Feeding insects is nothing new for keepers of exotic small animals like geckos or agamas. For farmers, however, this has long been an option. The Munich-based startup Farminsect, founded in 2020, is changing this. The Agritech relies on decentralized production to optimally utilize previously unused energy and locally available waste materials for insect fattening. Customers receive modular insect fattening systems, which they set up on-site at their own farms. The founders then supply them weekly with young larvae, which are fattened with regional waste materials such as shells or crop residues. This provides farmers with a more sustainable alternative protein source for their animal feed.
Farminsect's fattening facilities also produce compost as a byproduct, which can be sold as fertilizer or used to generate biogas. According to the startup, this will enable farmers to reduce their feed costs by up to 30 percent. Furthermore, this circular economy system reduces CO2 emissions in agriculture, which are generated, among other things, by the production and global transport of protein-rich feed. These include soy and fishmeal, which pose further ecological problems.
Oversubscribed Series A financing
Farminsect has now raised a total of €8 million in growth capital in an oversubscribed Series A financing round. The lead investor is the Norwegian VC Sandwater. Other participating investors include Bayern Kapital, the Australian Minderoo Foundation, the EIC Fund, and existing investors HTGF and UnternehmerTUM Funding for Innovators. The proceeds will primarily be used for the commercial scaling of the insect breeding facilities and for research and development work to further improve the Farminsect technology.
Thomas Kuehn, founder and CEO of Farminsect, is pleased with the additional funding and the external validation of his company's potential. He says:
"We are very grateful for the trust our investors have placed in us. Together, we will pursue our ambitious goal of making insects the preferred protein source in the EU, ahead of soy and fishmeal. In the next step, we want to intensify our research and development work to significantly expand and improve the current breeding lines."
Farminsect convinces investors
Morten E. Iversen, shareholder at Sandwater, explained:
"We recognized the economic and ecological potential of insects some time ago. However, we were troubled by previous business models, which required significant investments and were difficult to scale. What we lacked was a commercially available, low-investment solution suitable for high production volumes. Farminsect offers precisely this solution. We are absolutely convinced that the company's founders are capable of scaling Farminsect and accelerating the transition away from CO2-intensive protein feed."
Monika Steger, Managing Director at Bavaria Capital, justifies the investment decision as follows:
"One thing was already clear to us from our first investment around two years ago: insect-based feed is one of the most important pillars of sustainable and future-proof agriculture. The experienced team at Farminsect has developed the company very positively, installed the first systems at customers' sites, and opened a new production site. We are extremely satisfied with the collaboration so far and see great potential for the future."
