Grubbly Farms

Market position

Grubbly Farms describes itself as a market leader in sustainable, insect-based snacks and feed for backyard chickens and, as of its 2023 Series A, as the dominant premium brand in pet chicken feed, citing more than 15,000 five-star reviews and a 50% 12-month subscriber retention rate versus a stated pet industry average of 33%.

The products use grubs as the primary protein source instead of soy, corn or fishmeal, and exclude fillers, additives, animal byproducts and GMO ingredients. The company emphasizes traceable, worldwide grub sourcing limited to farms meeting EU standards, and environmental claims including food waste diversion, lower carbon dioxide equivalent emissions than soy production, and reduced pressure on wild fish stocks used for fishmeal.

Technology

The core technology is black soldier fly larvae production, in which larvae are raised on diverted pre-consumer food waste, upcycling up to twice their body weight per day, and are then harvested and oven-dried for use as a protein and calcium source. Grubbly Farms formulates these grubs with vegetables, whole grains, vitamins, minerals and probiotics into complete feeds and supplements, and applies sourcing standards limiting grub substrates to pre-consumer fruits, vegetables and grains. Grub byproduct, known as frass, is described as an organic fertilizer and biostimulant.

Go-to-market

The company sells direct-to-consumer via e-commerce with subscription and bundling offers, supported by an in-house team of chicken experts providing chat, email and help center support. It has positioned itself against big box feed brands on ingredient quality and transparent sourcing, and has used funding to invest in marketing and brand awareness.

Backyard and hobbyist flock owners keeping chickens as pets, including families seeking soy-, corn- and fish-free feed and eggs. The company describes the US pet chicken market as roughly $4 billion annually and cites estimates that up to 10 million US households keep poultry as pets.

Geography

The company is based in Atlanta, Georgia, with the founders originally from nearby Norcross, and ships orders to customers in 3-5 days. Grub supply is sourced internationally from farms in the United States, Canada, France, South Africa, Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia. At the time of its seed round the company expressed a long-term goal of operating its own insect production facility in the greater Atlanta area.

History

The company traces its inception to 2015 and launched in 2016, the year it completed the Techstars New York City accelerator. It initially marketed Grubblies snacks and Grubbly Layer Feed for backyard chickens, then raised a $2.9 million seed round led by Overline in July 2020 with Oval Park Capital, Techstars and Create-X participating. Demand rose during COVID-19 lockdowns as more households took up backyard chicken keeping. In November 2023 the company closed a Series A jointly led by existing investors Overline and Oval Park Capital, with reinvestment from Chris Klaus and Gina Del Vecchio, to scale operations and customer acquisition. The product line has since broadened from treats and layer feed into starter-grower and all-flock feeds, water and feed supplements, and coop supplies.

Risks & controversies

The business depends on third-party insect producers around the world for grub supply, and on continued growth in backyard chicken keeping, a trend that accelerated during COVID-19 lockdowns and related municipal rule changes. The company also operates in a market with large established feed brands and a broader insect protein sector that has attracted over $1 billion of investment and only recently scaled from R&D into commercial production.