Israeli soldier fly startup accelerates growth plans with $2m raise

Strategic partnership eyes expansion in Middle East, Africa

Israel-based Entoprotech, which uses black soldier flies to process organic waste, announced that Granot, the country’s largest agricultural cooperative and biggest feed producer, is leading its latest funding round with an investment of (U.S.) $2 million.

Granot will also co-finance the establishment of a large “waste2protein” facility in Israel while exploring the possibility of future facilities across the Middle East and Africa.

“By harnessing the power of the black soldier fly, Entoprotech delivers a multifaceted circular solution that goes way beyond recycling or sustainable feed production. Climate change and the unanswered demand for sustainable feed solutions is a cross-border phenomenon, a problem that impacts us all,” said Sasha Babitsky, CEO of Entoprotech.

Headquartered in Tel Aviv, Entoprotech operates an R&D center in Israel and a pilot production facility in Russia that processes 15 tons of organic waste each day and provides waste management services to several food multinationals.

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Oran Scott, head of innovation and business development at Granot, said Entoprotech has the potential to simultaneously fight climate change and protein insecurity. The new funding will support R&D and business development plans in the next 12 months and will be part of a $30 million Series A round planned towards Q4 2022.

Founded in 2016, Entoprotech has R&D activity in Israel and Russia and a production facility processing 15 tons of organic waste daily. The company’s products include defatted insect meal (a fishmeal replacement), fat with potential uses in cosmetics and pharma, and frass (a byproduct of larvae metabolic activity) as a high-quality fertilizer.

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