How reality crushed Ÿnsect, the French startup that had raised over $600M for insect farming
How reality crushed Ÿnsect, the French startup that had raised over $600M for insect farming
How reality crushed Ÿnsect, the French startup that had raised over $600M for insect farming
How reality crushed Ÿnsect, the French startup that had raised over $600M for insect farming
13 Comments
Too bad, they couldn’t wing it, I guess
It wasnt for human consumption.
It failed because the feed for the insects is too difficult to get.
These guys were big. They were even in my intermediate French class’s curriculum.
600m$ raise for a French company is huge right ?
>So how did a company with such meager revenue raise over $600 million? The answer wasn’t hype-driven crossover funds paying ambitious multiples during the 2021 funding frenzy. Instead, Ÿnsect attracted impact-focused investors like Astanor Ventures and public investment bank Bpifrance that bought into a compelling sustainability vision.
I’m not sure what the entirety of “hype-driven crossover funds paying ambitious multiples” means. But it sounds a lot like the answer was hype-driven funds.
Their story hyped up a lot of sustainability investors. They raised $600 million without a proven business case. That pushed them to spend big money on their giga-factory for that unproven business case. Then their big idea didn’t have legs and their big investment ate up the $600 million faster than they could pivot.
Seems pretty clearly a story of hype-driven investment eating up money that could have done more good with some judicious caution.
Is the concept of starting small to prove viability just alien to some people?
One of the main appeals of farming bugs should be that it requires less capital investment than traditional livestock. In what world does it make sense to go balls to the wall with half a billion out of the gate?
Yes we should definitely… grow bugs instead of…. Growing more plants….
it was always a grift
Their product was Insect Farming? What happened? Too many bugs?
Ba dum tssssh.
Oh I get it, investors got antsy?
…
Now, now, Bee-haaave….!
Sounds like they hoped things will work just by throwing money at it?
Oh no, a bad idea ended badly…
The hard part is people, if you are in growth mode you need high performers. Once you are established you need solid process followers that are there for attendance, and a decent salary.
High performers are only tangentially there for the salary, but really want to make sure their high energy years are towards something impactful. So they need to be well backed.
Smaller companies with much less capitalization are making progress in this sector. Key differences are targeting the high value pet food market until unit production costa are sufficiently low and locating production near a uniform food source. Pronuvo in Costa Rica is an example. They utilize waste from the banana processing industry. Producing in the tropics, where Black Soldier Flies are found naturally, is less expensive than Europe, where heat is needed.