March 29, 2018

Aspire Food Group, the edible insect company behind the world’s first automated cricket farm, has acquired Exo, a maker of cricket-based protein bars for an undisclosed amount.

Under the terms of the transaction, Exo will use Aspire’s cricket protein powder in the production of its products, and Exo will become the new consumer brand for Aspire. Additionally, Aspire’s Aketta line of products, which includes Maple Cashew Paleo Cricket Protein Granola, Flavored Whole Roasted Crickets, Nutty Chocolate Chip Cricket Protein Paleo Granola, Aketta Cricket Flour, and Aketta Whole Roasted Crickets, will now be sold under the Exo name.

Co-founded in 2012 by five graduate students at McGill University, Aspire operates within its mission to “celebrate, innovate, and advance responsible farming and healthy eating of insects”. Over the past five year the company has grown to have operations in both the U.S. and Ghana, and announced the launch of its automated cricket farm in Texas last year.

“We basically mapped out the entire journey of a cricket from hatch to batch and looked at every opportunity to collect data and apply automation,” co-founder Mohammad Ashour told Food Navigator-USA in August of last year.

Because of the greater level of efficiency and scalability that such an automated farming operation offers, prices for crickets and cricket flour have been reduced and Aspire has become a leader in the category.

“We could now set up a farm anywhere in the world and be confident that we could produce the same output with the same level of fidelity,” added Ashour.

A Cricket in Every Pot

As the global population continues its climb toward 9.5 billion by 2050, global meat production has tripled over the last 40 years, and is expected to double from today’s production levels by 2050 in order to meet consumption demands, reports Civil Eats.  Despite the expectation of soaring production, because global livestock production uses between 30 and 40 percent of the world’s arable land and accounts for a minimum 51 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions ever year, alternative protein sources – whether from soy, peas, rice, nuts, insects, algae or others– have caught the imagination of consumers and the attention of investors.

“There are very few things I’ve seen in my lifetime that could simultaneously solve so many problems: human health, climate change, water resources, and lastly, animal welfare,” Ethan Brown, CEO and founder of Beyond Meat, told Civil Eats.

As protein alternatives gain traction with consumers, Lux Research claims that growing demand could translate to protein alternatives, including crickets claiming 33 percent of the market by 2054. Meanwhile, the edible cricket category market alone is expected to be valued at  $520 million within the next five years, according to Global Market Insights.

Exo

Ashour told Forbes that Aspire has always watched Exo, stating, “It is one of the most successful, if not the most successful, brands in the entire industry.”

Founded in New York by Greg Sewitz and Gabi Lewis, Exo raised $400,000 in pre-seed funding, and $1.2 million in seed funding in October 2014 before raising a $4 million Series A led by venture capital firm, AccelFoods, and including Collaborative Fund, Start Garden, Tim Ferriss, the musician Nas, and athlete Amelia Boone in March 2016.

Granted, eating insects remains quite taboo in western cultures, however, Aspire’s acquisition of Exo will go a long way toward attracting the everyday consumer, according to The Spoon, which states that protein bars made from crickets have been seeing greater acceptance due to the familiarity of protein bars.

“Exo was born out of a passion for nutrition and sustainability. The Aspire team shares these passions and our core values as a company, so it’s a natural fit,” said Gabi Lewis, co-founder of Exo. “We’re looking forward to seeing what the future holds for the edible insect industry.”

Also, the multiple synergies between the two companies places them in a better position to reach their goals.

“Combining product lines and supply chains better equips us to succeed in our shared mission of fighting global food insecurity and promote insects as a healthy, everyday food source,” said Ashour. “This is a giant leap forward for the whole edible insect industry.”

-Lynda Kiernan