Paris — Innovafeed, the world’s leading producer of functional and sustainable insect-based ingredients (Hermetia illucens) for animal nutrition, pet food, and agriculture, announces the successful completion of its industrialization phase and a strategic reorganization of its operations around the Nesle facility, now focused on the commercial development of its product ranges. A new €51 million funding round supports this next stage of growth, with strong backing from its long-standing financial partners.
From lab bench to industrial reality: an unprecedented model in Europe’s green transition
Since its founding, Innovafeed has pursued a clear ambition: to develop local, sustainable, and high-performance ingredients to meet the growing demands of animal nutrition. To build this new industry, the company has made significant investments in large-scale technology and in demonstrating the performance of its products across all target markets.
Since the last funding round in 2022, Innovafeed has reached three major milestones:
- Industrial maturity: The Nesle production unit is now fully operational. Over three years, it has produced more than 15,000 metric tons of protein and oil; production volumes have increased tenfold, while production costs have been reduced by a factor of seven. The scale achieved — critical for product competitiveness — is unprecedented in the sector and currently stands at three times the capacity of the world’s second-largest player.
- Strong commercial traction: Revenues have doubled year over year, driven by structured partnerships with clients who value the nutritional performance and functional benefits of the Hilucia™ product range.
- Demonstrated environmental impact: Through the circularity of its world-unique industrial symbiosis model, Innovafeed’s products deliver a 70–90% reduction in carbon emissions compared to conventional alternatives.
“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.” — Fabio Brambilla, Ph.D., Nutritionist at NaturAlleva
“The pet food market continues to evolve towards ingredients that deliver both sustainability and functional benefits. Innovafeed’s latest funding round provides a strong platform to accelerate innovation and create new opportunities across the value chain.” — Detmar Barneveld, Commercial Manager at Vobra Special Petfoods
“Innovafeed’s ingredients form the core of our hypoallergenic dog food recipes. The performance and stability of Innovafeed’s products are essential to sustaining our strong growth.” — Basile Laigre, CEO and Co-founder of Réglo
A strategic reorganization driven by industrial maturity
Following an intensive phase of R&D and industrial development that successfully reached critical operational milestones, Innovafeed is now entering a new stage of growth. As part of this transition, the company is reorganizing its activities — specifically reducing zootechnical R&D operations and consolidating them from its historical Gouzeaucourt site into the Nesle facility. A workforce restructuring involving 60 positions is planned, two-thirds of which are located at the Gouzeaucourt site.
This organizational transition will be carried out with dedicated support for affected employees, through close social dialogue with the company’s Social and Economic Committee (CSE) and the relevant authorities.
Innovafeed shifts focus to commercial growth and product innovation
In this new development phase, the company will redirect its investments toward commercial deployment and operational excellence. The new financing will specifically enable Innovafeed to:
- Accelerate the commercial rollout of the Hilucia™ ranges, with a focus on the functional segments of aquaculture and pet food.
- Invest in industrial equipment and processes to develop new product offerings and applications.
- Optimize its industrial asset base to increase the performance and capacity of its production lines.
The operation received broad support from Innovafeed’s historical shareholders — including Creadev, QIA, Temasek, FFC, ABC Impact, and ADM — as well as its banking partners, all of whom expressed confidence in the solidity of Innovafeed’s industrial model, its growth trajectory, and the long-term potential of its ingredients for the agri-food sector.
“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 optimized production of ingredients with functional properties that are valued by pet food and aquaculture players.” — Bénédicte Monpert, Food Managing Director at Creadev
“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 and opens a new phase of commercial deployment. We must also adapt our organization to this new phase — and while this requires difficult decisions, we remain deeply committed to recognizing the dedication of our teams and implementing this transformation responsibly, in full respect of social dialogue and in close coordination with local authorities.” — Clément Ray, CEO and Co-founder of Innovafeed
As global food systems face mounting pressure to reduce dependence on marine resources, Innovafeed’s proven model offers a commercially viable and scalable solution. The next chapter has begun.
Editor at the digital magazine AquaHoy. He holds a degree in Aquaculture Biology from the National University of Santa (UNS) and a Master’s degree in Science and Innovation Management from the Polytechnic University of Valencia, with postgraduate diplomas in Business Innovation and Innovation Management. He possesses extensive experience in the aquaculture and fisheries sector, having led the Fisheries Innovation Unit of the National Program for Innovation in Fisheries and Aquaculture (PNIPA). He has served as a senior consultant in technology watch, an innovation project formulator and advisor, and a lecturer at UNS. He is a member of the Peruvian College of Biologists and was recognized by the World Aquaculture Society (WAS) in 2016 for his contribution to aquaculture.
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