Loopworm is a Bengaluru-based Indian biotech startup that uses silkworms and black soldier fly larvae to turn food and agricultural waste into protein-rich ingredients for animal feed.

This Startup Deep Dive explains what Loopworm does, how it makes money, who backs it, how it compares with rivals and what could go wrong, using publicly available information. It is educational and not investment advice. Last updated: October 2026.

Loopworm in Brief

• What it is: Loopworm is an Indian Insect-based protein and aquafeed company based in Bengaluru.
• Who it serves: businesses, institutions, consumers, learners and public-sector buyers.
• Upcycles food waste and agricultural byproducts into protein-rich ingredients using insects.
• Works with multiple insect species including silkworms and black soldier fly larvae.
• Sells insect-based aquafeed ingredients, with pet food and nutraceuticals named as other target sectors.
• Funding: About $6.7 million across two rounds (some databases list other totals; reports differ).

Loopworm Quick Facts

Figures marked “reported” come from published reports and may differ between sources; “Not disclosed” means no reliable public figure was found.

What Is Loopworm?

Loopworm operates in the Insect-based protein and aquafeed space in India. Understanding a company like this starts with three questions: who is the customer, what painful problem is being solved, and why the solution is better than the alternatives. The sections below apply that lens to Loopworm.

• Upcycles food waste and agricultural byproducts into protein-rich ingredients using insects.
• Works with multiple insect species including silkworms and black soldier fly larvae.
• Sells insect-based aquafeed ingredients, with pet food and nutraceuticals named as other target sectors.
• Runs insect farming with smallholder farmers.
• Operates an animal nutrition facility near Bengaluru.

The Origin Story of Loopworm

Every company starts from a noticed gap and a team willing to commit to closing it. Strong origin stories are specific: a clear problem, a founding team with relevant skills, and an early product that real customers could test. Founder-market fit, meaning the team’s lived experience or technical depth in the domain, tends to predict how fast a young company learns.

• Founders: Ankit Alok Bagaria, Abhi Gawri.
• Founded in 2019 by two IIT Roorkee graduates, Ankit Alok Bagaria and Abhi Gawri, shortly after graduating.
• Based in Bengaluru, with its first factory planned in North Bangalore.
• Aimed to build a multi-species insect biotechnology platform for the circular economy.

Key Milestones and Challenges

No startup grows in a straight line. Early years usually involve slow adoption, product rewrites, hiring mistakes and funding gaps. In the Insect-based protein and aquafeed sector the common turning points are a first paying customer, a regulatory approval, a successful product demonstration or a funding round that lets the team invest ahead of demand. How a team responds to setbacks says more about resilience than any single headline.

• 2019: Company founded by Ankit Alok Bagaria and Abhi Gawri.
• August 2022: Raised $3.4 million seed round led by Omnivore and WaterBridge Ventures.
• August 2022: Stated target of 300,000 tonnes of insect protein a year within five years using 7.5 million tonnes of waste.
• July 2025: Raised about $3.3 million in a pre-Series A round.

Loopworm Funding and Investors

Funding history shows how much outside confidence a company has attracted and how long it can operate before needing more capital. Figures below are reported and may differ between sources; valuation figures are estimates unless the company has confirmed them.

• August 2022: Seed, $3.4 million, led by Omnivore and WaterBridge Ventures; Titan Capital and angels Nadir Godrej, Sanjiv Rangrass and Akshay Singhal participated.
• July 2025: Pre-Series A, about $3.3 million, WaterBridge Ventures and Enrission India Capital.

How Does Loopworm Make Money? (Business Model)

A business model describes who pays, how often and how much it costs to serve them. Strong models show repeat usage, improving margins with scale and acquisition channels that do not depend only on paid spend. Weak models show one-off sales, rising costs and growth that stops when spending stops. For companies selling to businesses, institutions, consumers, learners and public-sector buyers, sales cycles and contract size matter as much as headline growth.

