Helsinki-based technology company Volare has secured €7.1 million in new funding through Springvest, with backing from new and existing investors including Maki.vc, to support plans for a second industrial-scale factory and expansion across Europe and beyond. The company converts food-industry side streams into insect protein and oil using an automated production process based on black soldier fly larvae. Its newly completed €15 million facility in Pori can produce up to 5,000 tonnes of insect protein and 2,000 tonnes of insect oil annually, with a significant share of its production capacity already sold, including through an offtake agreement with aquafeed producer Skretting. The funding will help Volare replicate its production model and increase capacity for locally produced alternative proteins.
Founded in 2021, Volare produces insect protein and oil from food-industry side streams using black soldier fly larvae. Based in Finland, the company develops automated production processes to convert these materials into ingredients for aquafeed, pet food and poultry feed. Its first industrial-scale facility, Volare 01, opened in Pori in 2026 and is designed to produce up to 5,000 tonnes of insect protein and 2,000 tonnes of insect oil annually. The company is preparing to expand its production capacity with a second facility and plans to scale its model across Europe and other markets.
The facility represents a 1,000-fold increase in production capacity compared with the company’s demonstration plant, where Volare validated its process over four years of commercial operations. Built inside a former newspaper printing facility, the factory was completed within its €15 million capital expenditure budget and on schedule, according to the company.
Volare’s production model relies on automation across the process, from larvae rearing to finished ingredients. The facility is designed to operate with four employees per shift and is fully electric. The company says its process requires four to ten times less capital expenditure, around 50% fewer employees and 30% less energy in end-product processing than other insect protein production models.
The factory is designed to produce up to 5,000 tonnes of insect protein and 2,000 tonnes of insect oil annually. Volare says a significant share of this capacity has already been sold, with offtake agreements in place with Skretting, a global aquafeed producer, and a global chemical company.
The new €7.1 million funding round was raised through Springvest, with investors including Maki.vc among the new and existing backers. Volare plans to use the capital to ramp up production at its new facility and prepare for a second industrial-scale factory.
The planned second facility is expected to have approximately five times the protein production capacity of Volare 01. The company aims to replicate its production model across Europe and other markets, bringing manufacturing closer to food-industry raw materials and customers.
“Volare 01 proves that our technology and production model work at industrial scale,” says Jarna Hyvönen, CEO and Co-founder of Volare. “We delivered the factory on schedule and on budget, demonstrating our ability to build production capacity cost-effectively and laying a strong foundation for further growth.”
The company has supplied insect-based ingredients commercially since 2022. Its products have been used in dog treats developed with Alvar Pet, cat food from Dagsmark, part of the VAFO Group, and rainbow trout feed through a collaboration with Alltech Fennoaqua. Its protein has also been used in organic poultry feed.
Insect protein producers aim to create alternatives to conventional feed ingredients such as fishmeal and soy protein. However, industrial-scale production has proved difficult for several companies in the sector, where high factory costs and the challenge of competing with established protein sources have constrained growth.
Volare’s approach combines a process developed through research at VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland with a focus on automation, energy use and adapting existing industrial infrastructure. The company says its insect protein meal has more than 90% digestibility.
The new factory moves Volare from demonstration-scale operations to a facility designed for substantially higher commercial output. Its next challenge will be to ramp up production, meet existing customer agreements and establish the economics needed to replicate the model at additional sites.
“Europe needs significantly more locally produced protein, and we have built a model that can deliver it efficiently and competitively,” Hyvönen says. “ Our next step is to replicate our model from Finland and bring more local, efficient protein production capacity to Europe and beyond.”
Read the orginal article: https://arcticstartup.com/volare-raises-e7-1-million/
