01 / CAPITAL CONFIDENCE
| Current value | $2B+ total disclosed investments |
| What it measures | Total volume of publicly disclosed investments in companies involved in insect protein production (BSF and mealworm). Includes all rounds — from seed to Series D. |
| Why it matters | Capital volume is a direct indicator of trust from major players. When Cargill, ADM ($250M in InnovaFeed), Tyson Foods (stake in Protix), Nestlé (partnership with InnovaFeed) enter the industry — it signals maturity, not experimentation. |
| Sources |
Rethink Priorities (Dec 2024) — analysis of 310 deals across 104 companies Forward Fooding (Nov 2025) — $2.13B since 2015 Crunchbase, Dealroom, corporate press releases |
| Risk context | 37% of investments went to companies that went bankrupt or are in restructuring (Ÿnsect — liquidation Dec. 2025, Beta Hatch — closure). This is an important adjustment to the headline figure. |
02 / REGULATORY REACH
| Current value | 12+ jurisdictions |
| What it measures | Number of countries and jurisdictions that have officially approved BSF products (Hermetia illucens) for use in animal feed, aquaculture and/or food products. |
| Key approvals |
EU — aquaculture feed (2017), poultry/swine (2021), Novel Food for humans (2022, 2025) Canada — CFIA feed approval (2023) USA — AAFCO, FDA GRAS status (in progress, partial approvals) Singapore — SFA food approval (2022) South Korea — MFDS approval (2020) Thailand — traditional use + FDA Thai approval Australia/New Zealand — FSANZ, APVMA feed approvals |
| Why it matters | Each new approval is a government stamp of "safe and legal." For cautious businesses, this is a key signal: the regulator has already taken responsibility. The more jurisdictions, the lower the market entry risk. |
| Sources |
EFSA, EUR-Lex — EU Novel Food regulations National regulatory agencies (CFIA, SFA, MFDS, FSANZ) |
03 / PRICE PARITY INDEX
| Current value | 0.85× — BSF meal is still ~15% more expensive than fishmeal |
| Formula |
PPI = Fishmeal price ($/t) ÷ BSF meal price ($/t)PPI = 1.0 means parity. PPI > 1.0 = BSF is cheaper than fishmeal. |
| Current prices |
Fishmeal (any origin): $1,724/t (Q4 2025, FRED/World Bank) BSF meal (defatted): ~$2,000/t (estimate based on industry data) Soybean meal for comparison: ~$350–400/t |
| Dynamics |
Fishmeal price is rising (+32% in 2025: from $1,335 in Q1 to $1,724 in Q4). BSF meal price is declining as production scales up. Crossover point: expected ~2027–2029 at current trends. Research shows that BSF meal is already cost-effective when replacing up to 75% of fishmeal at a BSF price of up to $3.04/kg. |
| Why it matters | This is the only metric the market will track regularly. The answer to "when will BSF become cheaper than fishmeal?" determines the moment of mass transition. |
04 / PRODUCTION SCALE
| Current value | 200+ facilities, ~147K t/year forecast capacity (2025) |
| What it measures | Number of commercial insect protein production facilities (all types: BSF, mealworm, crickets) and their total production capacity in tonnes of dried insects per year. |
| Dynamics |
2020: ~10,000 t/year (Rabobank) 2025: ~147,000 t/year — median forecast (Rethink Priorities) 2030: 221K–500K t/year (forecast range Rethink Priorities / Rabobank) Capacity growth ×15 in 5 years — one of the fastest in food-tech |
| Largest |
InnovaFeed (Nesle, France) — 15,000 t/year, largest BSF facility Protix (Bergen op Zoom, Netherlands) — 14,000 t live larvae/year Entobel (Vietnam) — 10,000 t protein meal/year HiProMine (Karkoszow, Poland) — 25,000 t/year (launched 2024) |
| Sources |
Rethink Priorities (Dec 2024) Forward Fooding (Nov 2025) Corporate press releases, Crunchbase |