Innovafeed Raises $55M 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 landed a $55 million funding round. The cash comes mostly from its existing financial partners, and it marks a big shift for the startup: they're done with the heavy industrial build-out and are now all-in on selling their products. This funding is a vote of confidence from heavy hitters like Creadev, QIA, Temasek, FFC, ABC Impact, and ADM, plus their banking partners. The company is restructuring around its main production site in Nesle, France, to focus on commercial growth. ### What's the Big Deal? Clément Ray, CEO and cofounder, put it simply: "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 Does It Work? Founded in 2016 by Aude Guo, Bastien Oggeri, and Clément Ray, Innovafeed breeds black soldier flies. They use a high-tech approach with 3,000 sensors and AI to control the environment perfectly. Robots collect and count the 20,000 eggs laid every second. The goal? To put insects back at the center of the food chain as a natural, sustainable protein source. They've also developed a wet-processing method that keeps the final product high-quality and easy for animals to digest. ### From R&D to Revenue Innovafeed's last big raise was a $270 million Series D in 2022. Since then, they've hit some serious milestones: - Their Nesle factory is fully up and running. - In three years, they've produced over 15,000 tons of insect protein and oil. - Production volumes jumped tenfold while costs dropped by seven times. - Revenue has doubled every year, thanks to strong partnerships. - Their products cut carbon emissions by 70% to 90% compared to traditional fishmeal or vegetable oils. ### What's Next? Now that the hard part of building the factory is done, Innovafeed is shifting gears. They're reducing some R&D activities and moving them from their old site in Gouzeaucourt to Nesle. This means cutting about 60 jobs, with most of those at the Gouzeaucourt location. Bénédicte Monpert, Food Managing Director at Creadev, summed it up: "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 Bottom Line Innovafeed is a real example of how deep tech can solve big problems. They've proven they can scale up, cut costs, and make a product that's actually better for the planet. Now, it's all about selling it. If they can keep that revenue growth going, they're in a strong position to become a major player in sustainable animal nutrition.