AppHarvest, Inc. Price & Performance (APPHW)

AppHarvest, the indoor farming firm once hailed for revolutionizing agriculture in Appalachia, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The company will continue operating select farms while restructuring its debt and transitioning some assets to partners. This follows a string of agtech bankruptcies, highlighting ongoing industry turbulence.1234

Plenty, a major vertical farming company backed by prominent investors, has entered bankruptcy proceedings after raising nearly $1 billion. The company will maintain limited operations during restructuring. This development adds to a list of recent high-profile agtech failures, reflecting persistent challenges in the sector’s business models and capital requirements.564

The collapse of 23andMe and AppHarvest underscores the mounting failures among companies that went public via SPACs during the pandemic boom. New data shows at least 40 former SPACs have filed for bankruptcy since 2022, raising concerns about the long-term viability of this once-popular path to public markets.45