Fifth Season, a Pittsburgh-based indoor vertical farming startup that used advanced robotics to grow a variety of leafy greens for distribution in salad kits sold at hundreds of grocery stores, has shut down.
According to multiple sources familiar with the matter, the revenue-producing startup officially closed its doors on Friday. It employed about 100 workers, most of whom reported to its headquarters in The Highline building on the South Side while others worked out of its 60,000-square-foot indoor farming facility in Braddock.
A representative from the company declined to speak on the record about the startup’s closing at this time.
Details on what led to its closure remain unknown, though it comes amid a local and national backdrop of difficult times for capital-heavy tech startups seeking additional investments amid tightening economic conditions. The closure of Fifth Season is the latest blow to Pittsburgh’s startup community as it comes just days after Strip District-based autonomous vehicle startup Argo AI announced it, too, had closed. Argo’s local employment reached about 800 workers across the region and nearly 2,000 people worldwide.
