Innovafeed has completed the third phase of expansion at its production site in Nesle, France. This is a crucial step that marks the scaling up of its production capacities, as announced in September 2022, after its record-breaking EUR250 million (US$272.6 million) Series D funding round.
This new expansion brings the total floor area to 55,000 square meters. As a result, it increases the larval production capacity fivefold and enhances rearing conditions through automated and optimized production flow management. With this expansion, Nesle becomes the largest insect production site in the world.
This achievement not only demonstrates the viability of Innovafeed’s breakthrough technology but also its ability to scale up to large-scale, profitable and sustainable production. Innovafeed thus proves the robustness of its innovative industrial model.
The construction of this latest expansion in Nesle is the result of an industrial development designed in phases to manage and mitigate the risks of its model. The first two phases, inaugurated in 2020 and 2023, respectively, addressed the technological risks inherent in creating a new innovative industrial sector based on living organisms. After ramping up, stabilizing the technology and demonstrating the economic performance of the site during the first two phases, this third phase will enable to reach the target production capacity and profitability.
Innovafeed is one of the pioneers in the creation of industrial startups in France. This movement within the French tech sector spans various impact-driven industries such as mobility, energy production and agrifood. It fosters the emergence of new technologies and industrial sectors that contribute to France’s industrial sovereignty and the decarbonization of strategic industries.
The process of emerging industrial startups involves several successive stages: the laboratory stage to confirm technical feasibility, the pilot demonstration stage at a semi-industrial scale and the “flagship” demonstration stage at an industrial scale. This last stage is a critical transition phase between design and industrial maturity. Innovafeed’s success in Nesle is a strong symbol for the industrial startup ecosystem in France.
Through this expansion, Innovafeed also demonstrates the acceleration of the insect industry’s development and the success of its industrial symbiosis model. This model ensures the production of proteins for animal feed while maintaining a low carbon impact (an 80% reduction in CO2 emissions compared with other models without industrial symbiosis) and respecting biodiversity.
This low-carbon food alternative is highly endorsed by agro-industry leaders, including ADM and Cargill, who are among Innovafeed’s main customers and investors. Innovafeed has secured more than EUR1 billion in contracts over 10 years, highlighting the trust of its partners.
Commitment to the future
The completion of this phase strengthens the existing 170 positions by creating 40 new jobs. These jobs include production operators, maintenance technicians and team coordinators, all from the Hauts-de-France region. Some of these positions have already been filled, and the majority of the remaining positions will be filled through internal mobility.
