London SME farming black soldier fly at industrial scale for sustainable protein feed, with hands-on expertise in automated insect production.
Entocycle is a London-based insect farming company that breeds and cultivates black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens) at industrial scale to produce sustainable protein and organic fertiliser as alternatives to conventional livestock feed ingredients. Their core expertise lies in controlled-environment insect production — optimising rearing conditions, feed substrates, and harvesting processes for commercial viability. Beyond their own farming operations, they bring hands-on production knowledge to technology consortia focused on automating and digitalising insect agriculture. In the CoRoSect project, they served as the real-world insect farm operator that cognitive robotics researchers needed to test and validate automated systems in genuine production conditions.
ECBCBSFII was a feasibility study specifically on sustainable mass production of Hermetia illucens in controlled environments, and CoRoSect applied robotics and automation to this same production context.
ECBCBSFII focused on converting insect biomass into protein feeds, placing Entocycle within the alternative protein supply chain for livestock and aquaculture industries.
CoRoSect (2021–2024) engaged Entocycle in developing a cognitive robotic system for digitised and networked insect farms, marking their move into technology-integrated farming.
CoRoSect keywords — 'Cognitive Robotics' and 'Robotics for food production' — indicate Entocycle is actively engaging with Industry 4.0 approaches applied specifically to insect agriculture.
In their earliest EU engagement (2017–2018), Entocycle focused entirely on biological and operational fundamentals: how to produce Hermetia illucens at scale in controlled environments and convert that biomass into usable protein feed — their first project carried no technology keywords at all. By 2021, the focus shifted decisively toward automation and digitalisation: CoRoSect is entirely about cognitive robotics, networked farm management, and automated production systems. The trajectory is that of a company which has moved from proving the concept of insect farming to industrialising it through technology partnerships.
Entocycle is moving toward becoming a technology-integrated insect farm operator, making them a natural domain partner for robotics, AI, and precision agriculture projects targeting the alternative protein and circular bioeconomy sectors.
Entocycle has occupied both ends of the project spectrum: they led a small solo SME phase-1 feasibility grant (ECBCBSFII) and joined a large multi-partner consortium as a domain expert (CoRoSect, 20 partners across 11 countries). This pattern suggests they are comfortable conducting independent validation work but also serve as real-world operators within larger technology-driven projects. Partnering with Entocycle most likely means gaining access to actual insect farm infrastructure and production knowledge — they are not a research group but a running production company.
Entocycle has connected with 20 unique partners across 11 countries, almost entirely through the CoRoSect consortium — a large international Innovation Action project. Their network skews toward digital technology and robotics organisations rather than agri-food research institutions.
Entocycle occupies a rare niche: they are an active insect farm operator with EU project experience, not a research group studying insect farming in theory. This makes them credible in ways that academic partners are not when building food-tech or agri-automation consortia that need real production infrastructure. For any project requiring genuine insect farm access for piloting or validation — particularly in robotics, automation, or circular bioeconomy — Entocycle is one of very few UK SMEs with both the facility and an EU consortium track record to back it up.
