Restauranteur Chipotle Mexican Grill, Newport Beach, Calif., on Dec. 11 announced that it is investing in agtech startup Nitricity, San Francsico, and Greenfield Robotics, Cheney, Kan.
Nitricity will used the funds to scale up its renewable nitrogen production at point-of-use, build out company infrastructure, and support the launch of its first commercial product within the next two years, while Greenfield will build out its fleet of autonomous agricultural robots and develop additional capabilities for them going forward, including micro-spraying, cover crop planting, and soil testing.
The two minority investments are being made through Chipotle’s $50 million Cultivate Next venture fund, which makes early-stage investments into strategically aligned companies that further Chipotle’s mission to Cultivate a Better World and help accelerate the company’s aggressive growth plans.
“We’re proud to support Nitricity’s pursuit of a product innovation whose environmental benefits are complimentary to Chipotle’s approach to Food With Integrity,” said Jack Hartung, Chief Financial and Administrative Officer for Chipotle.
“Fertilizers have experienced steep price increases in recent years due to supply chain issues, fossil fuel price volatility, and rising distribution costs,” Hartung continued. “Nitricity’s fertilizer offering not only has the potential to reduce the carbon footprint of the fertilizer industry, but it can be a cost-effective solution for growers in our supply chain.”
“Nitricity is committed to producing fertilizer that is optimized for farmers, not factory production or freight distribution,” said Nico Pinkowski, Co-Founder and CEO of Nitricity. “Partnering with Chipotle will unquestionably accelerate our path toward disrupting the industry with climate-smart technology.”