Plenty Unlimited: Prepackaged Plan Wipes Equity After 99% Valuation Drop

Plenty Unlimited completed a 53-day prepackaged chapter 11 and emerged on May 29, 2025, wiping out existing equity after the vertical-farming company's valuation fell more than 99% from a $1.9 billion peak reached in January 2022. Plenty Unlimited Texas LLC and six affiliated debtors filed voluntary chapter 11 petitions on March 23, 2025 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas, Houston Division (Case No. 25-90105), before Judge Christopher M. Lopez.

The company arrived in Houston with a prepackaged plan of reorganization, a disclosure statement, and a $20.7 million debtor-in-possession financing commitment, all filed on the petition date. Plenty had raised nearly $1 billion since 2014 from SoftBank's Vision Fund, Jeff Bezos, Eric Schmidt, and Walmart, making it the largest-funded vertical-farming company to restructure. The dual-track filing carried both a reorganization path built on a $30 million new-money rights offering and a stalking-horse sale backstop, and it preserved operations at the company's Richmond, Virginia strawberry farm throughout the case.

Debtor(s)	Plenty Unlimited Texas LLC (7 jointly administered entities)
Court	U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of Texas (Houston Division)
Case Number	25-90105
Judge	Hon. Christopher M. Lopez
Petition Date	March 23, 2025
Plan	Second Amended Joint Chapter 11 Plan of Reorganization
Confirmation Date	May 15, 2025
Effective Date	May 29, 2025
DIP Facility	$20.7 million senior secured delayed-draw (plan sponsors)
Claims Agent	Stretto, Inc.
Peak Valuation	$1.9 billion (January 2022); implied <$15 million by January 2025

Ask ElevenFlo about Plenty Unlimited

View case record

From SoftBank's $200M Bet to a 99% Valuation Cut

Plenty was founded in South San Francisco in 2014 by Jack Oslan, Matt Barnard, Nate Mazonson, and Nate Storey, with Barnard as initial CEO. The company built vertical farms designed to grow produce using a fraction of the water and land of conventional agriculture. In June 2017, Plenty acquired Bright Agrotech, folding co-founder Nate Storey's vertical-farming patents and equipment into the company and retaining all 43 employees.

Plenty's funding trajectory tracked the agtech capital cycle and its reversal. A July 2017 $200 million round led by SoftBank's Vision Fund drew Jeff Bezos through Bezos Expeditions and Eric Schmidt through Innovation Endeavors. The January 2022 $400 million Series E—the largest investment ever in an indoor-farming company—was led by One Madison Group and JS Capital, with participation from SoftBank Vision Fund 1 and strategic investor Walmart. The Series E valued Plenty at $1.9 billion. SoftBank ultimately funneled more than $400 million into the company across rounds, making it Plenty's largest backer ahead of Bezos, Walmart, One Madison, JS Capital, DCM Ventures, Finistere Ventures, and strategic partner Driscoll's.

By January 2025, Plenty was in talks to raise $125 million in a recapitalization that valued existing shares at less than $15 million—a decline of more than 90% from the Series E mark three years earlier. One Madison Group was expected to lead the new financing, with SoftBank and Walmart in discussions to participate. The recapitalization talks preceded the March 2025 prepackaged filing, under which the plan sponsors provided the new-money financing.

Compton Closure and the Strawberry Pivot

The case coincided with a shift from leafy greens to strawberries. The 2022 Walmart investment came with a leafy-greens supply agreement, and to fulfill it Plenty opened a Compton, California farm in May 2023. Less than two years later, the company closed Compton in December 2024, citing rising California energy and operating costs, and redirected its focus to berries.

The pivot built on an October 2020 joint development agreement with Driscoll's to grow Driscoll's proprietary strawberries year-round indoors. In September 2024, Plenty opened its Richmond, Virginia strawberry farm, designed to produce more than 4 million pounds of strawberries annually on a 120-acre campus. The Driscoll's Plenty Sweet line launched at Walmart stores in early 2025 and continued selling through the bankruptcy.

By the petition date, Plenty's founding leadership had departed. Co-founder and original CEO Matt Barnard had moved on to other ventures, and investor-CEO Arama Kukutai also left. PitchBook attributed the company's distress to a gap between willingness to pay and farming cost, while Storey remained as the technical lead.

Vertical Farming's 2025 Bankruptcy Wave

Plenty's filing was part of a sector-wide collapse. Fourteen indoor-farming and CEA-related bankruptcies occurred in 2025, with vertical-farming operators accounting for most of the failures and combined historical funding exceeding $1.37 billion. With roughly $1 billion raised, Plenty was the largest-funded company in the cohort, alongside Eden Green Technology, Freight Farms, and Vertical Future.

The 2025 wave built on earlier casualties. AeroFarms filed chapter 11 in June 2023 with $10 million in DIP financing and emerged that September under a new CEO, refocused on its Danville farm. AppHarvest also filed in 2023, and Bowery Farming, once valued at $2.3 billion, ceased operations in November 2024 after raising more than $700 million. Industry commentary attributed the wave to easy money and levered valuations during the low-rate era, followed by a funding pullback that closed equity markets to unprofitable operators and foreshadowed further closures.

