Mekong Capital announces that the Mekong Enterprise Fund IV (MEF IV) invested USD 25 million into Entobel, part of the USD 30 million funding round.
Entobel is a biotech company producing insect-based ingredients from black soldier flies for various industries. In early 2019, Entobel constructed one of the largest insect production sites in the world in Dong Nai province, Vietnam with an annual capacity of 1,000 tons of insect meal. Looking forward, Entobel’s next plant will be operational by 2023 and will respond to rising global demand while supporting the reduction of our global food chain’s environmental footprint.
Being based in Vietnam provides Entobel with a significant and sustainable competitive advantage thanks to the tropical climate, abundant sources of feedstock from Vietnam’s agriculture activities and F&B production, and the growing aquaculture market being the main application of insect protein ingredients.
After eight years, Entobel has done extensive R&D to perfect the technology to convert food byproducts to insect protein on a large scale with capital-efficient technology. Having achieved these technological breakthroughs, the company is now ready to scale up its production.
Gaetan Crielaard and Alexandre de Caters, co-founders of Entobel, said, “we are proud to partner with Mekong Capital and Dragon Capital to build a world-class plant before replicating the model globally. We are convinced our capital efficient and robust technology is the right approach to massive scaling up. With our growing blue-chip customer base as well as world-class industrial partnerships for breakthrough R&D activities including new product developments, we ensure our market relevance and competitiveness in the long run.”
Sjoerd Zwinkels, Mekong Capital’s deal leader for Entobel, said, “we are very excited to partner with Entobel to achieve the exciting vision of becoming the leading insect protein producer in the world. The Entobel team is solving one of the big problems in the world by using insects to create a sustainable protein, which will reduce the environmental footprint of our global food chain while making the food value chain safer and more sustainable. This is a truly circular economy as they take byproducts, and convert them to protein, oil, and organic fertilizer. There is virtually no waste.”
