Nthing
8 known investors
N.THING (μμ½) is a South Korean agtech company founded in 2014 that develops modular vertical farming solutions combining IoT and AI, handling design, construction, operation, cultivation, and supply. It sells premium fresh leafy greens and herbs to major retailers and restaurants and provides turnkey smart farm systems to governments, universities, and companies, targeting Korea and the broader Asian fresh produce market.
Also known as N.Thing Β· N.THING Β· N.THING Inc. Β· μμ½
Investors Β· 8
Also in the syndicate Β· 5
Company profile
researched Aug 2026N.THING Inc. (μμ½) is a South Korean agri-food technology company that designs, builds and operates controlled-environment vertical farms and sells the fresh produce grown in them. Founded on 10 January 2014, the company standardises farms as products: 40-foot container modules (the CUBE line) are assembled into sealed vertical farms covering entry/biosecurity, nursery, cultivation and storage/shipping functions, while larger "Giga Farm" plant factories of 1,000 pyeong or more are delivered turnkey, including design, construction, logistics automation and operator training. A third offering, Farm OS, is sold as a SaaS subscription that layers monitoring, automated equipment control and growth reporting onto existing greenhouses and facility farms via IoT sensors.
All three tiers run on the company's N.FARM.AI platform, which the company states controls light, temperature, humidity, CO2, illumination and nutrient solution around the clock, monitors environmental and growth indicators for every farm on a single dashboard, predicts harvest timing and yield, and uses vision AI for quality grading. The company's own Icheon facility, CUBE.ICHEON, in Gyeonggi-do serves as headquarters, reference plant factory and data source; the company reports cultivation output categories spanning leafy greens, strawberries, disease-free seedlings and automated transport systems. Earlier products included a mobile gardening journal application and a smart pot called Planty, with the first farm site established in Yongin, South Korea in 2018.
Corporate details published by the company list Hyeyeon Kim as CEO, with the 2021 fundraising announcement naming founder and CEO Leo Kim and CFO Chris Lee. Recognition cited by the company includes CES 2020 Best of Innovation, a CES 2022 Innovation Award, WEF Technology Pioneer and an iF Design Award, alongside EPD, pesticide-free and GAP certifications and a TCB TI-2 technology rating.
Founding story
The company began in 2014 with a mobile-friendly gardening journal as its first product and received international recognition in its first year; the founders subsequently developed the Planty smart pot before scaling into modular container vertical farms. Leo Kim is identified as founder and CEO in 2021 materials, with Hyeyeon Kim listed as CEO in current company facts.
Business model
N.THING combines product/project sales with recurring software and produce revenue. It builds vertical farms for corporate, public-sector, university and research clients on a turnkey basis (design, construction, logistics automation, operating consulting), licenses its Farm OS smart-farm operating system as a SaaS subscription to operators of existing greenhouses and facility farms, and grows and sells fresh leafy greens year-round through its own farms to retail, group catering and food manufacturing customers.
Revenue lines described by the company are farm construction/turnkey projects for external clients, SaaS subscription fees for Farm OS, and sales of fresh vegetables produced in its own farms. The company reports an order pipeline of over KRW 20 billion from projects in progress.
Traction
The company reports more than 4 million heads of fresh vegetables supplied cumulatively, 1,767 cumulative growing cycles of cultivation data, over KRW 32 billion raised through Series C from 16+ institutional investors, and an order pipeline exceeding KRW 20 billion. Delivered or contracted farm projects include KT&G's technology research institute (Daejeon, 2022-11), Yonam University (2022-03), Kwangwoon AI High School (2023-04), Gyeongnam Smart Farm Innovation Valley (Miryang, 2024-06), a Samsung Welstory PoC (Icheon, 2024-06), Ottogi Jeyu (Eumseong, 2025-02), Jeonbuk National University (2025-02), IPB University in Indonesia (2025-04), the National Institute of Horticultural and Herbal Science (Wanju, 2025-07), Gapyeong County agricultural technology centre (2025-07), a Nowon-gu urban smart farm (2025-12), and a Bionote vertical farm (Pyeongtaek, scheduled 2026-07). SSG supply began in 2024, and Samsung Securities was appointed IPO lead manager in 2023.
Latest developments
A strategic investment from Samsung Venture Investment closed in December 2025, and the company states a 2026 bridge round is open. In May 2025, Money Today reported the company was pursuing development of a KRW 100 billion logistics-centre-type vertical farm smart farm project. Recent and upcoming projects include the Nowon-gu urban smart farm (December 2025) and a Bionote vertical farm in Pyeongtaek scheduled for July 2026.
βΈFull profile β market position, technology, go-to-market, geography, history
Market position
The company positions itself as a vertical farming operator that standardises farms as manufactured, software-operated products, and describes CUBE as the world's first modular vertical farm. It cites being the first company in the agricultural field to win CES Best of Innovation (2020), the first smart farming company to win an iF Design Award for Architecture (2020), and the first vertical farm with EPD certification. Coverage describes it as one of the frontiers of vertical farming in Korea.
