Entocycle
Entocycle is a UK-based industrial technology company that designs and licenses black soldier fly farming systems, including its Entosight Neo optical dosing technology and turnkey insect farm solutions, serving large-scale food producers, waste managers, and infrastructure investors globally.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2017
- HeadquartersLondon, United Kingdom
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingHardware or Manufacturing
What Entocycle does
Entocycle is a UK-based industrial technology company that develops and commercializes black soldier fly (BSF) farming systems for converting organic waste streams into insect protein, oils, and organic fertilizer (frass). Founded in 2014 and headquartered in London, the company sells turnkey insect farm design-build-commission services, modular larvae growth units, and licenses its proprietary Entosight Neo optical dosing technology — a hardware and machine-learning package that counts and dispenses neonates at 3,000 per second with 95%+ accuracy. Its operating model combines direct enterprise sales targeting large-scale food producers, waste management companies, and infrastructure investors with strategic channel partnerships, most notably with Bühler (€3bn European food technology firm) for global facility deployment and with Siemens for industrial digitalization and automation at its Centre for Insect Technology (CfIT) in London.
Entocycle's revenue streams span hardware sales (turnkey farms and Growth Units), technology licensing (Entosight Neo royalties), joint end-to-end solutions delivered with Bühler, and consulting/project development services for waste companies and new entrants to the insect industry. The company has pivoted from an ingredients producer to a technology and equipment supplier, formalized by a March 2024 rebrand, and has validated its technology through third-party trials at EnviroFlight in North Carolina (95%+ dosing accuracy), the University of Leeds National Pig Centre (pig manure as feedstock), and the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (78% frass fertilizer success rate). Total disclosed equity funding is approximately $7.6 million, supplemented by significant non-dilutive Innovate UK grant funding, with the company positioned as a horizontal technology platform serving the global insect protein market projected to reach $9.46 billion by 2030.
Entocycle firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Entocycle
- Legal name
- ENTOCYCLE LTD
- Website
- https://entocycle.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2017
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Entocycle is a UK-based industrial technology company that designs and licenses black soldier fly farming systems, including its Entosight Neo optical dosing technology and turnkey insect farm solutions, serving large-scale food producers, waste managers, and infrastructure investors globally.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Entocycle industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Industrial Insect Farming Equipment
- NAICS
- Farm Machinery and Equipment Manufacturing (333111), Agricultural Implement Manufacturing (33311)
- SIC
- Farm Machinery & Equipment (3523)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Insect Farming (Crickets, Mealworms, Black Soldier Fly) (AFAEAIAI)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Insect Protein Ingredients (Cricket, Black Soldier Fly, Mealworm) (AFAJAHAG)
Keywords
Where Entocycle is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- London
- HQ country
- United Kingdom
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices3 records
Markets served
Entocycle business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Hardware or Manufacturing
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Personnel, Infrastructure, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Supply Chain
Revenue model
- Technology Licensing - Entosight Neo: Licensing of proprietary optical dosing and monitoring technology (Entosight Neo) to existing black soldier fly farms worldwide to improve their production efficiencies.
- Complete Insect Farm Design, Build & Commission: Turnkey modular fly cage systems, highly efficient breeding systems, and full BSF farm design, commission and build services for new entrants to the insect industry.
- Joint Technology Solutions with Bühler: End-to-end technology solutions integrating Entocycle's breeding technology with Bühler's feedstock processing, larvae rearing, and product processing capabilities for large-scale BSF facilities.
- Consulting & Project Development: Project development services for waste companies, food groups, and insect specialists including business case development, conceptual design, and project advisory.
Go-to-market motion3 records
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels5 records
Entocycle product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Entocycle develops and supplies black soldier fly (BSF) insect farming technology, including the patented Entosight Neo optical dosing system, modular larvae growth units, and complete turnkey insect farm design, build, and commissioning services. The company also licenses its proprietary breeding and monitoring technology to existing BSF farms and provides consulting and project development services to convert organic waste into insect protein and organic fertilizer.
