Last week was ultimate startup strange attractor in France. The BPI (French Public Investment Bank) is a state run financial entity driving growth in the French startup world. In this, it is significantly French where the state plays a much larger role in the economic life of the country than elsewhere. The Inno Generation event tales over one of Paris’s biggest indoor venues for the day and is busy all the time.
This year, while heaving with young talent, it was the scaleups and startups outside the main hall which were more interesting. Ynsect and Innovafeed are great examples of where businesses are forced to look beyond the ‘hypergrowth’ and ‘winner takes all’ mantra that infects a gazillion ‘next facebook’ or ‘uber for cats’ companies in a frenzied search for speed at any cost.
Both companies are competing to feed the world using insect protein. While Ynsect has more investment raised and a higher protein content in its product than Innovafeed, it’s growth cycle is significantly longer than its competitor.
Ynsect goes from pilot to industrial scale with the construction of its first large facility (20k tonnes) close to Amiens in France with plans for expansion into North America next and then Asia. Innovafeed also has a pilot site and it’s production site will be capable of producing 25k tonnes of oil, meal and fertiliser.
What’s comforting about both these companies is that they produce something with real value beyond convenience and, as they need to produce real physical product, are forced to take a longer view based on building real growth and real value on an industrial base.
Their long term success may depend on a fundamental change in how the planet feeds itself but I, for one, hope they succeed.