First of all, thank you for your interest in the Chapul journey, as we weave insects into the broader landscape of food and agriculture. We recently announced a capital raise via a RegD506(c) which is a public solicitation to accredited investors. I welcome the opportunity to share our vision for how we can collaboratively shape the world in front of us.
A World with Insects: From an ecologist’s lens, it is abundantly clear that insects play an essential role in the long-term health of our human habitat on Planet Earth, yet they are one of the most neglected and underappreciated resources. Insects can help maintain foundational infrastructure to our constructed habitats: management of organic waste streams, maintenance of healthy soil and plants, and harvesting of sustainable nutrition. Responsible management of these resources is essential to survival.
Renewable Energy: In our species' quest for renewable energies, it is a mistake to overlook the role of metabolic energy. Insects’ metabolic energy (ectothermic) is an extremely efficient form of energy that does not require any mechanical generation. In natural ecosystems, it is often the next link in the circle after solar-photosynthetic energy generated in plant biomass. This renewable energy can be applied to plant biomass waste streams from current food and agricultural production to further increase the circularity of clean energy cycles, while simultaneously increasing planetary biomass, bio-carbon storages, and ultimately, to greater biological diversity and abundance - an urgent necessity as voiced by a global scientific community.
A Pathway to Biodiversity: A unique advantage of insects is their function as midwives to entire ecosystems of beneficial microbes, unlocking micro-worlds that we as a species are at the infancy of discovery, yet already rapidly increasing our awareness of the vital role these fungi, bacteria, algae, and protozoa have as drivers of biologic health and resiliency on this planet. Insects enable an ecosystem-based approach to choreographing healthy microbiology in the world around us, perhaps most notably in the very soil that has defined human civilization, and from which 95% of our food originates today.
Economic Opportunity: The work we have done at Chapul over the past decade is to develop viable commercial opportunities from some of the keystone ecosystem services insects provide. Chapul is developing commercial-scale supply chain infrastructure for insect-powered waste disposal, food production, soil health products. To build this infrastructure, we have modeled in compelling economic investment opportunities across the value chain (well. . .circle.) Please see the accompanied executive summary for detail on our business model.
Mission Aligned Capital: Chapul is seeking mission-aligned capital to scale insect agriculture infrastructure to enable both economic and environmental prosperity. Over the past decade, we have significantly increased the enterprise value of Chapul, beginning with hand-made cricket bars, to national distribution, to our current development of projects aiming to scale the underlying supply chains of this exciting new industry.
We believe that this offering values Chapul conservatively, creating the potential for attractive financial returns to accredited investors that participate in this round, as you will see in the attached executive summary. It is, of course, a high-risk undertaking, given the challenges inherent in developing a new industry. I also want to be expressly clear that, as we navigate these challenges, I intend to consider the interests of long-term soil health, water, fish, birds, mammals, our local communities, and our future generations as essential stakeholders in the decision-making of Chapul as an organization. My goal is to build a business model that aligns beneficial outcomes for these stakeholders with compelling returns for you, our investors and future shareholders. Ultimately, incentivized capital investment into insect agriculture is a critical leg of the chair, but when maximized for short-term returns at the expense of the other legs, the chair is destined to collapse.
If you find yourself aligned with the positive mission of insect agriculture and have available capital to invest, then I and the team welcome you to the Chapul journey. Please let me know what other questions you may have as you evaluate the opportunity to join us, and the broader mission of Chapul.
Backed by nature and armed with capital, the future of biodiverse, closed-loop agriculture awaits.
Very Sincerely,
Pat Crowley
pat@chapulfarms.com