Founded in 2011 in Paris, Ÿnsect has recently earned a place on the front pages of the world's financial magazines and newspapers. The company's highest investment to date of $425 million (approximately 9.5 billion crowns), pledged for research and development, has confirmed the unprecedented interest in insect food and the use of insect protein in the feed industry. [1]
What is behind the success of this French company? And what does this news mean for the insect protein market? Let's take a brief look at a brief history of the company and its vision for a more sustainable future.
A vision for a more sustainable future
The French company Ÿnsect was founded by scientists and environmental activists with a vision to transform insects into a premium, high-value source of nutrients for pets, fish, plants and people. The original founders Antoine Hubert, Jean-Gabriel Levon, Fabrice Berro and Alexis Angot had already been involved in the fields of environmental risk research, biomass and biomaterials management for more than 10 years before the company was founded. With their idea to use mealworm larvae, they approached the Agoranov incubator in 2012, with the help of which they were able to launch laboratory-scale production within a year, in collaboration with renowned research centres.
In February 2014, the company received €1.8 million from Emertec Gestion and Demeter Partners and in the same year won the Global Innovation Award and the Cleantech Award in France. Just two years later, thanks to intensive development, Ÿnsect was able to come to market with its first pet and livestock feeds. It also opened its first major Ÿnsite farm in Dole, France, and completed a new round of financing with BpiFrance (Ecotechnologies) and Quadia (Future Positive Capital Fund).
Insect giant on the horizon
Over the next six years, the company achieved entry into the French government's Next40 index and became the first company in the world to obtain ANSES approval to market a natural insect-based fertilizer (Ynfrass). In 2021, the company announced its decision to diversify its activities by using mealworms in food. It gained attention for, among other things, the appearance of actor and one of the company's main investors, Robert Downey Jr. on Stephen Colbert's Late Show US.
The company showed its unprecedented growth by, among other things, acquiring the technology company Protifarm, which gave it access to 37 patents tied to automated insect farming technologies and a new farm in the Netherlands. The company is currently exporting its products to a dozen European markets and is in close contact with legislators at EU level, helping to speed up legislative changes related to edible insects and helping to move the world towards a more sustainable future.