Singapore-based industrial insect-meal company Nutrition Technologies has completed a USD 20 million (EUR 19.9 million) equity fundraising round to support its expansion plans.
The equity venture round was led by PTT Ventures and supported by Sumitomo Corporation, ING Sustainable Investments, and Mandala Capital. Other participants included existing investors Openspace Ventures, SEEDs Capital, and Hera Capital. The funds from the round will be used to to allow the company to expand into new markets, launch new products, bolster its research and development efforts, and form new strategic partnerships.
Nutrition Technologies focuses on producing protein, oil, and organic fertilizer from black soldier fly larvae. In recent years, the company conducted several trials of its aquafeed products on fish and shrimp, which it said have shown positive results.
Nutrition Technologies’ main protein product, Hi.Protein, is a substitute for fishmeal or soybean meal for use in feeding fish, shrimp, poultry, swine, pets and reptiles.
The company currently runs a two-hectare production facility in Johor, Malaysia, and is planning to boost its production capacity through a new joint venture in an unnamed country in Southeast Asia.
Nutrition Technologies Co-CEO and Co-Founder Nick Piggott said apart from meeting domestic demand, the company also plans to expand into South Korea, Japan, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, The Philippines, and Chile. It is seeking to export its products to the U.K. and the European Union.
"We believe our technological developments can help address some of the world's most-critical problems and are highly motivated to accelerate expansion as quickly as possible," Nutrition Technologies Chief Operating Officer Charlie Carter said. "Our novel microbiology solution to insect production allows us to use a wide pool of raw materials which negates the most significant barrier to scaling."
The value of the global insect protein market was estimated to be at USD 343 million (EUR 342.2 million) in 2021, and the sector is expected to enjoy a compound annual growth rate of 26.49 percent to USD 1.3 billion (EUR 1.29 billion) by 2027, according to Nutri-Tec.
Total global investment into insect meal is approaching USD 1 billion (EUR 997.7 million), but due to several technological barriers, most of the companies in the sector have not yet reached industrial scale, Nutrition Technologies said.
