Smallhold secures $25 million in Series A funding

Smallhold, a Brooklyn-based specialty mushroom company, has announced in a press releasea $25 million Series A investment. The round is led by Astanor Ventures, a European investment firm.

Additional funding is provided by Energy Impact Partners and Wheatsheaf Group alongside early investors, including AlleyCorp and David Barber’s fund, Almanac Insights. The funds, per the release, "will be used to continue growing Smallhold’s network of technology enabled mushroom farms and bring its operations to the West coast."

In less than a year, Smallhold says it has increased production by more than 500 percent. The brand began with five retailers and is now in nearly 250 restaurants and grocery store locations such as Whole Foods Market, FreshDirect, H-E-B, Safeway / Albertsons and Central Market. The company has expanded its footprint building expansive macro farms in Brooklyn, New York and two in Austin, Texas. The fourth is slated to open in the Los Angeles-area in early 2022.

“We want Americans to eat more and better mushrooms and we’ve created a sustainable way to grow fungi indoors,” said Andrew Carter, co-founder and CEO, per the release. “The mushroom category is growing exponentially as consumers can experience better, fresher and different fungi closer to home.”