Green Labs, a South Korean agtech startup that raised $140 million (170 billion won) Series C in January last year, is cutting a significant number of jobs.
People familiar with the matter confirmed to TechCrunch earlier rumors by local media outlets that a workforce deduction would happen.
Green Labs, which now has more than 650 employees, is laying off some of its workers as part of a restructuring after doubling employees following its Series C funding. TechCrunch reported that GreenLabs had 320 employees in January 2022.
We do not have an exact figure of how many Green Labs plans to lay off its staff. Green Labs confirmed to TechCrunch that it is conducting a round of layoffs that could impact at least 50% of its workforce.
Apart from the layoff, the startup is hitting a roadblock to raising another round of funding. The outfit ran out of money as it overstretched its expansion, according to the people familiar with the matter.
Founded in 2017 by Sanghoon Shin, Scott Sungwoo Choi and Luke Donghyun Ahn, Choi and Ahn have already left the startup, and Shin is now leading the company.
Green Labs, whose pre-money valuation was approximately $700 million, received Series C funding from BRV Capital Management, Skylake Incuvest and SK Square to accelerate global expansion of its core business proposition: building sustainable solutions to resolve global food supply chain issues. Green Labs has raised a total of $170 million since its inception.
The startup has built smart farming software and hardware for farmers to digitize the entire value chain of the agriculture industry from crop production to distribution. The startup claimed that Green Labs’ B2C app, Farm Morning, is used by more than half a million farmers. Green Labs has said that the app aggregates farming data and then artificial intelligence gives insights into crop lifecycles. Its B2B marketplace, Sinsun Market, offers sourcing channels for over 10,000 enterprise buyers.
(Updates with comments from Green Labs)
South Korea’s agtech startup Green Labs raises $140M Series C to accelerate global expansion
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