Beta Hatch, a company industrialising the production of insects as a sustainable protein for animal feed, has closed a Series A1 funding round for an undisclosed amount.
The round was co-led by Cavallo Ventures and early-stage venture firm Innova Memphis with investments from Klein Private Equity Investment and Brighton Jones Investment Partners.
Founded in 2015, Beta Hatch develops insect-rearing technology that converts organic waste directly into high-value proteins, oils and nutrients for poultry and aquaculture.
By using insects as feed, the firm aims to meet the global demand for plant and animal nutrients with a cost-effective and sustainable solution.
With its funding, Beta Hatch will begin the construction of what it claims will be the largest mealworm production facility for animal feed in North America to scale up its production commercially.
Located in Washington, Beta Hatch says the facility will have the capacity to produce a tonne of insect protein per day and will be partially powered by waste heat.
The new facility is scheduled to be operational in early 2021.
“Insects have the potential to be the world’s most sustainable protein,” said Virginia Emery, founder and CEO of Beta Hatch.
She added: “This new funding allows us to break ground on the construction of our sustainable flagship facility, so that we can scale up production commercially to meet existing demand of thousands of tonnes, and to continue our technology development to further bring down costs and increase efficiencies.”
Dean Didato, partner at Innova Memphis, said: “Whether for aquaculture, poultry or even for use in the domestic pet marketplace, we clearly see the opportunity posed by Beta Hatch in addressing the need for more sustainable sources of feed protein.
“The Beta Hatch team has engineered several innovative solutions to increase insect growth and mechanical processing efficiencies that provide a competitive edge in the space.
“In addition, with consumer desires to know more about the origin of one’s food and its rearing, harvesting and processing, Innova fully believes that these trends will drive further market adoption of insect protein.”
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