{"id":421480,"date":"2026-05-10T23:35:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-10T23:35:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/421480\/"},"modified":"2026-05-10T23:35:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-10T23:35:08","slug":"26-seasons-targets-1-75m-capital-raise-after-deal-to-supply-strawberries-to-airline-emirates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/421480\/","title":{"rendered":"26 Seasons targets $1.75m capital raise after deal to supply strawberries to airline Emirates"},"content":{"rendered":"
After shutting Foxton, 26 Seasons went on to seek opportunities overseas, using its proprietary know-how.<\/p>\n
The company first looked at Singapore, and then the Middle East, where food security is critical and where there is a high standard of living, and a high consumption per capita basis of berries, particularly strawberries.<\/p>\n
Leach said the Middle East was the more attractive proposition on paper, with its cheaper electricity costs, lower labour costs and more attractive premises.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you overlay that with the consumption per capita of strawberries and potentially other berries, then it was an environment worth exploring,\u201d Leach said.<\/p>\n
The company spoke to NZTE and the New Zealand Middle Eastern Business Council to gain an understanding of the region.<\/p>\n
Strawberries grown by 26 Seasons for Emirates’ Bustanica. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
Emirates Flight Catering already has a large vertical farm in Dubai called Bustanica, a 10,000sq m vertical farming facility producing mostly green leaf vegetables such as lettuce, primarily for the airline.<\/p>\n
Leach said Bustanica had tried unsuccessfully to grow strawberries indoors and was looking for a partner to grow them for first-class Emirates passengers.<\/p>\n
Co-founders Matthew Keltie, Steve Carden and Leach met with Bustanica management, who offered 26 Seasons the chance to grow strawberries in one of their rooms.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe did that for 12 months and then, earlier this year, in January, they said now we want to commercialise with you,\u201d Leach told the Herald.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat means that we go from, in effect, pre-revenue to a revenue-generating business.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said a deal to commercialise the arrangement with Emirates Bustanica was in progress and the company was also executing terms of agreement for an operation in Qatar.<\/p>\n
The company was in negotiations with a large grower in Abu Dhabi and was also in talks with a Saudi Arabian government entity.<\/p>\n
Leach said 26 Seasons aimed to achieve production double that of an outdoor grower and the company will hit three times normal production this year.<\/p>\n
As it stands, strawberries in the Middle East are grown in tunnel houses and glasshouses, but there is no year-round production.<\/p>\n
He said the current conflict in the Middle East had served to reinforce the importance of food security.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd countries are looking for those businesses and partners that can help them tick that box,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The company began in 2017 with an indoor vertical farm in a former Wellington nightclub and expanded last year to include microgreens \u2013 young seedlings of edible vegetables and herbs \u2013 in a converted warehouse in Penrose.<\/p>\n
Jamie Gray is an Auckland-based journalist, covering the financial markets, the primary sector and energy. He joined the Herald in 2011.<\/p>\n