N.THING standardises farms into repeatable container modules operated by one software system, so that the same cultivation program can run at any site with only a plot of land required for plug-and-play installation. The same operating layer (N.FARM.AI) spans three delivery scales β software-only Farm OS for existing farms, CUBE container modules producing 20+ tonnes of leafy greens per year, and Giga Farm plant factories producing 200+ tonnes per year β and cultivation data from every farm is pooled to improve subsequent designs and growing recipes. Crops are grown without pesticides in sealed, fully controlled environments.
Technology
The core technology is N.FARM.AI, a platform that accumulates cultivation and environmental data from all of the company's farms and feeds it back into environment settings for subsequent growing cycles. It provides real-time monitoring of environmental and growth indicators across farms, growth and yield/harvest-timing prediction from learned cultivation patterns, automatic control of LED lighting, HVAC and irrigation equipment, and vision-AI based quality grading. Hardware standardisation is based on 40-foot container modules assembled into fully sealed vertical farms with automation from sowing through harvest and packing. The company states its vertical farms repeat 15 or more growing cycles per year versus one or two in open fields, and reports 1,767 cumulative growing cycles of data.
Go-to-market
The company sells directly through business enquiry and IR channels on its own site, works with strategic corporate investors and partners (KT&G, E1, Samsung Venture Investment) that also serve as customers or channel partners, and wins public-sector and university tenders in Korea. Internationally it has used proof-of-concept deployments and partnerships, such as the Smart Acres project with Sarya Holdings in Abu Dhabi and an Indonesian ODA project with IPB University. It has also operated a consumer-facing smart farm showroom, Sik Mul Sung Dosan, in Seoul, and publishes press materials and a newsroom for media coverage.
Large retailers and e-commerce grocers, group catering and food manufacturers, corporates building in-house vertical farms, national and municipal governments, agricultural technology centres, universities and research institutes, and overseas development-aid projects. Named partners and customers include SSG.COM, KT&G, SG Dinehill, the Rural Development Administration, Yonam University, Jeonbuk National University, Ottogi Jeyu, Bionote, Samsung Welstory, Nowon-gu Office, Gapyeong County and IPB University in Indonesia.
Geography
Headquarters and principal farm are at 2330-63 Gyeongchung-daero, Icheon-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea; the company was earlier described as Seoul-based, with its first farm in Yongin (2018) and a showroom in Seoul. Domestic projects span Gyeonggi, Seoul, Daejeon, Chungbuk, Chungnam, Jeonbuk and Gyeongnam. International activity includes Abu Dhabi, UAE (Smart Acres PoC, 2020-22, with Sarya Holdings) and Bogor, Indonesia (IPB University, 2025).
History
N.THING Inc. was established on 10 January 2014, starting with a mobile gardening journal app and later a smart pot called Planty before moving into modular vertical farming. Its first farm opened in Yongin, South Korea in 2018, used for commercial production and R&D. It won CES Best of Innovation in 2020 and an iF Design Award for Architecture in 2020, followed by a CES 2022 Innovation Award. In May 2021 it signed a deal with Sarya Holdings to build a vertical farm in the UAE, and in October 2021 announced a $26 million total Series B. Samsung Securities was appointed IPO lead manager in 2023, a Samsung Welstory PoC was completed and SSG supply began in 2024, and a strategic investment from Samsung Venture Investment closed in December 2025.
Compiled by commissioned research from 7 cited public sources β announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Key figures
latest reportedCompany-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed β not independently audited.
Timeline Β· 13
launches, deals, and filingsThe company states a 2026 bridge round is currently open, with materials shared individually with prospective investors.
N.THING states that a strategic investment from Samsung Venture Investment closed in December 2025.
Money Today reported that N.THING was pursuing development of a logistics-centre-type vertical farm smart farm on a KRW 100 billion scale.
A viability proof-of-concept with Samsung Welstory was completed in Icheon and produce supply to SSG began.
CUBE, an indoor modular vertical farm, was named a CES 2022 Innovation Award honoree in the sustainability, eco-design and smart energy category.
N.THING signed a deal with UAE-based Sarya Holdings to construct a $3 million vertical farm; as a strategic partner it would evaluate vertical farm clusters in Abu Dhabi to supply crops across the UAE and GCC.
$3M source β
The company reported working with Korean retailer Emart to distribute crops from newly built vertical farm units in Icheon, Korea.
N.THING opened its first smart farm showroom, a premium shop complex space featuring its flagship product.
N.THING won Best of Innovation at CES 2020, described as the first in the agricultural field.
The company is described as the world's first smart farming company to win the iF Design Award for Architecture in 2020.
The company's first farm site, used for commercial production and further R&D.
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
βΈResearch sources Β· 7
primary sources listed
- Nthingnthing.net Β· web
7 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does Nthing do?
- South Korean agtech company building modular container and large-scale AI-operated vertical farms and selling the produce they grow.
- Who are Nthing's investors?
- Nthing's investors include Samsung Venture Investment Corporation, Kiwoom Investment, TBT.