Probenda receives six-figure seed funding

BMH Beteiligungs-Managementgesellschaft Hessen mbH has joined Probenda GmbH as lead investor. The startup produces a sustainable protein source alternative for livestock feed.

Wiesbaden - The startup from southern Hesse focuses on developing an upcycling process in which high-quality agricultural raw materials such as animal feed and fertilizer are extracted from organic residues with the help of insects. The company plans to use the capital raised in the upper six-figure range to expand its production facility. This will involve switching from a batch-based process to continuous processing and automating feeding and harvesting.

Our vision is to launch into Series-A in about two years to drive large-scale plant construction.

Luisa Benning, Founder Probenda

Based in Pfungstadt, Germany, the company was founded in 2020 by Luisa and Christian Benning to make agriculture more sustainable. Currently, about 70 percent of agricultural land worldwide is used for the production of animal feed. At the same time, about one-third of the food produced for human consumption ends up unused in the trash or in biogas plants, with much of it already lost during production. Probenda's upcycling process makes it possible to reintroduce these residual materials into the cycle and thus sustainably reduce the need for newly produced animal feed, especially soy and fish meal, using regional resources.

We are happy to accompany and support the journey of the two visionary founders and their team from the very beginning.

Lena Lang, Investment Manager BMH

Probenda, which works with its sustainable business model, has already been awarded the Hessian Founders Award 2022 as well as the Green and Social Impact Award for Sustainable Food 2023. These recognitions represent Probenda's impressive rapid development: while the start-up was still producing one box of larvae per day in its own cellar in 2020, the current facility was already set up in early 2021. In November 2021, Probenda became the first German company to receive approval to use the black soldier fly for the production of food and pet food in accordance with Regulation 1069/2009 and has since been producing around half a ton of larvae per day at full capacity