusive Capital, our Chief Sustainability Officer, Jackie Roberts came to us from the Carlyle Group, we're all very serious about this. The show also discusses the benefits of Martha Stewart being on their board and how they plan get their products onto shelves. 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. We can get to 70% of the U.S. in a one-day drive. Why is that important? more. I was very fortunate. The company is building some of the largest indoor farms in the world, combining conventional agricultural techniques with todays technology to grow non-GMO, chemical-free produce to be. We had 22 meetings and had almost 20 yeses. Very few passed on this deal and we eventually had to cancel meetings.. That's not the conversation at all. FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. Is there any one thing or is it a collection of many things? The private markets don't need to be a part of the problem, but we can't just be quarterly earnings focused. After serving as an assistant public defender in Marylands Office of the Public Defender, Webb joined Ethridge Quinn for 2020. The world's food and agriculture problems are not going to be solved overnight. For us, we're looking at metrics, how can we be more sustainable? This year alone, more than 50 SPACs have been formed in the US, collectively raising. One of AppHarvest's mobile units ready to fight the food fight, outside of AppHarvest's offices in [+] Lexington, Kentucky, If we cant treat people with dignity and respect who put food on our table, where do we think humanity is going to end up? WebJonathan Webb grew up in Kentucky and has been committed to developing sustainable projects from Central Appalachia. Recently, I had the opportunity to chat with Jonathan about the growing opportunity in the AgTech space. Webb grew up in Kentucky, and founded AppHarvest in 2017 after years in the solar development industry, based in New York. Jason Moser has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Youre reading a free article with opinions that may differ from The Motley Fools Premium Investing Services. WebInside is a tightly controlled environment that uses 90% less water than open-field agriculture and only rainwater to produce crop yields up to 30 times that of traditional Visualize our facility in Murray, Kentucky, it's 2.8 million square feet, nearly 50 football fields under-glass. But I dont think thats adding value to the company, or looking out for our shareholders, he said. Webb doesnt mince words on the specifics; the most valued companies in 100 years, he said, will be the ones that allow humanity to survive. He names a few: electronic vehicle manufacturers, renewable energy companies. Those robots have collected the worlds largest data set of tomato images, and each one is equipped with cameras and a laser that creates a 3D scan of the crops in front of it to determine what needs to be done at any given moment. Moser: Yeah. No one else in America is doing something at that scale. Going down, scanning the plant, pest, is there a disease, brightness? Again, the private markets get a very bad rap socially. All of our water is captured on our roof. I think they certainly will be. Part of it is that building big stuff fast in the US is very hard. 10 stocks we like better thanWalmartWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have an investing tip, it can pay to listen. WebJonathan Webb, AppHarvest Inc: Profile and Biography - Bloomberg Markets Live Now Bloomberg TV+ Leaders with Lacqua:Mark Read WPP CEO Bloomberg Radio Meet the A specialist in knee surgery, Jonathan Webb was a rugby union fullback for the English national team from 1987 to 1993. There's a level of rigor that comes with that, and so for us, the SPAC was just a vehicle. Then Jeff Obin, who is on our board and has been an early investor. 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. We're ramping up and scaling quickly. Then we'll be able to give that data over to the grocer in more real-time. Those are always famous last words as we move into some disruptive phase. But the futuristic pieces, we've combined a technology team with a great plant science group. Copyright 2023 Surperformance. Again, if you look at the U.S. right now, this is a USDA statistic, nearly 40% of fresh fruit and vegetables end up in a landfill. Were investing heavily Amid the verdant rolling hills of central Kentucky, in the heart of Appalachian coal country, youll It feels like this is something that really is just getting some traction here. Webb: Well, the last great technological revolution in American farming is really when the tractor was introduced. The same way there won't be one energy company powering the world. In its Nov. 7 filing, AppHarvest reported net losses of $83 million for the first nine months of the year and net sales of $10 million, with an accumulated deficit of $270 million. Webb made a second appearance for England, and reached the final. Location: Pikeville, KY. Add to My Lists. He has many impressive accomplishments. Despite IPOs last year having the worst returns in a decade, Webb said he believed 2021 was an important time for the company to go public and stood by the decision to take the company's mission "directly to the Street" and to receive the "rigor of Wall Street early," which he claimed will only make the company "stronger in the long run.". We pay every employee at AppHarvest a living wage. Despite the off quarter, Webb has much to celebrate. monitored for quality control 24/7 and harvested robotically. The first harvest at its Morehead facility is slated for early 2021. By the end of next year, we'll have five operating facilities. We thought in order to build an organization that's going to be selling to the top grocers. Jonathan Webb is the Founder and CEO of AppHarvest, a company that combines conventional agricultural techniques with cutting-edge technology to address Accomplish what they wanted to pursue? If were all doing that, we have a pretty phenomenal organization.. People, planet, wonderful, but I'm trying to make money. 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. AppHarvest has invested in a 2.76million-square-foot greenhouse in Morehead (Ky.) to help meet this goal. I'm looking forward to being able to find more and more of these AppHarvest products in our grocery stores as we move forward. 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. Dr. Jonathan Webb, a specialist knee surgeon at Nuffield Health Bristol Hospital, is the doctor. I want to talk with you about in regard to AppHarvest. If people remember that ice storm back in February, our facility operated, ramping up into full capacity with no issues in the middle of a global pandemic and the middle of an ice storm. Webb supported a large-scale solar project in Virginia while he was employed by the U.S. Department of Defense. AppHarvest raised $500 million on its balance sheet this year, went public on the Nasdaq, hired 400 people to work in its first facility, and brought its first product, beefsteak tomatoes, to grocery stores including Kroger, Walmart, and Publix. His grandmother grew up in Whitley County, where a coal mining accident killed his great-grandfather. Why locate in Appalachia? Do the hard work to create shareholder value now while also looking out for shareholders two decades from now, Webb said is his credo. I love that passion. There's going to be a lot of companies hopefully working to solve our food and agriculture problems. How do you feel about coming public a lot earlier than you probably would've normally? While living in Washington D.C. developing sustainable energy farms, Jonathan researched another type of farming the Netherlands and its high-tech greenhouses that in a single acre yield as much as 10 outdoor acres and virtually eliminate the use of chemicals. 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.. 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. Terms & Conditions. He acknowledges that scaling up so quickly in the middle of a pandemic is, almost unheard of in the current world. Sustainable investor Equilibrium When youre building tech for techs sake, you start to question what youre doing. You mentioned your children. My answer to that is always; sustainability is profitability. Almost every company in the coal industry has gone bankrupt over the last 10 years. Moser: It's impressive to think about the scope of what you are taking on because agriculture, farming, that's been something for so long, people just think, well, it's just what it's always been and we do it this way because that's the way we've always done it. The applied technology company is developing and operating some of the worlds largest high-tech indoor farms. By the end of next year, well quadruple that. You have climate disruption. Its first crop will be non-GMO tomatoes, which will be provided to a number of US grocers. Webb is one of very few knee surgeons to have played for both the England-France national teams. According to AppHarvest's earnings report released Feb. 24, the company had net sales of $9.1 million and net loss of of $166.2 million in 2021. AppHarvest raised over $475 million in a public IPO, but it is not over. I watch them, I watch their friends, the things that they care about. Age : 37. Your email address will not be published. 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. 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.