ABC Impact, an impact investment firm backed by Temasek Trust, the philanthropic unit of Singapore wealth fund Temasek, has invested in Innovafeed, a Paris-based producer of sustainable animal feed and plant nutrition ingredients from insects.

The funds will be used to increase production capacity in the biotechnology company’s plant in northern France, boost R&D capabilities, and drive global expansion with a new production site in the United States and push into Southeast Asia.

Other investors in Innovafeed’s latest US$250 million funding round include global agribusiness companies ADM and Cargill, as well as existing investors Temasek and Creadev.

“By using low-value agriculture waste to breed insects such as the black soldier fly that are subsequently processed into high-quality protein, oil, and frass, Innovafeed provides not only an avenue for the agriculture industry to dispose of their waste, but also a sustainable high-quality protein to augment the expected supply gap in traditional aquaculture and animal feed,” says Tan Shao Ming, ABC Impact’s chief investment officer.

“We believe that there is a huge potential for Innovafeed’s technology and platform to be rolled out in Southeast Asia, given the tropical climate which is conducive for the black soldier fly, and the availability of palm oil waste which is a suitable feedstock,” Tan adds.

Founded in 2016, Innovafeed has become a major player in the global insect protein business, having secured commercial partnerships worth over US$1 billion in the past 10 years.

The company has designed and built a production model that reduces energy consumption by using the waste energy of industrial partners, which otherwise would be dispersed into the atmosphere, thereby reducing the consumption of fossil fuels.

Innovafeed has also established an impact committee to place sustainable development and social impact at the heart of its business model. The committee will be responsible for defining and supporting the firm’s  environmental, social and governance (ESG) strategy over the next three years. It will be chaired by Darian McBain, who currently serves as chief sustainability officer of the Monetary Authority of Singapore.