Nertus

Nertus develops and instals modular and scalable insect farming solutions on farms. Our mission is to empower farms to up-cycle grain by-products into high quality and sustainable insect based feed.

Europe imports 75% of its protein feed but such products are increasingly expensive. Soy farming is causing deforestation and fish meal depleting the oceans results in an expected shortage of 60 m/t of protein by 2030. Insect farming is a sustainable alternative to imports as insects up-cycle waste into proteins. However, farms have no access to this industry despite interest. A technological barrier prohibits them to farm insects despite advantages like proximity to feed and to customers. Nertus solves this problem by installing an automated insect farming module on farms for them to oversee the fattening and processing of insect while Nertus focuses on the reproduction on insects via the delivery of eggs.

Nertus has two products: The i-45 autonomous insect farming module installed on a farm. This automated production chain manages with the control of one operator on site and via a cloud link to Nertus. It has a production capacity of 540 tons of mealworm per year or 216 tons of mealworm powder. The unique approach to automation the Nertus is implementing to automate insect farming at a cost-effective cost result in the i-45 only needing 600 m2 of surface area.

Secondly, Nertus produces and sells to the owner of the i-45 the necessary insect eggs. The reproduction of insects is very complex and is one of the main reasons (with automation) why farms cannot produce insect at a relevant scale. That is why Nertus has developed an innovative way to produce, separate, count, package, and transport mealworm eggs to the farm for the hatching, fattening, and processing of the larvae.

Leo Flohr (CEO) as a mechanical engineering degree from KIT. He is the team leader, after professional experiences developing agricultural machinery in Germany and abroad. Specialized in insect farming, he developed his own insect farming technology based on a simple yet paramount idea, decentralize the simplest aspect of this farming activity to accelerate its scale-up.

Alexander Bexter (CSO) has a PhD in animal biology (RTWH) with a rich experience in laboratory management software. Thanks to his unique set of skills, Alexander allows Nertus to conduct its own research on Mealworms, from their reproduction to their fattening to their processing, hence ensuring the best quality in the process. When it comes to insect eggs production, his work allows us to conduct selective breeding and better the insect’s genetical properties.

Felix Ott (CTO) has a mechanical engineering degree from the university of Pforzheim. He has 6 years of experience in automated manufacturing with 4 as a freelance. With his own workshop and unique competences in manufacturing technologies, Felix develops, builds, tests and evaluate our technology. His capacity to rapidly prototype any aspect of our automated farming technology allows Nertus to develop a very cost-effective automated insect farming module, compatible with farms.