Product overview
Entocycle offers a comprehensive insect farming technology portfolio consisting of hardware and software products. The core offering includes the patented Entosight Neo optical dosing system for precision larvae counting and the modular Growth Units for larvae production, which together form the technological foundation of their Complete Insect Farm turnkey solution. Their Centre for Insect Technology (CfIT) serves as both an R&D proving ground and demonstration facility. The company provides end-to-end services from concept and engineering to facility deployment, having established strategic partnerships with Bühler for industrial-scale projects and Siemens for digitalization and automation. Products focus on black soldier fly (BSF) bioconversion technology that converts food waste into sustainable protein, oils, and organic fertiliser (frass).
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Entosight Neo: A hardware/software package based on an optical sensor that monitors and collects data on the health and productivity of a black soldier fly colony, providing high-precision neonate counting and dosing for improved feed conversion rates and lower mortality.
- Centre for Insect Technology (CfIT)
- EntoExplore
Products and services
- Entosight Neo Patented optical dosing solution (hardware and software package) for black soldier fly neonates that uses advanced imaging and machine learning to count and dose larvae at 3,000 per second with 95%+ accuracy, providing real-time data analytics on colony health and productivity for BSF farm operators worldwide.
- Growth Units Modular black soldier fly larvae growth units designed, manufactured and installed for commercial BSF producers. Provides optimized climate-controlled growing conditions for large, healthy larvae with scalable and space-efficient design; deployable at research and commercial scale.
- Complete Insect Farm
- Bühler Joint Technology Solutions Joint end-to-end insect farming technology solution combining Entocycle's breeding technology with Bühler's feedstock processing, larvae rearing and product processing capabilities, targeted at large-scale BSF facility deployments worldwide.
- Consulting and Project Development
Quantifiable outcome
- 95%+ dosing accuracy validated at EnviroFlight with 4.52% mean absolute percentage error
- +8 more outcomes
Companies that use Entocycle
Customer profileNamed customers4 records
Segments6 records
Ideal customer profiles5 records
Entocycle technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
AI capability5 records
Feature6 records
Entocycle partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core, minor and flagship.
- SiemenscoreTechnology partnership to digitalize insect farming operations. Created UK's first digitized insect farm showroom and implemented digital twin technology, AI, and automation at CfIT facility. Features robotic arms, climate control, and machine vision technology.
- EnviroFlightcorePartnership with North America's largest producer of insect-based ingredients (brand of Darling Ingredients) to develop and trial the Entosight Neo optical dosing technology. Deployment at EnviroFlight's Innovation Center in Apex, North Carolina. EnviroFlight validated 95%+ dosing accuracy.
- University of Leeds - InSAFE Projectcore£430,000 research program funded by Innovate UK and BBSRC to develop protocols and codes of practice for UK insect farming industry. Evaluating use of non-permissive feedstocks (pig slurry, chicken manure, sewage sludge) for BSF farming.
- University of Leeds - DELIVER ProjectminorResearch project exploring how insect farming could be integrated with other technologies including anaerobic digesters and renewable energy to create new income streams for UK farmers.
- BühlerflagshipStrategic partnership with €3bn European food technology business to deliver end-to-end technology solutions for insect farms worldwide. Bühler provides feedstock processing, larvae rearing, and product processing capabilities. Non-exclusive partnership created to accelerate adoption of large-scale BSF farms.
- University of LeedscoreInnovation partnership to advance research into insects in circular on-farm feed systems. Supply and installation of 40ft insect-rearing unit at National Pig Centre. Funded by UKRI-BBSRC. Focus on evaluating pig manure and slurries as feedstock for black soldier fly.
- Royal Botanic Garden EdinburghcoreResearch partnership to validate black soldier fly frass as organic fertilizer. Four-month trial with 18 plant types showing 78% success rate and frass beneficial in 94% of trials. Credibility-building collaboration with prestigious scientific institution.
