Opportunity for

• Investors (VC, institutional, family offices) interested in supporting a sustainable and scalable food waste management business producing fertiliser and feed product
• Strategic financial, market and distribution partners to establish the first six plants and to roll out more plants in Australia and worldwide
• Resource management and waste recovery centres seeking scalable technology capable of processing mixed and FOGO waste streams.
  ^This opportunity is only for professional and sophisticated investors.

Opportunity description

Industry challenge:

Recovering nutrients from waste streams that are normally buried in landfill or simply used as compost. This approach enables the recovery of those same nutrients to provide two important sustainable products in an alternative protein and a nutrient rich compost/fertiliser. It also mitigates the potential for methane generation and the loss of opportunity in the resource that is currently labledlabelled waste.

Current opportunity:

ARC Ento Tech is seeking $10 million Series A to fund the construction and operation of six micro plants and full scale ‘Food organics, Garden organics’ (FOGO) plants for existing commercial clients to enable the production and supply of proteins and organic fertiliser under its offtake agreements with buyers. Roll out commercial plants across Australia and the worldwide is possible due to the financial sound and affordable business model. This will ensure the sustainability model works in both developed states as well as third world economies as it is product focused and not necessarily gate fee focused.

Opportunity background:

The process by which the nutrient from waste stream is recovered using an innovative continuous system is unique in the black soldier fly industry around the world. It is the first of its kind that enables it to be applied even in contaminated waste streams where inorganic material creates a barrier or limitation in the application of the conventional approach. The process was developed from a combination of experience in entomology, biology and engineering coming together to find a unique solution to overcome the cost production issue. This enabled the company to develop a business model that allows its alternative products such as protein and fertiliser to be highly competitive as compared to traditional established commodities in the market. The insect science part has taken over fifteen years to develop to this stage, while the testing of the mechanical and biological systems has been in development for five years. A patent pending application was registered two years ago for the total process covering both the biological and mechanical processes that form the core technologies of the company.

During the last two years partnered trials have been ongoing with buyers of the materials and off-take agreements for volume uptake are being finalised. There is continued research work being undertaken with research partners for various areas in agriculture, carbon capture and pharmaceutical opportunities. Extensive test work with various food companies generating waste have been completed and agreements for the processing of these waste streams have been finalised. A commercial scale pilot plant has been in operation now for two years to establish the efficiency of the process and to showcase to potential partners and collaborators the actual operation of the processing in a full scale. The opportunity exists today for a strategic financial partners as well as potential strategic market and distribution partners to establish the first six plants and to roll out more plants in Australia and the world.