The Co Meath-based insect farming start-up Hexafly is closing a fresh round of funding of up to €1 million to help scale up operations at its new premises near Navan.

“We have closed some bridge funding,” Hexafly co-founder and chief executive Alvan Hunt told The Currency this Wednesday. Some €880,000 of a €1 million convertible note issue are now complete, he added.

The funds will be used “to scale up our existing operations to generate revenue and break even, which is a possibility in the facility that we have,” Hunt said. Hexafly first proved the concept of using the larvae of black soldier flies to convert food waste into valuable fertiliser and feed on a small scale in nearby Kells.

When the company featured in The Currency’s list of agri-tech start-ups raising money in November 2019, it had just secured fresh investment to reach a total of €4.5 million at the time, as well as a Department of Agriculture licence to trade its products at a commercial scale out of the developing Navan production site.

Hexafly uses black soldier flies to produce fertiliser and feed.

Since then, shipments to customers in Ireland and the UK has ramped up to a size where Hexafly’s frass fertiliser can now be ordered by the pallet. While existing investors have been supporting this expansion over the past year, new backers have appeared in the latest funding round.

Hunt said it was led by Forsage Holdings. Forsage is a Dublin investment firm headed up by Conor O’Donnell, specialising in emerging technology ventures. Another new contributor is a family office called Grey Tide. Previous investors Cedas and SOS Ventures also participated.

Hunt said additional investment by Enterprise Ireland is expected to close in the next couple of days.

The funding comes as Hexafly has hired a chief financial officer, Raghav Bhola. “We’ve taken on a CFO to get the company ready for the next stage,” Hunt said. The company’s plans include the construction of a second production facility.