BusinessA Midlothian-based agri-food biotech business that specialises in bugs has launched a new insect breeding facility and created several jobs.

Friday, 22nd January 2021, 12:30 pm

Founded by entrepreneur and PhD graduate Thomas Farrugia, Beta Bugs develops and distributes insect breeds as a source of protein for animal feed. It has expanded its team from five to ten to help drive into the wider agri-food markets.

Following the completion of his PhD and his first tasting of insects on a trip to Antwerp, Farrugia joined Deep Science Ventures where he began researching how environmentally friendly and versatile insect-based products could be and how they could provide a different source of protein which could change the feeding habits of livestock and fish farms.

He launched Beta Bugs as an insect genetics company in 2017, with the goal of creating high-performance breeds of black soldier fly to accelerate the growth of the insect farming sector.

Over the last 18 months the company based at the Easter Bush Campus has secured 133,000 of private investment alongside 1.2 million in grant funding, including 100,000 from Scottish Governments Unlocking Ambition programme and 84,000 from the Pivotal Enterprise Resilience Fund to help the company grow its operations during the coronavirus restrictions.

Support for the firm from Business Gateway Midlothian has included help with establishing the companys operations within the Science Zone in Midlothian and scaling up its breeding programme at the Easter Bush Campus, which now houses the dedicated insect breeding facility.

Farrugia said: We are delighted to be in a position to expand our team and build a dedicated insect breeding facility thanks to help from various organisations including Business Gateway Midlothian who have been instrumental in our growth since we started out.

Having our own adviser to keep us right along the way and signpost us to other available resources has been invaluable and really helped us to carve out a niche for ourselves in the UK and international genetic insect market.

Annie Watt, Business Gateway Midlothian lead, said: Beta Bugs is an innovative insect-breeding company leading the way in creating genetics for the fast growing insects-as-feed industry, which we are delighted to support.

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Midlothian bug genetics innovator launches insect breeding facility and creates jobs - The Scotsman