• Business-to-business sale of insect-derived protein and ingredients, mainly to aquaculture feed makers.
• Sources silkworm pupae from existing silk-industry supply chains rather than only farming insects itself.
• Plans decentralised rearing facilities with smallholder farmers feeding a central processing factory.

The Numbers: Loopworm Financials

Financial figures show whether growth is turning into a self-sustaining business. Small and private companies often disclose little, so any number below is included only if it was found in public reporting.

• FY24: revenue about Rs 1.6 crore, net loss about Rs 5.7 crore, expenses about Rs 7.28 crore (third-party estimates).
• FY25: not found.

Market Opportunity for Loopworm

Market size is easy to exaggerate, so a useful approach separates the total market from the portion a company can realistically reach with its current product and distribution. The main forces behind demand in this sector are rising digital adoption, cloud and mobile penetration, growing enterprise technology spending, government digitisation programmes and a deep pool of engineering talent. Each of these widens the opportunity, but capital efficiency and execution decide who captures it.

• Insect protein is positioned as an alternative protein for aquafeed and animal nutrition.
• Founders argue tropical and developing regions suit insect production because of lower costs.

Technology and Product at Loopworm

Technology is rarely the whole moat, but it drives speed, cost and customer experience. A practical way to assess it is to separate the capability the company controls from the commodity infrastructure it rents. In this sector the important factors are product quality, data and integration depth, security, scalability and the speed of shipping improvements.

• Multi-species insect biotechnology converting waste streams into protein and value-added ingredients.
• Also reported to make recombinant proteins.

Team and Culture at Loopworm

Teams are the most important and least measurable asset of a young company. Look at how complementary the founders’ skills are, how deep the second layer of leadership is, and how the company hires and retains specialists. Culture shows up in small repeated behaviours: how quickly bad news travels upward and whether commitments to customers are kept.

• Ankit Alok Bagaria is co-founder and CEO.
• Abhi Gawri is co-founder and chief operating officer.

Loopworm Competitors: Competitive Landscape

A fair competitive analysis names direct rivals, adjacent players who could move into the space, and the customer’s default alternative. Durable advantages include proprietary data or technology, licences and approvals, brand trust, switching costs and cost leadership.

Risks and Challenges for Loopworm

• Very small revenue base compared with the loss.
• Heavy capital need to reach the stated 300,000 tonne scale target.
• Many Western insect startups struggled with high costs.
• Funding totals and valuation differ across trackers.
• Competition: low barriers to entry and well-funded rivals can compress pricing and slow growth.
• Funding risk: technology businesses often burn cash before reaching profit and depend on investor appetite.

Risk is not a reason to avoid a company; it is a reason to price it correctly and to monitor the right indicators over time. Regulation in this sector is shaped by data protection rules under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, sector regulators, consumer protection law and IT rules.

Loopworm Growth Outlook: What to Watch

• Proceeds of the 2025 round are aimed at scaling production and sales.
• Profitability on the aquafeed side is claimed by the company but not verified.
• Key indicators: recurring revenue, customer retention, gross margin, customer acquisition cost and runway.
• Funding position: Whether Loopworm can reach its next milestone before needing new capital.
• Regulation: Changes from data protection rules under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, sector regulators, consumer protection law and IT rules.

Industry Context: Where Loopworm Fits

India's technology startup ecosystem is one of the largest in the world, supported by cheap data, a large base of smartphone users, digital public infrastructure and a deep engineering talent pool. Companies now build for education, software, mobility, logistics, agriculture, defence, media and more, selling both to Indian customers and abroad.

Durable technology companies usually combine a clear customer problem with repeatable distribution and disciplined unit economics. Growth funded only by spending tends to fade, while products that customers keep using and paying for build compounding advantages.

For readers new to this field, a useful habit is to separate announcements from evidence. A plan, a partnership or a funding headline describes intent, while a delivered product, a paying customer or an audited financial statement describes results. Comparing the two over time shows how reliably a company turns promises into outcomes.

