Innovafeed, a biotechnological company focused on black soldier fly production, announced that it has raised USD 250 million in Series D funding, which brings the company’s total cumulative financing to USD 450 million.
This round, led by Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), includes existing investors, such as Creadev and Temasek, and new strategic and financial investors, such as ADM and Cargill – both with strategic partnerships with Innovafeed - and Future French Champions, ABC Impact, IDIA Capital Investissement, and Grow Forward.
“The confidence demonstrated in us by our partners through a new round of fundraising confirms the insect industry is a key solution for our planet’s food production needs. Their support will allow us to accelerate our deployment in service of an ever healthier, natural, and sustainable food system,” said Clément Ray, co-founder and CEO of Innovafeed.
The company, which has already secured commercial partnerships for EUR 1 billion the next 10 years, will use this new fund to increase production capacity in France through the further expansion of its large vertical insect farm in the north of the country. Innovafeed is preparing a global roll-out of its technology to expand in Asia and North America. At the same time, taking advantage of the ADM partnership, the company is also planning to enter the US market through the construction of a new production plant in Decatur, Illinois.
“Our expansion in the United States is a critical step for our scale-up. It will enable us to access a deep source of feedstock and significantly increase our production capacity. I am very excited to be working closely with our local industrial partners, who are key contributors to accelerating the development of the entire industry and are supporting our momentum by their investment,” said Maye Walraven, new Innovafeed's general manager for North America.
The company also appointed Yves Amsellem as COO. With more than 30 years of experience in end-to-end supply chains for international food and beverage and industrial groups, Amsellem brings outstanding insights and proven capabilities to the company’s expansion plans which include the formulation of high-precision and high-performance ingredients for animals, plants, and, in the future, for human food.
Finally, the company created an Impact Committee to define and support Innovafeed's ESG strategy over the next three years. The committee will be chaired by Darian McBain.
“I am proud to take on the role of president of Innovafeed's Impact Committee, an emerging company whose values and commitment to finding sustainable solutions to global food challenges I share. I believe that the insect industry will have a key role in building sustainable food systems and reducing our impact on climate change. I hope to contribute my sustainability expertise to enhance Innovafeed's sustainability and ESG commitments and performance,” said Darian McBain, president of Innovafeed's new committee.
