Martha Stewart, board member, AppHarvest. Photo credit: Justin Hackworth/Alt Summit, licensed under Creative Commons

AppHarvest, an indoor farming upstart, has reached a deal to go public by merging with blank-check firm Novus Capital Corp. The merger will add $475 million to AppHarvest’s balance sheet, consisting of $100 million in already secured funding by Novus Capital Corp and $375 million in additional funds to be raised from investors. The reverse merger is expected to give AppHarvest an initial market capitalization of $1 billion on the public markets. As a private company, AppHarvest, which was founded just in 2017, has raised over $140 million in funding, with backers include notable names like ValueAct Capital and Steve Case’s Revolution.

AppHarvest will use the capital raised from its reverse listing to fund its operations which includes the building of additional high-tech controlled-environment indoor farms. AppHarvest currently operates just one of such farms albeit a relatively large one (60 acres) in the city of Morehead, Kentucky. The company is slated to harvest and begin selling its first produce from the farm in early 2021. AppHarvest has assembled a team of experienced agricultural growers and veterans to spearhead its operations. The Kentucky-based company has also courted businesswoman and famed television personality Martha Stewart as a board member, a big boon for marketing purposes. Also on AppHarvest’s board along with Stewart include legendary investor Jeffrey Ubben and David Lee, the Chief Financial Officer of plant-based meat products maker Impossible Foods.

AppHarvest expects its merger to be completed late in the fourth quarter of this year or early in the first quarter of next year.

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