Bull Case and Bear Case for Loopworm

An investment thesis is a short, testable statement of why a company could become far more valuable, together with what evidence would prove it wrong. The points below are general to this sector and are not forecasts for Loopworm.

Bull case

• A large and growing base of digital users and businesses expands the addressable market.
• Recurring revenue and strong retention can compound growth.
• Selling into global markets widens the opportunity beyond India.

Bear case

• Heavy competition can compress pricing and margins.
• Dependence on external funding can force painful cost cuts.
• Regulation or platform changes can disrupt a product quickly.

Lessons Founders and Investors Can Take from Loopworm

Studying a company in the Insect-based protein and aquafeed space offers lessons that go beyond any single firm. The points below are general lessons for the sector and are not claims about Loopworm.

• Solving a clear, frequent customer problem matters more than adding features.
• Retention and repeat usage are better health signals than sign-ups.
• Disciplined spending extends runway and keeps options open when funding tightens.
• Distribution, not just product quality, decides who wins in crowded markets.
• Building trust through data protection and reliability is part of the product.

How to Evaluate Loopworm as a Startup

• Customer clarity: Can Loopworm name its customer and the problem it solves in one sentence?
• Evidence of demand: Look for repeat customers, signed contracts or measurable usage rather than announcements alone.
• Economics: Check whether margins improve as volume grows.
• Execution: Compare announced timelines with what has actually been delivered.
• Funding runway: Estimate how long current capital lasts at the present spending rate.
• Regulatory standing: Confirm required approvals are in place.
• Customer concentration: Check whether a few customers account for most of the revenue.
• Management depth: Look for experienced leaders beyond the founders and a stable core team.

The Takeaway

Loopworm is part of India’s growing Insect-based protein and aquafeed ecosystem. The useful lesson from studying it is the discipline of asking structured questions about customers, economics, advantage and resilience. Companies that answer them well, repeatedly and under pressure are the ones that endure. Readers should treat any single report, ranking or funding headline as one input among many, and should re-check key facts against recent company announcements. Because public information on young companies is often limited, patience in verifying claims is part of good analysis. Public sources can also describe the same company in different ways, so it is worth checking dates, definitions and whether a figure refers to revenue, total income or transaction value, and whether it covers one entity or a wider group, before drawing conclusions. Small differences in rounding, currency conversion or reporting periods can also change how a figure reads. Comparing the same figure across several recent reports helps show whether it is stable or has changed over time. This article is educational and is not investment advice.

• Clear customers and repeat demand matter more than announcements.
• Regulation and capital needs shape how fast a startup in this sector can grow.
• Track a few leading indicators over time rather than one headline metric.

Loopworm FAQs: Frequently Asked Questions

What is Loopworm?

Loopworm is a Bengaluru-based Indian biotech startup that uses silkworms and black soldier fly larvae to turn food and agricultural waste into protein-rich ingredients for animal feed. It is profiled in the Startup Deep Dive series, which explains business model, funding, competitors and risks.

Who founded Loopworm?

Loopworm was founded by Ankit Alok Bagaria, Abhi Gawri, and the company reports a founding year of 2019.

How much funding has Loopworm raised?

About $6.7 million across two rounds (some databases list other totals; reports differ). Funding figures are reported and may differ between sources, so readers should check the latest company announcements.

How does Loopworm make money?

Loopworm earns revenue from its Insect-based protein and aquafeed products and services sold to businesses, institutions, consumers, learners and public-sector buyers. The exact revenue mix is described in the business model section and is not fully disclosed publicly.

Who are the competitors of Loopworm?

Reported rivals include Protix, Innovafeed, Nutrition Technologies, Entobel. See the competitor comparison above for how they differ.

What are the main risks for Loopworm?

Main risks include competition: low barriers to entry and well-funded rivals can compress pricing and slow growth, funding and capital needs, competition and regulation by data protection rules under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, sector regulators, consumer protection law and IT rules. This is educational content, not investment advice.

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Source

Source: Publicly available data, published reports, industry research, and other credible sources.