Finnish biotech company Volare has closed a €26 million funding round to build protein production plant Volare 01 and to advance its unique technology.
Volare turns food industry side streams into sustainable insect protein, oil and fertilisers on an industrial scale.
It reduces waste, supports regional agriculture, and strengthens the resilience and self-sufficiency of Europe’s food system.
The black soldier fly is at the core of Volare’s breakthrough (Hermetia illucens). These insects naturally convert food industry byproducts into high-value resources with exceptional efficiency. While such byproducts are often incinerated – wasting their potential – Volare upcycles them into premium insect protein, oil, and fertiliser through its proprietary zero-waste, fossil-free process.
Volare’s sustainable ingredients have already gained traction in aquafeed, pet food, and poultry feed, offering a scalable, proven alternative to environmentally intensive ingredients such as fishmeal, meat, and soy.
Volare’s protein has already been validated through real-world partnerships. An offtake agreement with global aquafeed company Skretting ensures long-term demand from the upcoming facility.
In parallel, Volare is piloting insect-fed rainbow trout in Finland via a 150,000 kg collaboration with Alltech Fennoaqua, Kalankasvatus Vääräniemi, and Kalavapriikki.
As large-scale production begins, Volare is well-positioned to support Norwegian producers with a high-quality, regionally sourced alternative to imported fishmeal, offering shorter lead times, lower emissions, and improved supply reliability.
By leveraging a brownfield location, Volare offers a significantly more capital-efficient setup than greenfield builds.
Several key technologies integrated into the process achieve a 30 per cent reduction in processing energy use and aim to cut hygienisation energy use by 50 per cent, enabling operational expenditure (OPEX) performance unseen in the insect technology sector. This makes Volare’s system not only the most energy-efficient protein production platform available today but also a circular economy benchmark.
Volare will start building the first industrial scale plant in 2025 in Finland. The Volare 01 plant will produce protein equivalent to the yield of 200 million Baltic herrings annually – approximately 18 per cent of Finland’s total commercial fish catch in protein terms.
The round includes a mix of equity, mezzanine and senior loans, and public funding, with support from Maki.vc, Firstminute Capital, Springvest, The Finnish Climate Fund (to be merged with Finnish Industry Investment), Finnvera, Norion Bank, and other financial institutions.
According to Tuure Parviainen, Chief Science Officer and co-founder of Volare, the company was founded on the vision that protein can – and must – be produced in a radically more efficient and sustainable way.
“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.”
Jarna Hyvönen, CEO of Volare, contends that the company’s combination of low-value raw materials, nature’s own bioreactor, and proprietary ultra-efficient technology is the most efficient way to produce protein.
“The result is a process with emissions significantly lower than conventional alternatives, up to 4–8 times lower than soy.
This investment marks a major step toward full-scale operations and reinforces Volare’s position at the forefront of the global protein transition.”
Lead image: Volare. Photo: uncredited.
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