Fly farmer raises £44m and cuts 60 R&D jobs in 'next-phase' plan
Innovafeed focuses on selling functional ingredients to aquafeed and pet food sectors
Innovafeed, which produces insect-based ingredients for the aquafeed and pet food sectors, has announced a €51 million (£44m) funding round to finance commercial growth.
As part of the plan to focus more on the commercial side, the French company is reducing zootechnical R&D activities, leading to 60 job losses. R&D will be moved from its historical Gouzeaucourt site into its newer, larger Nesle factory, and the Gouzeaucourt site will be closed.
Innovafeed said the Nesle facrtory is now fully operational. In three years, it has produced over 15,000 tonnes of protein and oil from black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens) larvae. In that time, production volumes have increased tenfold, while production costs have been divided by seven.
Unprecedented scale
The company added that the scale achieved, critical for product competitiveness, is unprecedented in the sector and is currently three times larger than the world’s second-largest player.
Revenues have doubled each year, driven by structured partnerships with clients who value the nutritional performance and functional benefits of Innovafeed’s Hilucia product range.
Innovafeed said that following an intense phase of R&D and industrial development that successfully cleared critical operational maturity milestones, it will now redirect its investments toward commercial deployment and operational excellence.
It will:
Accelerate the commercial development of the Hilucia ranges, particularly within the functional segments of aquaculture and pet food;
Invest in industrial equipment and processes to develop new offerings and applications;
Optimise the performance and capacities of the production lines.
Validated health benefits
Chief executive and co-founder Clément Ray said: “Innovafeed is now focusing its efforts on accelerating the development of value chains for its ingredients, capturing the full value of their multiple functional properties improving animal health and growth, which have been validated and proven for 10 years now.
“We must also adapt our organisation to this new phase by reducing industrial and zootechnical R&D activities, while continuing to invest alongside our customers to demonstrate functionalities and performance of our products.”
Ray said the talents who made up Innovafeed’s R&D and industrial teams enabled it to reach unprecedented milestones in the sector.
“While we must take demanding measures to adjust our organisation to this new phase, we are deeply committed to recognising the dedication of our teams over the past years and to implementing this transformation plan responsibly, in full respect of social dialogue and in close connection with local authorities,” the CEO said in a press release.
A key solution
Aquaculture customers include NaturAlleva, which is headquartered in Verona, Italy, and produces 30,000 tonnes of feed annually. It develops feed for its own seabass and sea bream farms, and for other species.
“Innovafeed’s products represent one of the key solutions for more sustainable and high performing aquaculture,” said naturAlleva nutritionist Fabio Brambilla.
“After many years of studying the benefits of this raw material in the nutrition of sea bass, sea bream, and trout, we have made the decision to use these new ingredients on a very broad scale. This scale-up is made possible today by Innovafeed's technological breakthrough, which is currently the most advanced in Europe.”
Innovafeed’s new funding is largely backed by its existing investors, including Creadev, QIA, Temasek, FFC, ABC Impact, and ADM, as well as its banking partners.
