Ÿnsect extends series-C round to $372m

US-based investors Upfront Ventures and FootPrint Coalition are among the backers, alongside Astanor Ventures and Hong Kong-based Happiness Capital, Supernova Invest and Armat Group.

This round is an extension to the $125m series-C led by a consortium of VC firms in February 2019 and brings the total amount raised in this round to $372m.

This sum, according to the company, is the largest amount ever raised by a non-American agri-tech business. In total, Ÿnsect has raised $425m in funding to date.

The capital includes debt financing amounting to $139m, which was provided by Caisse des Dépôts and a pool of French banks led by Crédit Agricole Brie-Picardie and Caisse d'Epargne Hauts de France. Arkea, Crédit Mutuel, BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole Franche Comté and Caisse d'Epargne Normandie also participated.

The fresh capital collected in these two stages of the series-C round will be used to scale up production by building a large insect farm in Amiens, which is expected to become operative in 2022. The company also intends to use the financing to expand internationally, particularly across the North American market.

Previous funding
Ÿnsect raised €1.8m in a series-A round in 2014 from Demeter and Emertec, alongside private investors. Emertec provided half of the capital, investing via its €47.5m Emertec 5 fund, while Demeter drew capital from the Demeter 3 Amorçage vehicle.

Subsequently, Demeter, Emertec and New Protein led a €5.5m series-B in 2016. The round was then extended to €19.2m with additional contributions from BPI France and Demeter.

Astanor Ventures led a $125m series-C round for the company in February 2019, with additional contributions from BPI France, Talis Capital, Idinvest Partners and Compagnie du Bois Sauvage.

Company
Ÿnsect was founded in 2011 and is headquartered in Evry, France. It operates large-scale insect farms, with a view to develop new ingredients for several markets. At capacity, Ÿnsect's largest farm to date will produce around 20,000 tonnes of protein annually.

The products include animal food, cosmetics and organic fertilizers. The firm is aiming to enhance the quality of animal nutrition by developing insect-protein-based food.

People
Ÿnsect – Antoine Hubert, Jean-Gabriel Levon, Alexis Agnot, Fabrice Berro (co-founders).
Upfront Ventures – Yves Sisteron (managing partner).

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