nextProtein has secured €18 million ($20.7M) in Series B financing to accelerate the industrial rollout of its insect-based protein ingredients. The Paris-headquartered AgTech company, with teams in Lyon and Tunis, says the capital will help it meet surging demand from aquaculture, livestock, and pet food customers. The raise underscores growing investor conviction that insect ingredients can compete on cost and scale against traditional commodities such as fishmeal.
Funding Details
The equity round is co-led by SWEN Capital Partners’ Blue Ocean Fund and British International Investment, the UK’s development finance institution and impact investor. Existing backers Mirova, through its ocean protection strategy, and RAISE Impact also re-upped, signaling confidence in nextProtein’s model and path to scale. In parallel, the company secured €4 million in senior debt from Société Générale, CIC Paris Innovation, and La Banque des Start-ups by LCL to bolster working capital and buildout.
Strategy and Expansion
Proceeds will fund the opening of nextProtein’s second production facility in Tunisia and support a rapid ramp-up of output. The plant is designed to produce 12,000 tons per year of insect-based ingredients, including roughly 2,500 tonnes of protein powder, which management says is sufficient to achieve profitability. With capacity concentrated near cost-efficient feedstocks, the company aims to serve more partners across EMEA while shortening time to market.
Product Portfolio
nextProtein manufactures three core ingredients derived from black soldier fly larvae: a defatted protein meal marketed as nextMeal, an energy-dense nextOil, and a soil-enhancing fertilizer called nextGrow. These products target feed formulators in aquaculture first, then livestock and pet nutrition where functional and sustainability attributes carry a premium. The company frames its offer as a reliable supply of low-impact inputs that can be integrated into existing feed recipes at industrial volumes.
Technology and Cost Position
The firm’s circular model sources low-value agricultural by-products with little or no competing demand, particularly in emerging markets. By pairing proprietary rearing and processing know-how with flexible feedstock “recipes,” nextProtein says it can hold down both CAPEX and OPEX to deliver commodity-level pricing. “We are producing insect protein at true industrial scale by optimizing for cost and availability, not just biology,” said co-founder and CEO Mohamed Gastli.
Operational Track Record
Years of operational R&D underwrite the scale-up, according to the team running the Tunis site. Head of Operations Mtir Ben Aribia said the company has tested more than 100 feedstock ingredients and refined formulations to steadily improve feed conversion ratios. That iteration has focused on consistency and throughput, enabling the firm to match the performance and economics of entrenched protein inputs.
Market Timing
Co-founder and General Manager Syrine Chaalala described the sector as being at an inflection point where cost and supply reliability, rather than proof of concept, define winners. Overfished oceans and overstretched farmland are tightening supplies of legacy proteins, pushing feed makers to diversify. nextProtein believes that meeting buyers’ price-per-nutrient thresholds at scale will unlock mainstream adoption across global supply chains.
Investor Perspectives
“By turning agricultural and food waste into scalable, low-carbon animal feeds, nextProtein shows how agri-tech can reshape food systems while cutting emissions,” said Sherine Shohdy, North Africa Regional Director and Head of Office, Egypt at BII. She added that the deal is BII’s first direct investment in Tunisia and a signal for broader climate innovation in Africa. “Focusing on cost competitiveness and industrial scalability sets a new benchmark for the category,” said Julie Peyrache, Investment Director on the SWEN Blue Ocean team.
Mission and Origins
Founded in 2015 by former FAO specialist Syrine Chaalala and chemical engineer-entrepreneur Mohamed Gastli, nextProtein was built around a simple premise. Organic waste streams can be upgraded into high-quality protein and oil using a robust, replicable process tailored to local feedstocks. The company says the environmental benefits include reduced land, water, and carbon footprints compared with conventional animal protein inputs.
With fresh equity and debt in place, nextProtein is now focused on commissioning its second Tunisian facility and delivering against a 12,000-ton annual run-rate target. Management argues that hitting these volumes will validate unit economics and cement the company’s position among Europe’s most competitive insect protein producers. If execution matches ambition, the business could prove that insect ingredients can operate at commodity scale, not just in pilot plants.