French biotechnology company InnovaFeed, with backers including US agricultural giant Cargill and the Qatar Investment Authority, is set to deploy a new facility in an undisclosed third country after its successful expansion into the United States. The company currently produces around 15,000 metric tons of protein / 70,000 metric tons of insects per year. It operates two plants in northern France, one of which serves as a research and development hub, and has also partnered with US agricultural company Archer Daniels Midland at a facility in Decatur, Illinois.

Skretting, the Norwegian aquaculture feed group owned by Dutch animal nutrition group Nutreco, partnered with Finnish insect ingredient producer Volare in January 2024. As part of the deal, Skretting has secured an undisclosed portion of future production from Volare’s black soldier fly plant in Finland. The plant will have total capacity of 5,000 metric tons per year of protein meal.

Denmark-based feed company BioMar signed a long-term partnership with French biotechnology company Agronutris in May 2023. Together, the companies will develop the next generation of black soldier fly feed for the aquaculture industry. Agronutris was founded in 2011 and its head office is in Saint-Orens-de-Gameville, near Toulouse, southwest France.

Singapore-headquartered biotechnology company Entobel opened what it expects to become Asia’s largest black soldier fly plant in Vung Tau, southern Vietnam, in November 2023. The 10,000-metric-ton-per-year plant this year became a supplier of feed to pangasius farmer Vinh Hoan. Entobel, which opened its first plant in 2019 in Dong Nai, southern Vietnam, has plans for further expansion in Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia.

Bioflytech is in the process of scaling up its second plant in Palais de Rei, Galicia, northwest Spain, with the long-term aim of producing 100,000 metric tons per year of black soldier fly larvae. The company, which also operates a plant in Fuente Alamo de Murcia, central Spain, directs 5-10 percent of its production toward aquaculture feed.

Thai Union-backed aquaculture technology company HydroNeo partnered with Full Circle Biotechnology, a Bangkok-based startup, in October 2023. Full Circle will provide HydroNeo with its shrimp feed additive, derived from agricultural waste, insect larvae and microbes.

German startup FarmInsect raised €8 million ($8.7 million) in its latest financing round in October 2023. The Munich-based company, founded in 2020, will use the finance to scale up its breeding facilities as well as to invest in technology and research and development.

US investment firm Eat and Beyond Global completed the acquisition of Canadian insect protein company Goldbloom in August 2023. Toronto-based Goldbloom upcycles materials to produce sustainable protein from black soldier fly larvae.

*The above is a list of investments and projects reported by IntraFish. The list may not be exhaustive.

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