Innovafeed Raises $54M to Scale Insect-Based Animal Feed

Jan de Vries · 2026-06-05

Innovafeed, a Paris-based biotech company that makes sustainable insect-based ingredients for animal feed, pet food, and agriculture, just hit a major milestone. The startup secured about $54 million (51 million euros) in new funding, mostly from its existing financial partners, to fuel its next growth phase. This round includes support from long-time backers like Creadev, QIA, Temasek, FFC, ABC Impact, and ADM, plus its banking partners. Along with the cash, Innovafeed announced that its industrialization phase is complete. It's now reorganizing its operations around the Nesle facility and shifting focus entirely to commercial growth. ### Why Insect-Based Feed Matters You might be wondering: why insects? It's actually a smart solution to a big problem. Traditional animal feed relies heavily on fishmeal and vegetable oils, which often come from overfished oceans or resource-intensive crops. Innovafeed uses black soldier fly larvae to create protein and oil that work just as well—or better—for fish, poultry, and pets. Clément Ray, CEO and co-founder of Innovafeed, put it this way: "Since day one, we have carried a dual ambition: to demonstrate that we can produce high-performing, competitive, and sustainable ingredients for nutrition without relying on the intensive exploitation of marine resources; and that it is possible to build an innovative industrial project in France." He added, "The successful scale-up of our industrial model marks a major milestone for Innovafeed today and opens up a new phase of commercial deployment." ### How the Technology Works Founded in 2016 by Aude Guo, Bastien Oggeri, and Clément Ray, Innovafeed has built a unique system to raise and process black soldier flies at scale. The company uses about 3,000 sensors to monitor and optimize larvae breeding conditions continuously. Artificial intelligence helps reduce human intervention—robots automatically collect and count the 20,000 eggs laid every second. The company also developed a proprietary wet-processing method that transforms larvae into high-quality ingredients, especially known for their digestibility. The goal is to put insects back at the center of the food chain, mimicking natural cycles in a controlled environment. ### Key Milestones Since 2022 Innovafeed's last big funding round was in 2022, when it raised about $265 million (250 million euros) in Series D financing led by Qatar Investment Authority. Since then, the company has hit three major milestones: - Its Nesle production unit is fully operational and has produced over 15,000 tons of protein and oil in three years. - Production volumes increased tenfold, while production costs dropped by seven times. - Revenues have doubled every year, driven by structured partnerships with clients. The company also claims its products deliver a 70 to 90 percent reduction in carbon emissions compared to conventional feed ingredients, thanks to the circularity of its industrial model. ### What's Next for Innovafeed Now that Innovafeed has proven its industrial model works, it's entering a new phase focused on commercial growth. The company is reorganizing its R&D activities, moving zootechnical research from its historical Gouzeaucourt site to the Nesle facility. This reorganization will involve reducing about 60 positions, with roughly two-thirds of those cuts at Gouzeaucourt. Bénédicte Monpert, Food Managing Director at Creadev, said, "Over the past five years, Innovafeed has won its industrial bet and developed a world-unique asset: a fully operational large-scale production facility that enables highly optimised production of ingredients with functional properties that are valued by pet food and aquaculture players." The company will now redirect its investments toward commercial deployment, aiming to capture the full value of its ingredients' functional properties—like improving animal health and growth—that have been validated over the past decade. For US professionals watching European startup trends, Innovafeed's journey shows how deep-tech innovation can tackle global sustainability challenges while building a viable business.