Protix has new government-backed investor.
In a press release, the Dutch feed-insect producer Protix writes that part of an investment round of EUR 15.5 million, Invest-NL has invested EUR 7.5 million in the company.
With this funding round, Protix which was founded in 2009 and breeds larvae from the black soldier fly, said it can further optimise production capacity and accelerate international expansion.
Protix’s current shareholders also invest in addition to Invest-NL include Aqua-Spark, Rabo Corporate Investments and the BOM-Brabant Development Company.
Invest-NL is a private company led by the retired Dutch politician Wouter Bos, which is financed with public funds from the Netherlands. It is the first transaction with a direct contribution to the protein transition in the AgriFood sector and in line, it said, with the country’s National Protein Strategy.
This is a Dutch strategy that follows a European Union (EU)-wide ambition to “reduce dependency on protein imports and to increase production of plant proteins at the EU level”.
In 2019, feed giant Skretting signed a deal with Protix that could see up to 5.5 million salmon servings per year brought to market with insect meal incorporated into the feed.
