Exo is an American insect food company that manufactures

protein bar Protein bars are nutrition bars that contain a high proportion of protein to carbohydrates/ fats. Dietary purpose Protein bars are targeted to people who primarily want a convenient source of protein that does not require preparation (unless h ...

s using

cricket flour Cricket flour (or cricket powder) is a protein-rich powder made from Cricket (insect), crickets, using various processes. Cricket flour differs from true flours made from grains by being composed mainly of protein rather than starches and dietary f ...

from pulverized house crickets. The products are marketed as a good source of nutrition. Cricket Flour Energy Bar

History

The company was founded by Gabi Lewis and Greg Sewitz in 2013, during their graduate program at the

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

campus. They first ordered 2000 crickets and worked on some of the prototype recipes from them. They later shifted to New York and worked with Kyle Connaughton, an R&D expert at the

Fat Duck The Fat Duck is a fine dining restaurant in Bray, Berkshire, England. It is run by celebrity chef proprietor Heston Blumenthal. Housed in a 16th-century building that had previously been the site of the Bell pub, the Fat Duck opened on 16 Au ...

restaurant, to make a nutritious protein bar that was also appealing to the palate. Using

Kickstarter Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...

, the company's founders raised $55,000 in early 2016, exceeding the initial target of $20,000. By March 2016, the company had raised a total of $5.6 million from early investors and Series A funding. Exo was acquired by Aspire Food Group in the spring of 2018. All of Aspire's in-house Aketta branded products will now become part of the Exo brand.

References

External links

* {{official, https://www.exoprotein.com Snack food manufacturers of the United States Insect food companies