French startup Ynsect shot into the spotlight when 'Iron Man' star Robert Downey Jr. touted its merits on the Late Show during Super Bowl weekend 2021. Now, nearly four years later, the insect farming company has been placed into judicial liquidation ' essentially bankruptcy ' for insolvency. The company's demise is hardly a surprise, as Ynsect had been embattled for months. Still, there is plenty to unpack about how a startup can go bankrupt despite raising over $600 million, including from Downey Jr's FootPrint Coalition, taxpayers, and many others. Ultimately, Ynsect failed to fulfill its ambition to 'revolutionize the food chain' with insect-based protein. But don't be too quick to attribute its failure to the 'ick' factor that many Westerners feel about bugs. Human food was never its core focus. That indecision extended to its M&A strategy. In 2021, Ynsect acquired Protifarm, a Dutch company raising mealworms for human food applications, adding a third market to the mix. Even...
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