Sky Kurtz
The story
Sky Kurtz studied finance at Arizona State University and took an MBA at Stanford Graduate School of Business, then worked as an investor at CCMP Capital and Francisco Partners. When he moved to the UAE in 2016 he saw that fresh produce was either expensive and imported or cheap and poor quality. That year he co-founded Pure Harvest Smart Farms with Mahmoud Adi and Robert Kupstas to grow produce locally in greenhouses designed for Gulf summers. A $5.8 million seed round, then the region's largest, funded the first commercial farm. In its first season that farm beat its targeted yields by 20%, and its produce went to UAE retailers including Spinneys, Carrefour and Waitrose. Kurtz has said he insisted on investing his own money in the company before taking anyone else's. Pure Harvest went on to raise a $20.6 million Series A led by Wafra in 2020 and $180.5 million in 2022.
By the numbers
Appearances
On Founding MENA
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