Entobel

With over 10 years of hands-on experience, Entobel is the industry leader in producing and processing insect protein from the Black Soldier Fly – Hermetia illucens, an insect species well-known for its bioconversion capacity and potential as a nutritious resource for animal feed and health in aquaculture and pet food.

Two Belgian entrepreneurs, Gaëtan Crielaard and Alexandre de Caters, began their adventure in Vietnam in 2013 after realizing the huge potential of insect protein for animal nutrition during their business school years.  They quickly identified Vietnam would be one of the key markets to set up this kind of business. Among the millions of insect species, they chose the Black Soldier Fly and thus, landed in Vietnam to set up the first experiments focusing on this insect biology understanding.

In 2013, Entobel was founded with a mission to close the loop in the global food system by upcycling low-value biomass into functional ingredients thanks to insects. The name ‘Entobel’ comes from a compound name of an insect (‘ento’ in Greek for insect) and the company’s home country – Belgium (‘bel’ from Belgium) in English).

In its humble beginnings, the core team has been involved in the process of creating awareness about their products, supporting on field trials, and giving away samples from day one. Now, Entobel team has grown to become a multidisciplinary team of 60+ members covering all key aspects of the business model. The teams with their robust R&D capability ensure consistent and continuous improvements of their production systems and are ready for global expansion.

Looking forward, with the vision to become the largest insect protein producer in the world, Entobel plans to further develop its production capacity with new site developments in the Region.

Entobel is the seventh investee company announced by Mekong Enterprise Fund IV.

The factory was constructed in an industry record time of 12 months and is currently the world’s most cost-efficient black soldier fly production facility.

The facility features 50 levels of vertical rearing, incorporating automation via robotics, cutting-edge sensors and data analytics that enhance productivity.

Leveraging a US$33 million Series B funding round raised in 2022 and backed by Mekong Capital, Dragon Capital and The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the Vung Tau facility marks Entobel’s second industrial-scale production facility in Vietnam and will have an annual production capacity of 10,000 MT of insect protein. The facility will serve as an economic and community anchor, creating 150 jobs in manufacturing and operations.