Oishii closes $150M Series C as premium vertical farming defies sector slump

Oishii, the indoor strawberry grower behind the Omakase Berry and Koyo Berry brands, announced on May 14 a $150M Series C led by SPARX Asset Management with participation from Resilience Reserve and existing backer Mirai Creation Fund. The round values the company at roughly $1.1B post-money - a rare unicorn-tier mark in a vertical-farming category that has lost more than 60% of its 2022 valuation peak. The capital will fund a third US facility in the Pacific Northwest and a flagship Tokyo bay-area farm that will become the company's largest single site. Oishii claims unit-economic break-even at facility level on its second-generation New Jersey plant, with gross margins above 35% on Whole Foods and high-end Japanese department-store SKUs. CEO Hiroki Koga framed the round as validation of a narrow, premium-only strategy: 'We never pretended vertical lettuce works at scale. Pollinator-dependent fruit at luxury price points is a different business, and the unit economics are now obvious.' The company has pollinated more than 12 million blossoms with native bumblebees inside sealed grow rooms since 2022. For founders and investors, the signal is twofold. First, CEA capital is still available - but only for SKUs where consumer willingness-to-pay supports a $5-$10 retail price per 8-oz pack. Second, the moat is biology (bee management, breeding) rather than LED stacking or software. Expect copycat raises in premium tomato, melon, and edible flowers over the next six months.