Last year, BeoBia launched a crowdfunding campaign to test the market, securing over £20,000 in pre-orders in less than 30 days from over 300 customers.
After spending an extremely busy year shipping insect protein farm pods worldwide and having attracted serious interest from the UK’s largest pet retailers, Thomas is now seeking to raise investment to facilitate his sustainable protein vision.
The first person to pledge investment is º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ alumnus Steve Churchhouse, who first learned about Thomas’ idea back in late 2019 at a º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ start-up event where Thomas was pitching and distributing insect food samples. Back then Thomas was marketing his growing pods for human consumption.
People are increasingly trying to minimise their environmental footprint and prioritise ecological activities. This extends to pet owners, which has dramatically risen due to COVID-19, who are seeking functional and eco-friendly pet food and products.
BeoBia believes that sustainable insect farming is the solution to this stating that:
"There are over 12 million pet owners in the UK alone that have domestic animals that eat mealworms from lizards to fish to urban chickens. Our pods empower people to grow their own source of affordable, sustainable, and nutritious pet food - all from recycling uneaten fruit and vegetables."
If you are interested in learning more about Thomas and supporting his mission, please get in touch at thomas@beobia.com.
Thomas is a member of the Studio, the graduate programme of LU Inc. The University’s business incubator unites its graduate and academic entrepreneurs with founders from across the region and beyond to create a rich, vibrant, and supportive start-up community on LUSEP, the University’s Science and Enterprise Park.
º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ is committed to supporting sustainable innovation through research and enterprise, find out more on our website.