Scale indicators13 records
Recent moves8 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Entocycle competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- InnovaFeed: French integrated BSF producer building industrial-scale insect protein facilities for animal feed and aquaculture. Competes with Entocycle for large-scale farm customers and shares the waste-to-value circular economy positioning, though InnovaFeed is primarily a producer while Entocycle is a technology supplier.
- Protix: Dutch BSF insect protein producer and one of Europe's most capitalized players. Operates a large-scale Dongen facility serving animal feed, and could be both a customer and competitor to Entocycle depending on whether they license or build dosing technology in-house.
- AgriProtein: South African-founded BSF insect protein producer operating in multiple geographies. Competes in the same waste-to-protein market as Entocycle's customer base and overlaps on technology development for industrial-scale insect farming.
- Ÿnsect: French insect farming company specializing in mealworms for premium animal feed and pet food. Direct competitor in the broader insect protein technology space and serves overlapping customer segments in food/feed verticals.
- Nutrition Technologies: Singapore-headquartered BSF producer serving Southeast Asian markets. Comparable in target customer base (waste managers, feed producers) and shares the modular, industrial-scale deployment model that Entocycle promotes.
- EnviroFlight: North America's largest BSF insect ingredient producer (Darling Ingredients brand) and current Entocycle technology trial partner. Comparable in BSF operations and could evolve into either a deeper licensing customer or a competing technology developer.
- Bioflytech: Spanish BSF producer building industrial-scale insect protein facilities in Europe and MENA. Competes for similar waste-to-protein customers and represents another alternative integrator in Entocycle's target market.
Emerging players
- Loopworm: India-based BSF producer developing insect protein for aquaculture and pet food. Smaller scale than Entocycle's target customers but addresses the same underlying bioconversion opportunity with a regional focus.
- Insectta: Singapore-based BSF producer extracting chitosan and other high-value bioproducts from insect farming. Compares on the bioconversion model and the trend toward extracting premium byproducts (analogous to Entocycle's frass-as-fertilizer angle).
Broad incumbents
- Bühler Group: Swiss €3bn food processing technology company and Entocycle's flagship strategic partner. Comparable as a provider of capital equipment to food/feed producers; could compete with or complement Entocycle on insect farm equipment depending on the terms of the non-exclusive partnership.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Entocycle social profiles
Digital presenceEntocycle financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Entocycle leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles5 records
Entocycle funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds7 records
Investors17 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Entocycle M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Entocycle
What does Entocycle do?
Entocycle develops and supplies black soldier fly (BSF) insect farming technology, including the patented Entosight Neo optical dosing system, modular larvae growth units, and complete turnkey insect farm design, build, and commissioning services. The company also licenses its proprietary breeding and monitoring technology to existing BSF farms and provides consulting and project development services to convert organic waste into insect protein and organic fertilizer.
Is Entocycle a public or private company?
Entocycle is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was Entocycle founded?
Entocycle was founded in 2017. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Entocycle based?
Entocycle is headquartered in London, United Kingdom, in the Europe region.
How does Entocycle make money?
Four revenue lines are on record. Technology Licensing - Entosight Neo is the primary driver. The others are complete Insect Farm Design, Build & Commission, joint Technology Solutions with Bühler and consulting & Project Development.
Who are Entocycle's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are InnovaFeed, Protix, AgriProtein, Ÿnsect, Nutrition Technologies, EnviroFlight and Bioflytech. Emerging players are Loopworm and Insectta. Bühler Group is listed as a broad incumbent.
Does Entocycle have an API?
No public API is recorded for Entocycle.
What industry is Entocycle in?
Entocycle's product category is Industrial Insect Farming Equipment. Its primary akta.pro industry code is AFAEAIAI, Insect Farming (Crickets, Mealworms, Black Soldier Fly), with a secondary code of AFAJAHAG, Insect Protein Ingredients (Cricket, Black Soldier Fly, Mealworm). Its NAICS code is 333111 and its SIC code is 3523.