Scottish business Beta Bugs has secured a multimillion-pound investment as it looks to become a global leader in insect genetics.
Tricapita Angels led a £1.7 million investment into the business in 2023 and has now had a fresh £2.1 million cash injection alongside Scottish Enterprise.
Beta Bugs was launched in Edinburgh in 2017 by Dr Thomas Farrugia and is based at the Easter Bush Campus, home to the Roslin Institute.
The firm said the investment will 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.
Dr Farrugia said: “This funding allows us immediately to accelerate our growth on key fronts.
“Additionally, we are increasing our production capacity to a larger scale to meet rising customer demand for our key product formats – eggs, young larvae and juvenile larvae, across the UK and European market.”