{"id":"82c11c54-1a97-46ae-8e6f-bd3dc36d0726","slug":"irving-fain","name":"Irving Fain","bioBrief":"Founder and CEO of [Bowery Farming](/companies/bowery-farming), once the largest vertical farming company in the US, which he founded in 2015 in New York City. A Brown University graduate (class of 2002), Fain previously co-founded and led CrowdTwist, a multi-channel customer loyalty platform acquired by Oracle for approximately $100 million. Bowery Farming raised over $650M and was valued at $2.3B at its peak, but ceased operations in November 2024 amid rising costs and a pullback in agtech funding.","priorExits":null,"nationality":"American","verificationPosture":"verified","aliases":[],"sources":[{"url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowery_Farming","title":"Bowery Farming — Wikipedia","sourceName":"Wikipedia"},{"url":"https://pitchbook.com/news/articles/bowery-indoor-farming-agtech-company-ceases-operations","title":"Bowery, once a leading indoor farming company valued at $2.3B, shuts down","sourceName":"PitchBook"},{"url":"https://www.brownalumnimagazine.com/articles/2022-11-03/cyber-farm-Irving-Fain-Bowery-Farm","title":"Cyber Farm: Irving Fain '02 grows crops with less water, no pesticides","sourceName":"Brown Alumni Magazine"},{"url":"https://milkeninstitute.org/events/middle-east-and-africa-summit-2022/speakers/irving-fain","title":"Irving Fain — CEO and Founder, Bowery Farming","sourceName":"Milken Institute"}],"reviewStatus":"reviewed","createdAt":"2026-08-18T04:01:27.764Z","updatedAt":"2026-08-19T07:43:07.466Z","educations":[],"companyRoles":[{"id":"d29072bd-bdd2-4951-a44b-cd5be3500ecc","personId":"82c11c54-1a97-46ae-8e6f-bd3dc36d0726","companyId":"7d301d53-d337-485e-979a-f4072ee334b4","role":"ceo","roleTitle":"CEO & Founder","startDate":null,"endDate":null,"currentRole":true,"roleBasis":"verified_secondary","createdAt":"2026-08-18T04:01:28.531Z","company":{"slug":"bowery-farming","name":"Bowery Farming"}},{"id":"25b5b849-87b7-46b0-be86-b826d09eb547","personId":"82c11c54-1a97-46ae-8e6f-bd3dc36d0726","companyId":"7d301d53-d337-485e-979a-f4072ee334b4","role":"founder","roleTitle":"Founder","startDate":null,"endDate":null,"currentRole":true,"roleBasis":"verified_secondary","createdAt":"2026-08-19T07:43:42.821Z","company":{"slug":"bowery-farming","name":"Bowery Farming"}}],"boardRoles":[],"investorRoles":[],"foundings":[]}