Innovafeed Raises $55M for Insect-Based 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 landed a $55 million funding round. Most of it came from its existing financial backers, signaling strong confidence in their mission. ### Who's backing them? The company got support from longtime shareholders like Creadev, QIA, Temasek, FFC, ABC Impact, and ADM, plus a few banking partners. They've officially wrapped up their industrialization phase and are reorganizing around their Nesle site to focus on selling products. ### What the CEO says Clément Ray, CEO and cofounder, put it this way: "From day one, we had two goals: prove we can make high-quality, sustainable ingredients without overfishing the ocean, and build an innovative industrial project in France. Now that our model works at scale, we're shifting to commercial growth." ### How they make it work Founded in 2016 by Aude Guo, Bastien Oggeri, and Clément Ray, Innovafeed raises and processes black soldier flies (Hermetia illucens) for animal and plant nutrition. Their tech mimics the insect's natural life cycle on a massive scale. They use 3,000 sensors to fine-tune larvae growing conditions, and AI keeps human intervention minimal. Robots collect and count about 20,000 eggs laid every second. The goal is to put insects back where they belong in the food chain. They also developed a wet processing method that keeps the final product high quality and easy to digest. ### Big milestones since 2022 Their last big raise was a $270 million Series D in 2022 led by QIA. Since then, they've hit three major marks: - Their Nesle plant is fully up and running - They've produced over 15,000 tons of protein and oil in three years - Production volumes jumped tenfold while costs dropped seven times ### Commercial traction and environmental impact Revenue has doubled every year thanks to solid partnerships. They claim their products cut carbon emissions by 70 to 90 percent compared to traditional options, thanks to a circular industrial model. ### What's next Now that they've proven the tech, Innovafeed is entering a growth phase. They're reorganizing to focus on commercial sales, which means scaling back some R&D at their Gouzeaucourt site and moving it to Nesle. About 60 positions will be cut, with most of those at Gouzeaucourt. Bénédicte Monpert from Creadev summed it up: "In five years, Innovafeed built something unique—a world-class production facility that makes highly optimized ingredients for pet food and aquaculture." ### The bottom line Insect-based feed isn't just a niche idea anymore. With this funding and a clear path to market, Innovafeed is showing that sustainable alternatives can compete on price and performance. They're betting big on the black soldier fly, and so far, it's paying off.