Innovative business model creates triple added value
JLU spin-off PROMBYX honored as winner of the Hessian Founder Award 2025 - Silkworm pupae as an alternative protein source for animal feed
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Animal feed protein based on silkworm pupae - PROMBYX GmbH from Giessen was named the winner of the Hessian Founder Award in the "Innovative Business Idea" category on November 7, 2025. The start-up, founded by Fabiola Neitzel, impressed the jury with its sustainable approach of establishing silkworm pupae as an alternative source of protein for the European animal feed industry. The fact that the company reached the final acknowledges the high degree of innovation of the start-up idea as well as the successful support provided by the ECM start-up center at Justus Liebig University Giessen (JLU).
Award for an innovative business idea: The start-up PROMBYX also wins the Hessian Founder Award 2025. Founder Fabiola Neitzel accepts the certificate.
Maria Tara – Hessischer Gründerpreis
The core of PROMBYX lies in the intelligent utilization of silkworm pupae, which were previously an unused by-product of traditional silk production in India. As the first EU-approved company for silkworm protein in animal feed, PROMBYX creates a win-win-win situation and thus triple added value: Indian silk producers receive an additional source of income, European livestock farmers benefit from sustainable, high-quality protein, and the environment is protected through reduced CO2 emissions. PROMBYX's commitment to environmentally friendly production methods is particularly noteworthy. The company actively supports the transition to pesticide-free mulberry leaf production and thus contributes to more sustainable agriculture in the partner regions.
The founder Fabiola Neitzel, a graduate of JLU, has already impressed in several funding programs: For example, PROMBYX received the Hessen Ideen Stipendium in 2020 and was presented at the StartMiUp Capital Contest 2022. Since the early development phase, the start-up has been intensively supervised and supported in its further development by JLU's ECM start-up center.
This year, 156 founders and successors competed for the Hessian Founder Award with their forward-looking projects. PROMBYX GmbH worked its way through to the final and is one of the twelve prizewinners who were honored during the competition on November 7. "Winning the award is a significant recognition of PROMBYX's innovative strength and confirms its high market and sustainability standards," says Joana Dietz from the ECM team, adding: "It's great to see how an initially small idea and initial research steps can lead to a successful start-up. We are incredibly proud." MYOact from Frankfurt was chosen as the winner in the "Innovative Business Idea" category.
Outlook: European market expansion already underway
Making it to the final of the Hessian Founder Award comes at a strategically favorable time: PROMBYX has already signed an exclusive contract with the European market leader in the pet sector to offer the first commercial dog and cat food with silkworm protein across Europe. The next step is to expand its use to other feed sectors and to scale up the sustainable value chain internationally.
The ECM congratulates PROMBYX on this success and wishes the team around founder Fabiola Neitzel continued success in the sustainable transformation of the animal feed industry.
Note: This article has been translated using a computer system without human intervention. LUMITOS offers these automatic translations to present a wider range of current news. Since this article has been translated with automatic translation, it is possible that it contains errors in vocabulary, syntax or grammar. The original article in German can be found here.
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