Paris-based Innovafeed, a producer of “functional and sustainable insect-based ingredients” for animal nutrition, pet food and agriculture, announced “the completion of its industrialization phase and a reorganization of its activities around the Nesle site, now focused on the commercial development of its product ranges.”

Innovafeed said a new €51 million funding round will support this new phase, largely backed by its financial partners.

The funding round received “broad support” from historical shareholders, notably Creadev, QIA, Temasek, FFC, ABC Impact, and ADM, as well as its banking partners.

“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,” said Clément Ray, CEO and cofounder of Innovafeed.

“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.

“We must also adapt our organization to this new phase by reducing industrial and zootechnical R&D activities, while continuing to invest alongside our customers to demonstrate functionalities and performance of our products.

“The talents who made up our R&D and industrial teams enabled us to reach unprecedented milestones in the sector.

“While we must take demanding measures to adjust our organization to this new phase, we are deeply committed to recognizing the dedication of our teams over the past years and to implementing this transformation plan responsibly, in full respect of social dialogue and in close connection with local authorities.”