Prepetition Capital Structure and the $20.7M DIP

The first day declaration of Colin M. Adams described assets and liabilities each in the $100 million to $500 million range and framed the cases as necessary to avoid an immediate shutdown of the Virginia Farm. The debtors estimated they needed roughly $12 million during the interim period and about $8.7 million more over the course of the cases, with only about eight weeks of committed financing runway.

The declaration of Daniel Malech detailed the liability stack. Approximately $8.7 million of bridge-loan principal was outstanding, plus accrued interest and fees, on a facility that originally permitted up to $2.4 million, carried a 12% annual interest rate, and was secured by substantially all assets. The declaration also described roughly $45 million of asserted Virginia mechanic's and materialmen's lien claims—estimated at about $28 million excluding duplication—tied to the Richmond build-out, plus approximately $30 million of trade and other obligations. Major prepetition equity holders included SVF Excalibur, One Madison, and Walmart.

Postpetition liquidity came from the plan sponsors through a $20.7 million senior secured delayed-draw DIP facility. The final DIP order granted DIP liens, superpriority claims, adequate-protection liens, and a carve-out, alongside reporting covenants and a challenge-period and professional-invoice-review structure; the facility remained in effect until obligations were paid in full and commitments terminated. The DIP kept the Richmond strawberry farm and the Laramie, Wyoming R&D facility operating through the case. Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP and Sullivan & Cromwell LLP represented DIP lenders.

The debtors filed their first-day motions alongside the petition, and on March 24, 2025 the court entered orders providing for joint administration of the seven entities, complex case treatment, cash management, payment of prepetition employee wages and benefits, and retention of Stretto, Inc. as claims agent. The combined scheduling order set the final disclosure-statement and confirmation hearing for May 14, 2025, with objections due May 6.

Plan Class Treatment and Projected Recoveries

The Second Amended Joint Chapter 11 Plan classified claims and interests into eight classes. Classes 1 (Other Priority Claims) and 2 (Other Secured Claims) were unimpaired and projected to recover 100%. Classes 3, 4, and 5 were the impaired voting classes; Classes 6 (Intercompany Claims) and 7 (Intercompany Interests) were reinstated, cancelled, or settled at the debtors' discretion; and Class 8 (Existing Equity Interests) was cancelled without distribution.

The disclosure statement projected sharply tiered recoveries for the impaired classes, with higher outcomes available to holders that participated in the rights offering. Class 3 Bridge Facility claims of approximately $8.675 million (exclusive of accrued interest and fees) were projected to recover 0% or more, paid through a pro rata share of new equity plus rights-offering participation. Class 4 Virginia mechanic's lien claims of approximately $30.37 million were projected to recover at least 28.5%, through cash equal to 30% of each allowed claim plus completion equity for The Whiting-Turner Contracting Company and rights-offering participation. Class 5 general unsecured claims of approximately $32.02 million were projected to recover at least 0.78%, through a pro rata share of the GUC cash pool, GUC warrants, and rights-offering participation.

The plan was built around at least $30 million of new-money rights-offering equity, with subscription rights allocated among bridge-facility claimholders, allowed Virginia mechanic's lien claimholders, general unsecured creditors, and then existing preferred equity for any unsubscribed amount. The rights offering procedures were filed on April 7, 2025, and the plan contemplated a private placement of new equity on the effective date.

A central negotiated feature was the Virginia mechanic's lien settlement. The confirmation order and confirmed plan described a $1.25 million additional settlement amount—potentially funded by the Virginia property landlord or another source—shared pro rata among allowed Virginia mechanic's lien claimholders, with any unpaid balance converting into deficiency claims treated as general unsecured claims. The confirmation declaration of Colin M. Adams described a global settlement with the general contractor, subcontractors, and landlord, plus a committee settlement that improved Class 5 recoveries through additional cash and GUC warrants, and stipulated resolutions with Kuehne & Nagel Inc. and Barry-Wehmiller Design Group, Inc.

Dual-Track Confirmation and the One Madison Credit Bid

Plenty ran a dual-track process combining plan confirmation with a stalking-horse-backed sale. The Malech declaration stated that the plan sponsors or an affiliate would serve as stalking horse and intended to credit bid the DIP loans in a section 363 sale if the reorganization track failed. The bid procedures order provided that absent a qualified bid topping the stalking horse, the debtors would cancel the auction and designate the stalking horse as successful bidder. On April 25, 2025, having received no competing qualified bids, the debtors canceled the auction and designated One Madison Group – Pluto, LLC as the successful bidder.

The plan moved quickly from petition to confirmation. The debtors filed their original plan on the petition date, followed by the First Amended Plan on May 2 and the Second Amended Plan on May 12. After the May 14 hearing, Judge Lopez entered the confirmation order on May 15, 2025—53 days from filing—approving the plan's liquidation-trust structure, the settlements, and the third-party release framework, and confirming a fully consensual plan.

