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Smallhold designs and operates networks of indoor mushroom farms, utilizing proprietary technology to cultivate organic specialty mushrooms. The company employs automated, modular, and remotely managed growing systems, which are deployed in urban environments to bring fresh produce closer to consumers. This approach integrates advanced farming techniques to efficiently produce high-quality fungi within a controlled setting.
The company was co-founded in 2017 by Andrew Carter and Adam De Martino. They began their venture in a Brooklyn shipping container, driven by the insight that localized, accessible production could significantly improve the availability and quality of specialty mushrooms. This initial setup underscored their commitment to developing a scalable, sustainable model for urban agriculture.
Smallhold’s products are distributed to various retail and food service partners, making a diverse range of organic mushrooms available to a broader market. The company’s long-term vision centers on making specialty, organic mushrooms more accessible and better understood by consumers, expanding the reach of responsibly grown produce into everyday diets.
Smallhold has raised $25.0M across 1 funding round.
Smallhold has raised $25.0M in total across 1 funding round.
Smallhold has raised $25.0M in total across 1 funding round.
Smallhold's investors include Astanor Ventures, Entrada Ventures, Highbury Group, Rincon Venture Partners, Upfront Ventures, Anne Wojcicki, Katy Perry.
Smallhold has raised $25.0M across 1 funding round. Most recently, it raised $25.0M Series A in October 2021.
| Date | Round | Lead Investors | Other Investors | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 1, 2021 | $25M Series A | — | Astanor Ventures, Entrada Ventures, Highbury Group, Rincon Venture Partners, Upfront Ventures, Anne Wojcicki, Katy Perry | Announced |
Smallhold is an agtech company specializing in organic gourmet mushroom farming through a distributed network of indoor farms in cities like Brooklyn, New York; Austin, Texas; and Los Angeles, California.[1][2][4][6] It produces varieties such as yellow oyster, blue oyster, lion's mane, maitake, shiitake, and trumpet mushrooms, sold to over 1,000 grocery stores, farmers' markets, restaurants, and online, while also offering home cultivation kits and products like mushroom pesto; its proprietary FarmLinc technology optimizes yields, resource efficiency (water, energy, labor), and reduces waste by enabling localized, high-output production near urban consumers.[2][3][4][5][6] The company solves food supply chain inefficiencies by minimizing transportation ("food miles"), packaging waste, and environmental impact in mushroom production—a sustainable protein alternative—serving food retailers and consumers amid rising demand for local, organic produce; it raised $28.79M from investors like Monomyth, Techstars Ventures, and AlleyCorp before filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in February 2024, emerging in September 2024 with a "Resilient Partner Farm Network" backed by Monomyth.[1][2][3]
As a Certified B Corp, Smallhold emphasizes sustainability, connecting people to food sources while scaling through tech-driven, modular farms (e.g., minifarms producing 60 lbs/week for on-site grocery harvesting).[4][5][6]
Founded in 2017 by Andrew Carter in a shipping container in Brooklyn, New York, Smallhold emerged from fascination with mushrooms' potential as a sustainable food source to address global feeding challenges, leveraging their ability to decompose waste and thrive efficiently.[1][2][3][4] Carter's team developed proprietary technologies and supply chains for small, high-output urban farms, starting with New York City and expanding to Austin (home to an R&D lab for varietals and methods) and Los Angeles.[2][6] Early traction came from supplying specialty mushrooms to retailers, growing to over 1,000 U.S. stores; pivotal moments included patenting innovations (2 patents in network security and protocols), B Corp certification, and product diversification like mushroom pesto in 2023, despite bankruptcy in February 2024 due to operational pressures—followed by a swift restructuring exit in September 2024 led by investor Monomyth.[1][2][3][5]
Smallhold rides the agtech wave of vertical/indoor farming, addressing climate-driven food security by localizing production of nutrient-dense, low-resource crops like mushrooms amid urbanization and supply chain disruptions.[1][4] Timing aligns with post-pandemic demand for resilient, sustainable proteins—mushrooms as a "kingdom" of fungi offer scalability without vast land, riding trends in plant-based foods and urban agriculture.[2][4] Market forces like rising organic demand, water scarcity, and emissions regulations favor its efficient model, influencing the ecosystem by pioneering distributed networks that inspire agtech peers (e.g., in geospatial/farm management) and B Corp standards for foodtech.[1][5] Its bankruptcy-exit demonstrates resilience in a capital-intensive sector, potentially accelerating partner-led scaling.
Post-restructuring, Smallhold's partner farm network—bolstered by Monomyth—positions it to expand beyond core sites, prioritizing R&D for new varietals and minifarm deployments in high-demand urban areas.[3][6] Trends like AI-optimized agtech, mycology's role in regenerative food systems, and B Corp-driven sustainability will shape growth, evolving its influence from direct producer to enabler of localized mushroom ecosystems. This Brooklyn-born innovator, once challenged by scale, now exemplifies agtech's pivot to networked resilience, turning fungi's ancient efficiency into tomorrow's urban staple.
