Farminsect aims to enable farmers to produce their own feed from insects for their livestock. The founders of Cadami and Braufässchen, among others, are behind the agtech startup. In an interview, the founding team explains why insects are the better animal feed.
Munich Startup: Who are you and what do you do? Please introduce yourselves briefly!
Farminsect: We are Andre, Thomas, and Wolfgang, and we want to revolutionize agriculture with Farminsect. Thomas and Wolfgang know each other from the UnternehmerTUM's Manage&More program. Both had previously founded other startups and, after a change of career, were looking for a sustainable business idea together. Thomas (33) studied electrical engineering and business administration and successfully founded the IT startup. Cadami Wolfgang (34) studied agricultural sciences and biology and successfully founded the food startups Braufässchen and Pure Flavours were founded.
When the idea for Farminsect was born, all that was missing was someone to handle the technology. It was an absolute stroke of luck that Andre joined the team through a variety of connections. Andre (27) studied electrical engineering and brings with him several years of professional experience in the development of decentralized systems.
Insect production without prior knowledge
Munich Startup: What problem does your startup solve?
Farminsect: With Farminsect, we want to make animal husbandry more sustainable and efficient. To achieve this, we use insects and circular economy concepts to produce high-quality protein feed. Production takes place directly at the farm. This eliminates delivery routes and allows regional waste to be used as feed for the insects.
Typically, over 90 percent of soy and fishmeal must be imported into the EU. This creates a strong dependence of feed prices on global markets. Over the past ten years, feed prices have more than doubled. Since feed accounts for the majority of operating costs for most farmers, further price increases will force many farmers to close their businesses. Furthermore, soy and fishmeal are an ecological disaster, destroying our rainforests and oceans.
Our solution enables farmers to save up to 20 percent on their feed costs. We support farmers from start to finish. The machine concept is designed to integrate into any farm infrastructure. An intuitive IT platform monitors all key process steps and guides the farmer step by step through the production process. This allows anyone, even without prior experience, to successfully start insect production.
“Larva outbreak” and other setbacks
Munich Startup: But that's been around for a long time!
Farminsect: Insects have been approved as feed and food in the EU since 2017. Initially, there was a lot of hype surrounding insect burgers and the like. That's when we started considering where insects could add the greatest value in the value chain. We quickly turned to the feed industry. For one thing, the quantities there are astronomical. Furthermore, the protein demand for feed is currently met by environmentally harmful and expensive solutions. We want to change this by working directly with farmers and developing regional cycles.
Munich Startup: What have been your three biggest challenges so far?
Farminsect: At the beginning, we had to learn how to breed insects ourselves. Of course, this also involved a few failures. I'll just say "larval outbreak"!
Last year, we applied for a major EU-funded project. This required us to build an interdisciplinary network of farmers and researchers. It was very time-consuming. But we learned a lot and now have a solid network to build on.
Of course, we also had to get to know the farmers' needs better. To do this, we went on several road trips and visited farmers in different regions. I was initially very apprehensive about this challenge, but was pleasantly surprised by how receptive most farmers were to our idea.
Pilot plant is being planned
Munich Startup: How are things going?
Farminsect: We're not yet on the market. We've been operating a prototype at the Technical University of Munich since last summer. We're currently producing approximately 50 kg of insects per week.
Our next major goal is the commissioning of the first pilot plant. We plan to set it up in September at one of the largest aquaculture farms in Bavaria. The pilot plant will then produce approximately 10 times the amount of insects per week.
Munich Startup: How do you rate Munich as a startup location?
Farminsect: I think Munich has developed very well as a startup hub in recent years. When we launched our project, we received so much support in such a short time that we were able to get off to a great start. Munich benefits greatly from strong startup centers like TUM, LMU, Munich University of Applied Sciences, and Baystartup. The network of investors and business angels in Munich is also very strong.
Munich Startup: Coworking or your own office?
Farminsect: Currently, neither. For us, the technical center at the Technical University of Munich with our prototype is much more important than the office. We're very happy that we can use space in the food technology center at TUM. We spend about 50 percent of our time there. We also work a lot remotely from home. When we meet for meetings, it's currently in a coworking space.
