If you want to understand the scope of what Gabe Bialkwoski and Sal LaTorre are building in Ellicottville Greens, you have to think about the future.
Think about a hyper-efficient vertical farming operation in the parking lot of a grocery store, which is also a customer, with fresh organic produce being delivered hours after being picked. Or think of containers in the middle of a Midwestern city, selling those same products to restaurants at an affordable rate.
“We see ourselves in markets like Buffalo, Columbus and Cleveland, operating mobile farming units and working with distributors, grocers and larger restaurant chains,” Bialkowski said. “We’ll manage all the cost and you get the same produce, but now you get to say it’s grown a few miles away and harvested a day or two days before.”
This is more than a sketch on a napkin. Since founding the company in 2018, the duo has established organic indoor farming operations in four shipping containers, including three at its Ellicottville home base and one on the Eastern Hills Mall property in Clarence. The Launch NY client has raised $250,000 this year from Launch NY and other local angel investors.
And the time is now to take the early projects and put the models to work at commercial scale.
Why does it work? Bialkowski said that shipping containers allow for the affordable production of organic produce that is free of chemicals and at reduced risk of E. coli and other outbreaks. They use significantly less water and electricity than traditional indoor farms, he said.
The Buffalo native moved to Los Angeles in 2014, where he founded a music company that raised more than $1 million before it was passed on to larger partners. He came back to Western New York years later with experience in the startup space, including health-conscious businesses, and knew that vertical farming is a growing trend across the country.
“Everything investors look for we tried to solve with this: it’s asset-oriented, something you’re physically able to see and something that’s quickly scalable,” he said. “From a customer standpoint, they want local products and fresher produce. There isn’t a better time than now to be growing a company like this.”
Ellicottville Greens is the 22nd local startup to acknowledge private, growth-oriented financing this year. Others include Squire Technologies ($79 million), ACV Auctions ($55 million), Centivo ($34 million), Kyklo ($8.5 million), Tackle.io ($7.2 million), CleanSlate ($7 million), CleanFiber ($5.9 million), SparkCharge ($4.3 million), Pop Biotechnologies ($3 million), Circuit Clinical ($2.2 million), MimiVax ($2 million), UDDA ($750,o00), Buffalo Automation ($500,000), HELIXintel ($500,000), Thimble ($500,000), Swift Rails ($402,065), CloudInsyte ($300,000), BetterMynd ($250,000), Jeca Energy Bars ($120,000), Lift Bridge ($100,000 before it was acquired by CloudInsyte) and Capti Voice (undisclosed).
