Posted on 04/21/2023 3:45:14 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Insect farming startup Ynsect has secured €160 million (roughly $175 million), but it has also laid off about 70 employees, or 20% of its workforce, in a bid to tackle rising costs.
The Paris-based company plans to use the funds to shift away from breeding insects for animal feed to target more lucrative markets such as pet food and ingredients. Ynsect said the pivot will reduce rising energy and materials costs.
The startup will close its production facility in the Netherlands, which it acquired with the purchase of mealworm ingredients company Protifarm in 2021, Bloomberg reported.
European agtech startups have struggled to raise capital amid the downturn in venture dealmaking. In 2022, VC deal count in agtech dropped 24.2% year-over-year, according to PitchBook data. So far this year, 42 deals have been completed worth a total €340.4 million—almost half of that deal value comes from Ynsect's latest round.
VC investments in agtech grew significantly during the pandemic as investors increased their focus on startups solving environmental and food security challenges.
But unlike companies in sectors such as SaaS, agtech startups have much higher research and development costs and significant regulatory hurdles standing in the way of profitability. As VCs shift away from high-growth, loss-making startups, the agtech sector has suffered slowing investment.
Ynsect is hoping to become more sustainable by prioritizing smaller and less software-intensive facilities and setting up more partnerships to spread operation costs. It is also reportedly planning on raising additional funding this year for its Series D. Ynsect's Series C reached $372 million in 2021.
Investors in Ynsect's latest round or its valuation were not disclosed, but it has previously raised funding from backers including Bpifrance, Astanor Ventures and Talis Capital. As of 2021, the startup's estimated valuation was around €615
Solyndra only with bugs, that eat the rotting food we are no longer allowed to have.
VC investments
I wondered what the Viet Cong have been up to.
Venture Capital
A demand driven enterprise…. being driven into the ditch.
This has money from investors, not just the government. They expect it do do well. Robert Downey Jr. is one of the investors. For some reason.
Like I said...Solyndra only with insects. A little Surebeam on top. All brokered thru FTX and Silicon Valley Bank.All of which have perfect ESG scores and DEI performance.
Didn’t Solyndra get a huge portion of their funds from government programs?
That and guaranteed loans. Private investors too. Same scenario, different product being pitched. In reality it’s the taxpayers that are the product. Not enough of them have peeled that onion deep enough yet.
Any dumb unsustainable idea will be fully funded and celebrated as progress.
Only civilian uprising will bring clarity and logic to this disaster party of global proportion.
The beginning of the end.
There will less of ze bugs? That’s gonna suck.
It would seem to make sense for chicken feed.
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