Innovafeed, a producer of sustainable insect-based ingredients using Hermetia illucens for animal nutrition, petfood and agriculture, has announced the completion of its industrialisation phase and the reorganisation of its activities around its Nesle site. The facility will now focus on the commercial development of the company’s product ranges.
The new phase is supported by a EUR€51 million funding round, backed largely by Innovafeed’s financial partners.
Following an intensive period of research, development and industrial expansion, Innovafeed is entering a new stage of growth. As part of this transition, the company is reorganising its operations by reducing zootechnical R&D activities and integrating them from its historic Gouzeaucourt site into the Nesle facility.
“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. The successful scale-up of our industrial model marks a major milestone for Innovafeed today and opens up a new phase of commercial deployment. 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 ten years now,” said Clément Ray, CEO and cofounder of Innovafeed.
The project includes the planned reduction of 60 positions, with around two-thirds affecting the Gouzeaucourt site. Innovafeed stated that the transition will include dedicated support for affected employees and will be conducted through dialogue with the company’s Social and Economic Committee and relevant authorities.
As part of its next phase of development, Innovafeed will direct investment towards commercial deployment and operational performance. The funding will support the accelerated commercial development of the HiluciaTM product range, particularly within the aquaculture and petfood sectors. It will also fund investments in industrial equipment and processes to support new applications and improve the performance and capacity of production lines.
“Innovafeed’s products represent one of the key solutions for more sustainable and high-performing aquaculture. 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,” said Dr Fabio Brambilla, Nutritionist at NaturAlleva.
The financing round received support from existing shareholders, including Creadev, QIA, Temasek, ADM and the company’s banking partners.
“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 petfood and aquaculture players,” said Bénédicte Monpert, Food Managing Director at Creadev.
As global food systems face mounting pressure to reduce dependence on marine resources, Innovafeed’s proven model offers a commercially viable and scalable answer.
