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§ Private Profile · Cashmere, WA, USA
Insect farming company producing mealworm protein and frass fertilizer from agricultural waste for animal feed and crop fertility.
Beta Hatch is a Cashmere, Washington-based agricultural technology company that rears yellow mealworms in a vertical farming platform to convert agricultural waste and low-value feed byproducts into high-protein animal feed and crop fertilizer. The organization operates North America's largest mealworm hatchery within a 50,000-square-foot facility, utilizing a zero-waste, regenerative system that captures waste heat from an adjacent cryptocurrency data center. This co-location strategy shortens supply chains and enables the company to produce alternative proteins at up to 5,000 times the per-acre yield of traditional soy crops. Beta Hatch supplies mealworm flour, oil, and whole insects to the aquaculture, swine, poultry, and pet food sectors, while securing commercial partnerships through the Feed-X initiative with recognizable corporate entities including Skretting and IKEA. The agricultural enterprise was originally founded in 2015 by entomologist and chief executive officer Virginia Emery.
Beta Hatch has raised $159.4M across 5 funding rounds.
Beta Hatch has raised $159.4M in total across 5 funding rounds.
Beta Hatch has raised $159.4M in total across 5 funding rounds.
Beta Hatch's investors include Lewis & Clark AgriFood, Cavallo Ventures, Innova Memphis, AccelR8, Brighton Jones Investment Partners, Rajiv Singh, Son V., Dean Didato, Klein Private Equity Investment, Element 8, Frontier Angels, Keiretsu Capital.
Beta Hatch has raised $159.4M across 5 funding rounds. Most recently, it raised $10.0M Other Equity in August 2021.
| Date | Round | Lead Investors | Other Investors | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 18, 2021 | $10M Venture Round | Lewis & Clark Agrifood | Cavallo Ventures, Innova Memphis | Announced |
| Dec 11, 2020 | $9.3M Series A | Cavallo Ventures, Innova Memphis | AccelR8, Brighton Jones Investment Partners, Rajiv Singh | Announced |
| May 21, 2020 | $3M Venture Round | SON V., Dean Didato | Brighton Jones Investment Partners, Klein Private Equity Investment | Announced |
| May 20, 2019 | $135M Series A | — | — | Announced |
| Apr 5, 2018 | $2.1M Seed | — | Cavallo Ventures, Element 8, Frontier Angels, Keiretsu Capital, Nqv8 | Announced |
Beta Hatch is a technology company pioneering industrialized insect farming, using proprietary platforms to rear mealworms and convert them, along with byproducts like frass, into high-performance proteins, oils, and fertilizers for animal feed and agriculture.[1][2] It serves livestock (pets, fish, poultry, swine), crop growers, and the broader food system by addressing protein shortages and soil health issues through a sustainable, zero-waste process that yields over 500 times the output of soy per acre.[1][2][3] The company solves the global demand for scalable animal feed and fertilizers by transforming organic wastes into nutrients, with strong growth momentum evidenced by a $10 million funding round in 2021 to commission North America's largest mealworm facility in Cashmere, WA, amid surging product interest.[2]
Beta Hatch emerged from entomology expertise to industrialize insect farming within a regenerative food system, starting with an urban farm in Seattle, WA.[3] The founders, a team of insect entrepreneurs, developed proprietary technology combining genetics, diets, processes, and equipment to grow mealworms efficiently from waste inputs, including contaminated feedstocks.[2][4] Early traction came from scaling a hub-and-spoke model—hatchery in Cashmere producing eggs shipped to rural "spokes" near supply chains—revitalizing unused infrastructure and creating jobs; by 2020-2021, they advanced from a 1-ton-per-month Seattle operation to constructing a 30,000 sq ft flagship facility, fueled by Series A funding and investor support from Lewis & Clark AgriFood, Cavallo Ventures, and Innova Memphis.[2][4]
Beta Hatch rides the alternative protein and regenerative agriculture trends, targeting an $8 billion protein gap by 2025 through microbial/insect farming that replaces soy/fishmeal in animal feed while producing organic fertilizers.[2][3][4] Timing aligns with climate pressures on traditional ag—rising demand for low-GHG, waste-to-value solutions amid supply chain vulnerabilities and soil degradation.[1][2] Market forces like rural revitalization, zero-waste mandates, and protein alternatives favor its model, influencing the ecosystem by decentralizing production, creating rural jobs, and proving insects as viable biorecyclers to shift food systems toward nature-mimicking sustainability.[2][3]
Beta Hatch is poised to expand its hub-and-spoke network nationwide, licensing technology for faster scaling and penetrating global animal feed/fertilizer markets as demand surges.[2][4] Trends like climate-smart ag, circular economies, and protein innovation will propel growth, potentially evolving its influence from U.S. pioneer to global standard-setter in insect biotech. With revitalized rural footprints and validated IP, it mirrors nature's efficiency to feed a sustainable food chain—turning bugs into the backbone of tomorrow's nutrients.[1]