The financing represents the largest ever investment in a company in the insect sector in Finland.
“At Maki.vc, we invest in early-stage deep tech solutions where we see commercial potential. Volare has it all: You can turn waste streams into valuable proteins without harming the environment, and your team is an excellent combination of research and customer expertise, ”said Paavo Räisänen, Investment Director, Maki.vc.
The company also reported that Jarna Hyvönen, a circular economy expert, has joined Volare as Chief Operating Officer. The innovator currently employs six people and wants to increase the total number of employees to 10 this year.
Volare management team: COO Jarna Hyvönen (left), CEO Tuure Parviainen (center), CTO Matti Tähtinen (right) © Volare
Volare processes waste from the food industry into proteins and lipids for the fish feed, pet food and cosmetics industries. She sees such products as a substitute for other animal proteins, soybean meal and palm oil.
The aim of the insect product company is to radically reduce the environmental impact of the food chain.
“Our production uses upcycling, the purest circular economy. The value of the upcycling material grows without waste, ”said Volare co-founder, CTO Matti Tähtinen.
And the Volare team claims that the environmental impact of insect production is negligible compared to traditional protein and oil raw materials, causing only a fraction of the emissions from these other inputs.
Industrial scale
The startup has a pilot plant in operation and is aiming for rapid growth. The plan is to build a commercial-scale production facility in two years and then build several units annually in Europe.
It claims its industrial facility will be able to feed 4.75 million salmon in a year.
The groundwork for Volare technology was done in the VTT LaunchPad Business Incubator.
“Volare’s technology and the possibilities it offers are a great example of how VTT provides a platform to address major global challenges and create exponential hope,” said Lotta Partanen, manager of this Finnish incubator program.
