NEWS FEED & ADDITIVE MAGAZINE April 2025 95 Pioneering insect genetics company Beta Bugs secured a multimillion-pound investment as it looks to become a global leader in insect genetics. TRICAPITAL Angels led a £1.7 million investment into the business in 2023 – and has now followed up with a fresh £2.1 million cash injection alongside Scottish Enterprise. Beta Bugs was launched in Edinburgh in 2017 by CEO and founder Dr. Thomas Farrugia and is based at the Easter Bush Campus – a centre of excellence for animal genetics and home to the Roslin Institute. The investment is expected to enable Beta Bugs to further accelerate its development into an international player in Black Soldier Fly genetics, as well as enabling the company to scale up production of eggs and juvenile larvae to supply to insect farming operations. Over the past decade, black soldier fly farming has developed extensively as an industry. The larvae possess an ability to simultaneously divert food, agricultural and industrial waste from disposal and instead up-cycle it into a green, circular and regionally produced nutrient-rich ingredient for the pet, aqua and livestock sectors. As a result, black soldier fly farms are already being deployed by waste processors, retailers and food manufacturers to reduce their waste footprint, whilst producing an alternative feed to replace environmentally damaging soymeal and fishmeal production. Read more>> Insect genetics company secures £2.1M investment Symrise AG signed a strategic partnership with Hofseth BioCare ASA (HBC), a Norwegian manufacturer of salmon-based ingredients addressing the human health and pet nutrition markets. With this partnership, Symrise points out it will expand its presence in the health category with clinically proven marine ingredients. Symrise will ideally complement its current portfolio and accelerate HBC’s market reach and scale. HBC is committed to ambitious growth plans and envisions to refurbish the HBC Berkak facility into a state-of-the-art enzymatic hydrolysis plant that will triple the current production of HBC, according to the announcement. Symrise and HBC will further explore new product developments and leverage Symrise’s go-to-market to promote HBC products globally. “This partnership with HBC is testament to their unique footprint and differentiated science. Their investments in clinical studies demonstrate proven benefits in key categories of metabolic health, immune health, gut health and mobility, setting them apart. This partnership is well aligned with our willingness to accelerate in health in the context of our ‘One Care’ journey but also with the recent creation of the Global Marine Platform to explore the vast potential that the oceans could offer us,” said Dr. Jean-Yves Parisot, CEO of Symrise AG. Sustainability is deeply embedded into HBC’s DNA, the company points out. HBC has developed a unique proprietary technology to upcycle fresh salmon offcuts not used in the production of fillets into bioactive ingredients with demonstrated health benefits. Read more>> Symrise strengthens pet nutrition portfolio with new partnership
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