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urban-gro
Brad Nattrass leads urban-gro, a publicly traded engineering consolidator for controlled-environment agriculture and commercial real estate.
urban-gro
urban-gro was incorporated in 2014 and launched on the Nasdaq under the ticker UGRO following a SPAC merger in 2021. Bradley Nattrass, a serial entrepreneur in the controlled-environment space, has led the company since inception, positioning it as an integrated engineering and design-build firm that originally focused on indoor cannabis cultivation but now serves a broader commercial horticulture and food-focused CEA market. The firm is an operating company, not an investment office; its revenue is generated through professional services, equipment sales, and construction management rather than fund structures. The company operates through two primary segments: a design-build engineering division and a post-merger equipment and services division. Its strategy targets the full lifecycle of a controlled-environment agriculture facility — from architectural and mechanical design to complex HVAC, lighting, and benching systems. The consolidation of firms such as Emerald Construction Management and Mj12 Design Studio has broadened its capabilities into traditional commercial real estate engineering. The geographic footprint covers North America, with active projects in the United States, Canada, and select European joint ventures, including a notable service contract for a large-scale vertical farm in Denmark. Post its public listing, urban-gro reported approximately 120 employees and has expanded through a series of tactical acquisitions, adding a Georgia-based architecture firm and a Michigan-based engineering group to its portfolio. The firm's revenue in Q3 2024 reflected a stabilized backlog of over $100 million, a significant portion of which is tied to a single, unnamed global pharmaceutical-aligned project. In June 2024, the company announced a $20 million revolving credit facility to support working capital needs and continued consolidation in the sector. urban-gro's structural posture is unusual because it is a publicly listed consolidator in a fragmented, distressed, and highly specialized engineering niche — banding together small, regional MEP firms under a single brand to achieve the scale required to service large multi-state or international cultivators. The model treats professional horticultural engineering as an acquisition target rather than an organic capability, a differentiator from the many private-equity-backed HVAC service roll-ups in the broader real estate market.
General information
Firm type
other
Year founded
2014
AUM
Undisclosed (operating company)
Location
Region
North America
Country
United States
City
Lafayette
Corporate office
Lafayette, CO, United States
Additional offices
Marietta, GA, United States · Zeeland, MI, United States
Principals
Bradley Nattrass
Chairman and CEO
Dick Akright
Chief Financial Officer
Dan Droller
EVP of Corporate Development
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
What is urban-gro's core business model?
urban-gro is an integrated engineering design-build firm, not an asset manager or family office. It generates revenue through professional services, equipment sales, and construction management for controlled-environment agriculture (CEA) facilities and, through recent acquisitions, traditional commercial real estate. The company operates directly, earning fees on project design and execution rather than managing investment capital.
How does urban-gro source its project pipeline?
The company sources projects through its acquired regional engineering brands, which retain pre-existing client relationships in the cannabis, vertical farming, and broader commercial sectors. urban-gro also leverages its public company profile and its ability to bond large projects — a capacity many smaller engineering competitors lack — to win contracts with large-scale, multi-state operators and international clients.
What is the Controlled Environment Agriculture (C3A) strategy?
urban-gro segments its business under a 'C3A' framework — Commercial, Controlled, and Cultivation Agriculture — which distinguishes between high-tech vertical farms and more traditional greenhouse or commercial horticulture projects. This internal categorization is used to allocate engineering resources and target acquisitions that bridge the gap between industrial-grade cannabis engineering and more conventional food-production environments.
Why did urban-gro acquire traditional MEP engineering firms?
The acquisitions of firms like Emerald Construction Management and others in Georgia and Michigan are central to urban-gro's strategy of creating a national engineering platform. These deals provide immediate local licensing, a diversified revenue stream away from the volatile cannabis market, and a way to cross-sell complex HVAC and environmental systems to a new base of commercial real estate clients, reducing single-sector dependency.
Who are urban-gro's primary competitors?
urban-gro competes against a highly fragmented field of regional mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) firms and specialized horticultural engineering boutiques. Few direct competitors operate at a national, publicly traded scale with a specific focus on both cannabis and CEA engineering, placing urban-gro in a category alongside larger, less-specialized AEC firms and small, private design specialists.
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