Tech investors see bugs as a big business as Ÿnsect raises $125 million

A company using advanced technologies to grow and harvest mealworms (larval beetles) at scale is on track to become one of the venture capital industry's oddest billion-dollar investments. Ÿnsect, (pronounced 'insect") is a Paris-based producer of insect protein that has just closed on $125 million as the company looks to expand into North America selling bug-based nutrients to fish farms, animal farms and the everyday harvesters of vegetables. According to the company's chief executive Antoine Hubert, a former agronomist turned bug-farm maven, the company grew out of efforts to promote sustainability in the food system and companies across France.