Volare secures €26 million funding for insect protein production plant

Finnish biotech company Volare has raised €26 million to build a pioneering insect protein facility in Pori, Finland. Credit: Susanna Oksanen

Finnish biotech company Volare has raised €26 million to build a pioneering insect protein facility in Pori, Finland.

The new plant, Volare 01, will serve as the flagship site for scaling the company’s proprietary insect-based protein production system, which it claims is “the most efficient protein production plant in the world.”

The funding round includes a mix of equity, mezzanine and senior loans, and public financing, with backing from Maki.vc, Firstminute Capital, Springvest, The Finnish Climate Fund, Finnvera, Norion Bank and other institutions.

The new facility is central to Volare’s strategy to improve Europe’s protein self-sufficiency and transition towards circular, sustainable food production.

Currently, the EU is only 34 percent self-sufficient in protein concentrates, according to the European Commission, leaving its food system heavily reliant on imports and exposed to geopolitical and supply chain risks. At the same time, global protein demand is expected to double by 2050, intensifying pressure on supply chains and making resilient, sustainable production models more urgent than ever.

“Volare was founded on the vision that protein can – and must – be produced in a radically more efficient and sustainable way,” said Tuure Parviainen, co-founder and Chief Science Officer at Volare. “Now, we’re entering a new phase: scaling up to full industrial production. Our new facility will bring our proprietary, zero-waste, fossil-free process to life at scale, transforming food industry byproducts into high-quality protein and strengthening Europe’s food resilience.”

Insects and innovation at the core

Volare’s technology centres on the black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens), a species known for its ability to convert organic waste into high-value resources. Instead of being incinerated or landfilled, food byproducts are upcycled into insect protein, oil and fertiliser using Volare’s closed-loop system.

Founded in 2021–2022 by researchers Tuure Parviainen and Matti Tähtinen following years of work at Finland’s VTT Technical Research Centre, Volare operates with a mission to decarbonise protein production, reduce waste,and offer scalable alternatives to environmentally intensive ingredients like fishmeal, soy, and meat.

Volare’s technology delivers strong efficiency gains: processing energy use is cut by 30 percent and aims to halve energy use in hygienisation. The process results in emissions up to 4–8 times lower than soy, making it a benchmark in sustainable feed production.

“This is the most efficient way to produce protein,” said Jarna Hyvönen, CEO of Volare. “Combining low-value raw materials, nature’s own bioreactor, and proprietary ultra-efficient technology – a combination that’s hard to beat.”

Commercial momentum and growth roadmap

Once operational, Volare 01 will produce protein equivalent to 200 million Baltic herrings annually – around 18 percent of Finland’s total commercial fish catch in protein terms. The Pori plant is being developed on a brownfield site, offering capital efficiency and a template for future facilities across the Nordic region.

Volare has already established commercial traction. A long-term offtake agreement with Skretting, a global aquafeed supplier, secures demand for Volare 01’s output. The company is also piloting 150,000kg of insect-fed rainbow trout in Finland with Alltech Fennoaqua, Kalankasvatus Vääräniemi, and Kalavapriikki.

In 2024, Volare opened its first commercial-scale insect protein factory in Hyvinkää, capable of processing 5,000 tonnes of food industry side streams annually. The company now plans to build 10 production plants by 2030, targeting 3 million tonnes of annual CO₂ mitigation by 2035.