Dubai-based Raiven Capital has invested in vertical farming specialist Vertical Harvest. The hydroponics farming operator specialises in building low energy high yield food production that can provide cities with large volume produce within their own perimeters, cutting transport, energy, chemical usage and pollution.

“Traditional agriculture is at a breaking point,” said Supreet Manchanda, Founding Partner at Raiven Capital. “Vertical Harvest is reinventing not only how we grow food, but where and by whom. Their farms represent scalable infrastructure for the future, and we see powerful applications of such Climatech solutions across the Middle East and beyond.”

With Raiven Capital’s Dubai based innovation hub and global reach, Vertical Harvest is positioned to expand its model. It aims to boost food sovereignty, economic inclusion, and climate resilience in smart cities worldwide.

Vertical Harvest’s new flagship farm in Westbrook, Maine, produces the equivalent of 250 acres of traditional farmland on just half an acre, using 95% less water, with the lowest energy consumption per pound of food. With partners Elevated Signals and Siemens advanced digital systems, Vertical Harvest has built a replicable, scalable platform for sustainable food production in the Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) space.

Without AI, CEA is labour and energy heavy making unit economics very shaky. AI shifts CEA closer to viable Climatech where resource use becomes highly efficient, margins improve radically, and scalability rises. Raiven treats AI + CEA as a bundle, as inseparable as in autonomous vehicles or drug discovery.

Vertical Harvest also embeds inclusive employment into its operating model. It creates tailored careers for under-represented workers, including people with disabilities. The company aims to turn high-tech farming into an engine of social mobility.

“Our farms don’t just grow food. They grow futures,” said Nona Yehia, CEO and Co-Founder of Vertical Harvest. “We are proving agriculture can be cutting-edge and fundamentally human-centred.”

“In much of the world, food security is national security,” said Paul Dugsin, Founding Partner at Raiven Capital. “Vertical Harvest is not just transforming agriculture; it is driving cultural and financial change by strengthening economies while building resilience.”