The debtors' confirmation brief reported that, apart from a contract cure dispute, the only remaining confirmation objection came from the U.S. Trustee, who challenged opt-out third-party releases, injunction and gatekeeping provisions, and waiver of the 14-day stay. The debtors defended the releases as consensual under local practice and agreed to certain governmental-claims language in the confirmation order. The plan became effective on May 29, 2025, per the notice of effective date, with exit financing from One Madison, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, and additional investors. Plenty emerged with the Richmond strawberry operation intact and resumed construction to expand the farm's growing space.

Liquidation Trust and Professional Fees

The confirmed plan established a liquidation trust as successor in interest for post-confirmation claims administration. The post-confirmation report for the quarter ended December 31, 2025 described the trust as still reconciling claims, with a final-decree application anticipated by December 31, 2026, and professional fees payable from pre-confirmation reserve accounts rather than by the trust. The trustee sought extensions of the claims-objection deadline in late 2025 and early 2026 as reconciliation continued.

The debtors retained Sidley Austin LLP as lead counsel, Jefferies LLC as investment banker, and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati and Howley Law PLLC as special counsel. The Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors retained McDermott Will & Emery LLP as counsel, Province, LLC as financial advisor, and Sands Anderson PC as special counsel. The post-confirmation report listed the following approved fees and expenses:

Firm	Approved Fees and Expenses
Sidley Austin LLP	$2,432,650
Jefferies LLC	$1,775,534
CBMN Advisors LLC	$1,717,123
McDermott Will & Emery LLP	$1,123,873
Province, LLC	$695,857
Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati	$684,327
Howley Law PLLC	$397,212
Sands Anderson PC	$30,726

Key Timeline

Plenty emerged from chapter 11 on May 29, 2025, 53 days after the March 23 petition date.

Date	Event
2014	Plenty founded in South San Francisco
June 2017	Acquires Bright Agrotech; Nate Storey joins full-time
July 2017	$200M SoftBank-led round with Bezos and Schmidt participation
October 2020	Driscoll's partnership announced for indoor strawberries
January 2022	$400M Series E at $1.9B valuation (One Madison, Walmart, SoftBank)
May 2023	Compton, California leafy-greens farm opens
September 2024	Richmond, Virginia strawberry farm opens
December 2024	Compton farm closes; focus shifts to strawberries
January 2025	Recapitalization talks imply <$15M value (>99% below peak)
March 23, 2025	Chapter 11 petitions, prepackaged plan, disclosure statement, and $20.7M DIP commitment filed
March 24, 2025	Joint administration, complex case, and combined scheduling orders entered
April 7, 2025	Rights offering procedures filed
April 25, 2025	Auction canceled; One Madison Group – Pluto, LLC designated successful bidder
May 2, 2025	First Amended Plan filed
May 12, 2025	Second Amended Plan filed
May 14, 2025	Combined disclosure-statement and confirmation hearing
May 15, 2025	Confirmation order entered (53 days from petition)
May 29, 2025	Plan effective; emergence from chapter 11
Late 2025–2026	Liquidation trust continues claims reconciliation

Frequently Asked Questions

When did Plenty Unlimited file for chapter 11, and where?

Plenty Unlimited Texas LLC and six affiliates filed chapter 11 on March 23, 2025 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas, Houston Division (Case No. 25-90105), before Judge Christopher M. Lopez. The filing was prepackaged, with the plan and disclosure statement filed the same day.

How long did the chapter 11 case take?

The court confirmed the plan on May 15, 2025—53 days after the petition—and the plan became effective on May 29, 2025. The compressed schedule was tied to about eight weeks of committed DIP runway.

What did creditors recover under the plan?

The disclosure statement projected at least 28.5% for roughly $30.37 million of Virginia mechanic's lien claims (Class 4), 0% or more for roughly $8.675 million of bridge facility claims (Class 3), and at least 0.78% for roughly $32.02 million of general unsecured claims (Class 5), before any rights-offering uplift. Existing equity (Class 8) was cancelled without distribution.

Who provided DIP and exit financing?

The plan sponsors provided a $20.7 million senior secured delayed-draw DIP facility. Exit financing came from One Madison, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, and additional investors.

Who is the claims agent for Plenty Unlimited?

Stretto, Inc. serves as claims and noticing agent under a first-day retention order entered March 24, 2025. Post-confirmation claims reconciliation is administered through the liquidation trust established under the confirmed plan.

Is Plenty still operating after bankruptcy?

Yes. Plenty emerged on May 29, 2025 with its Richmond, Virginia strawberry farm intact and resumed construction to expand growing space, while the liquidation trust continues to reconcile claims toward an anticipated final decree by December 31, 2026.

For related coverage, see ElevenFlo's analysis of AppHarvest's asset sales and liquidating chapter 11, the TreeSap Farms management buyout, and the Trinitas Farming almond-grower liquidation.