Shenandoah Growers changes name to Soli Organic

Soli Organic, formerly known as Shenandoah Growers, today announced a $120 million financing arrangement with leading real estate development firm Decennial Group.

Soli Organic was also launched as a new corporate name and brand, Soli Organic. The word Soli is derived from the Latin word for soil and, per the release, “reflects the pivotal role of soil in enabling the company’s mission to make low-cost, high-quality, organic produce grown nearby available to everyone.”

Per the announcement, the arrangement with Decennial Group is a “key component of the Company’s strategy to further expand production capacity to meet growing demand.” Soli Organic intends to build eight new farms, in addition to its seven farms in operation today. The Decennial Group financing will support construction of three of the eight planned facilities. Each 100,000 square foot facility will have an annual production capacity of 5 million pounds. The ground was broken on the first facility financed through Decennial Group, which is located in Anderson County, South Carolina, and is anticipated to be operational by the second quarter of 2022.

“Working with Soli Organic aligns perfectly with the Decennial Group core mission to add value for best-in-class operating companies seeking an optimized real estate investment and development solution,” said Scott Goodman, Decennial Group Managing Partner. “We could not be prouder of this arrangement with Soli Organic, which we believe will support the company’s mission-critical real estate needs in a way that is effective, efficient and highly scalable, while maximizing social impact.”

“Through our proprietary soil-based, organic, indoor production system, Soli Organic is the first company to unlock the full value of controlled environment agriculture, including considerable cost savings and environmental benefits. Support from Decennial Group and equity partners enables Soli Organic to further scale and share those benefits with more retail customers and more consumers in more geographies,” said Matt Ryan, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Soli Organic. “As a result, Soli Organic is well-positioned to continue to build on our strong legacy of financial and market performance, execute against our growth plan, and deliver differentiated organic products that meet existing and future customer demand.”

Soli Organic also announced several new hires, including former Starbucks executive Matt Ryan as CEO; former Postmates senior vice president Mike Buckley as Chief Financial Officer; former Walmart executive Cameron Geiger as Chief Operating Officer; and leading plant biology and lighting expert Dr. Tessa Pocock as Chief Science Officer. They join longstanding ELT members President Philip Karp, Chief Customer Officer Steven Wright and Chief Technology Officer Ulf Jönsson.

The corporate name change to Soli Organic is effective immediately. Product branding will begin to convert to Soli Organic on select product lines in next spring.