As we look back onto an eventful and successful 2022, we are delighted to welcome The Yield Lab Asia Pacific as our latest investor in Protenga, with the first close of our current funding round. SEEDS Capital and JBI Innovations also joined the first close.
We look forward to working with The Yield Lab Asia Pacific team, and gaining access to their vast network of relevant industry experts as we further expand Protenga’s activities.
“The Yield Lab has a fantastic Asia Pacific and Global reputation and presence, and the expertise to back it. We are strongly aligned with their mission to sustainably revolutionise agrifood systems thanks to our scalable renewal nutrition production platform” says Founder and CEO Leo Wein.
Protenga’s technology production platform is developing fast, with current insect farming facilities having reached several key productivity and cost milestones this year. Based on these operating validations achieved in 2022, Protenga’s second-generation Smart Insect Farm blueprint will see its first deployments together with strategic partners in 2023. The company is positioned to be a key partner of the palm industry in Malaysia, Indonesia and beyond by up-cycling palm by-products and thus increasing the sustainability of their operations.
The expansion of the product line reached a new milestone with the launch of Protenga’s wet pet food product portfolio and being among the top 3 awardees at the Interzoo 2022 Fresh Ideas competition earlier this year. Protenga is now the first and only company globally producing wet dog food with fresh insect proteins. As pet owners embrace insect protein as the superfood of the decade for their furry friends, this new funding will support the commercial development in 2023 to reach millions of dogs with healthy, sustainable, and delicious food. With Protenga’s pet food, dogs are becoming climate heroes!
“Protenga’s vertical integration, unique technology, and production platform, as well as its circular solution which utilises Palm waste to supplement the insect protein’s highly nutritious food source provides a sustainable solution relevant to this Asia Pacific region, with the finished product benefiting the global Pet food and Aquaculture industries. Protenga’s fast-growing insect protein reduces the strain current industry branded Pet food impose on the world’s crop and livestock, while at the same time providing the Pet owner with the traceable quality, high nutrition and flavour profile they demand for their four-legged family members,” said Claire Pribula, Managing Director of The Yield Lab Asia Pacific.
“In addition, Protenga’s innovation being developed for Aquaculture feed is unique and important across many fish and seafood species. All combined The Yield Lab Asia Pacific looks at Protenga’s insect protein platform as a flexible, sustainable and highly nutritious base for Pets and hundreds of fish species. Both Pet and Aquaculture are fast-growing markets. The Yield Lab Asia Pacific looks forward to working with Leo and his team as they exceed their next wave of commercial growth and market expansion,” she added.
About Protenga
At Protenga, we Make Insects Work For You. Protenga is a leader in circular nutrition, making insect innovation accessible for a sustainable future.
We develop data-driven Insect Technology that enables a circular, regenerative, economy all along the food supply chain and produces best-in-class, sustainable Insect Products for pet food, animal feed and plants.
Protenga’s Smart Insect Farm is the leading technology platform to make insect farming and insect protein production accessible at scale to create a more climate-positive, circular food system. In 2023, Protenga will start the roll-out of its 2nd generation Smart Insect Farm blueprint regionally.
About The Yield Lab Asia Pacific
The Yield Lab Asia Pacific enables impactful innovations in Agriculture with velocity to sustainably outpace the nutritional and economic needs of Asia Pacific and the World. We are shifting businesses globally, sustainably and profitably in order to meet the basic needs of every human on the planet, provide prosperity through positive social impact and mitigate agriculture and aquaculture’s environmental impact.
About SEEDS Capital
The investment arm of Enterprise Singapore, SEEDS Capital supports the growth of promising Singapore-based startups. SEEDS currently works with more than 500 deep tech startups, and over 40 incubators, accelerators and venture capital firms. SEEDS Capital is a returning investor after having participated in Protenga’s first investment round in 2020.
About JBI Innovations
JBI Innovations is a subsidiary of JBI Equity, focused on the area of commercialising leading University research and know-how into Agriculture, Biotechnology and Bio-economy. This often takes the form of developing Special purpose vehicles (SPVs) alongside universities with the aim of releasing the full potential of research, inventions, know-how and core-capabilities of world class universities into global industry. Examples include Roslin Technologies, an existing investor in Protenga, and Vivotro Laboratories, Bugera, and Cody Genetics.
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