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takyon writes:

Insect protein start-up raises $372m to fund world's largest insect farm

French insect farming startup Ynsect has raised a further US$372m as it seeks to build the largest insect farm in the world.

The company has extended its Series C funding to $372m on top of $148m disclosed last year, increasing total financing to $425m – the largest amount ever raised by a non-American 'agtech' business and more [than] the rest of the global insect protein industry has raised collectively.

The new capital will fund completion of an insect farm in Amiens, France in early 2022, which will produce 100,000 tons of insect products annually, as well as create 500 direct and indirect jobs.

The new funding comes from Astanor Ventures, LA-based Upfront Ventures, Hollywood star Robert Downey Jr.'s FootPrint Coalition, existing investor Hong-Kong-based Happiness Capital, Supernova Invest (the leading early stage investor in the French deep tech market) and Luxembourg-based Armat Group.

Ynsect said the current global spike in demand for protein and plants poses a serious risk for the world's already fragile ecosystems, requiring extra water and land and generating greenhouse gas emissions.

To address this problem, Ynsect has created a patented process for cultivating mealworm to produce a variety of highly digestible protein and fertilizer products. It said that these products sustainably replace animal proteins consumed in the supply chain by fish & livestock farms, animal proteins used in pet food and fertilizers used in plant nutrition, while leading to greater yields and health benefits for the animals and plants being fed.

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