Finnish startup Volare, a maker of insect-based protein, oil and fertilizers, raised €26 million ($28.6 million) in a mix of equity, mezzanine and senior loans and public funding. The raise suggests investors are willing to look beyond the bankruptcy filing in February of Ÿnsect, the French insect-based protein producer.
Volare’s investors include Maki.vc, Firstminute Capital, Springvest, Norion Bank and others. The state-owned Finnish Climate Fund also participated.
Volare cultivates the black soldier fly, which it calls “nature’s most efficient bioreactor,” to convert food waste into protein ingredients used in fishmeal, pet food and poultry feed.
Protein sufficiency
Volare’s process generates lower emissions than conventional feeds, said Volare’s Jarna Hyvönen. Volare is building a plant capable of producing the protein-equivalent of 200 million Baltic herrings annually, or more than a fifth of Finland’s annual commercial fish catch in protein equivalent.
Volare has already inked an offtake agreement with Norway’s Skretting, which produces over three million tons of aquafeed annually. The startup last year partnered with three Finnish fish farms, which will use its sustainable protein to raise around 150 tons of rainbow trout.
Sectoral growth
European non-profit International Platform of Insects for Food and Feed projects that revenues for insect feed providers could reach €2 billion ($2.3 billion) by the end of the decade. Pet food and aquaculture are the main offtakers for these protein ingredients.
Other funding rounds in recent years include a £3 million ($4 million) raise for UK’s Skybox, €50 million ($56.5 million) for Dutch startup Protix, €8 million ($9 million) for Germany’s FarmInsect. Ÿnsect had raised more than $625 million in equity and debt since 2011.
