Paris-based insect feed startup Ynsect has raised the largest agtech investment to date outside of the US to build huge insect farm.
Ynsect has raised a EUR 110 million Series C round, representing the largest agtech investment to date outside of the US. The round was led by Astanor Ventures with participation from Bpifrance, Talis Capital, Idinvest Partners, Finasucre and Compagnie du Bois Sauvage, bringing the startup’s total funding to EUR 154 million.
The largest agtech investment to date was for indoor vertical farming company Plenty who raised USD 200 million in a Series B round of funding in 2017.
In a press release sent out on Thursday, Ynsect said that they will use the new capital to scale up production by building the world’s biggest insect farm in Amiens Metropole, Northern France, as well as to expand internationally, especially in the North American market.
The fully-automated farm will produce 20,000 tonnes of protein annually from insects at full capacity.
“Ynsect is becoming the world’s largest insect producer, whatever the species, thanks to our unique highly scalable and pioneering technology,” said Ynsect CEO & Chairman Antoine Hubert. “Enabled by deep tech, the entire production process – from feeding to controlling the health and welfare of our insects, and from the sensors used for quality control to harvesting mature insects – is automated. We have 25 patents covering our technology, the products themselves and their different applications, giving Ynsect the world’s largest insect patent portfolio. But ultimately, we need scale to have a significant impact globally, which this investment will allow us to achieve,” he added.
“With the global population expected to grow to nine billion by 2050, current aquaculture and animal feeding practices are unsustainable,” said Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Talis Capital Matus Maar. “Ynsect taps into a huge, yet highly inefficient global market by offering a premium and – above all – sustainable insect-derived product through a fully automated, AI-enabled production process. Of the many things that excite us about Antoine and the Ÿnsect team, their 50+ years combined experience in insect farming, physiological entomology and biochemistry, we believe, is unmatched,” added Maar.
