Aspire Food Group
Aspire Food Group farms crickets for protein powder and pet food ingredients.
On the record
Checkpoint: Halali Group Holdings' restart plan and any disclosed niche customer contracts
The call
Aspire went through court receivership in 2025 and was bought out of it by Halali Group Holdings, with no disclosed customers or funding for its restart yet.
Aspire Food Group farms insects like crickets and black soldier flies to turn into protein for animal feed and pet food. The company ran out of money, went into court receivership owing $41 million, and was bought by a new owner (Halali Group) in September 2025 with a vague plan to restart at small scale. The whole insect-farming industry is cratering at the same time, other companies like Ÿnsect and Agronutris are also failing, and Darling Ingredients (which owns the profitable EnviroFlight black soldier fly business) shows that even the winners in this space are struggling to make it work at real size. The only thing that could prove this restart is real: Halali actually running the farm in early 2026, telling investors which specific customers it is selling to, and showing 12 months of steady profits instead of just press releases.
Why
01
AI pressure: None apparent. AI is not what broke this company. Debt, low yields, and a sector-wide insect-ag collapse did. Could AI do the core job? Only partly.
02
Bigger players: Darling Ingredients (EnviroFlight, black soldier fly protein). Darling already runs profitable insect protein at scale inside a $5.7B business while Aspire never hit full capacity. Could a giant copy it? Yes, easily.
03
What protects it. A built 150,000 sq ft London, Ontario plant that a new owner could restart cheaply if it finds paying customers.
What would change this call
Halali restarts London, Ontario production and ships product in early 2026. Shows whether the business can actually resume operations, not just change owners.
Halali publicly names a signed anchor customer in a stated high-value niche by Q2 2026. Would indicate real commercial demand rather than a speculative restart.
New capital comes from a strategic buyer like Darling Ingredients or Cargill versus distressed financing. Would show industry confidence rather than another rescue loan.
Halali publicly names a signed anchor customer in a stated high-value niche by Q2 2026. Would indicate real commercial demand rather than a speculative restart.
New capital comes from a strategic buyer like Darling Ingredients or Cargill versus distressed financing. Would show industry confidence rather than another rescue loan.
Key numbers
- Owed ~$41M to Farm Credit Canada at receivership
- Plant ran at ~50% capacity before shutdown
- 150,000 sq ft facility on 12 acres in Ontario
Named risks
- Restarted London facility may never reach commercial scale given prior ~50% capacity performance.
- Entire insect-agriculture sector in simultaneous collapse (Ynsect, Agronutris, Enorm bankrupt).
- Restart plan names no disclosed customers or funding for its 'high-value niches' strategy.
- Political scrutiny in Canada over lost public grant funds tied to the London facility.
- Leadership instability after founder Ashour's exit and Rosenberg's move to an advisory role.
Rivals, as read in July 2026
| Rival | Direction | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Darling Ingredients (EnviroFlight) | losing to | Runs a profitable insect-protein line from a $5.7B FY2024 diversified balance sheet while Aspire went into receivership in 2025 |
| Ynsect | contesting | French/Dutch mealworm producer also sought a takeover amid financial distress in early 2025 |
| Agronutris | contesting | Entered debt-restructuring safeguard proceedings in January 2025, mirroring Aspire's distress |
| Enorm Biofactory | contesting | Bankrupt in November 2025 despite EUR55M raised, part of same sector-wide collapse as Aspire |
| Protix | gaining on | Pivoting toward Asia while pausing a proposed Nebraska plant with Tyson Foods, per 2026-06-03 reporting |
Questions people ask
- Is Aspire Food Group profitable in 2026?
- No. Aspire owed roughly $41-41.5M to Farm Credit Canada and was placed into court-ordered receivership in May 2025, then sold out of receivership to Halali Group Holdings in September 2025. No audited revenue has ever been disclosed.
- Did Aspire Food Group go bankrupt?
- Aspire entered court-ordered receivership on May 13, 2025 under FTI Consulting after defaulting on roughly $41M owed to Farm Credit Canada. Its London, Ontario cricket plant assets were sold to Halali Group Holdings in a court-approved sale in September 2025.
- Who owns Aspire Food Group now?
- As of September 29, 2025, Ontario Superior Court approved the sale of substantially all of Aspire's assets to Halali Group Holdings, run by directors Hassan and Hussain Al-Ali. Former CEO David Rosenberg moved to an advisory role; COO Gabe Mott runs operations.
- Who is Aspire Food Group's biggest competitor?
- Darling Ingredients, a $5.7B (FY2024 net sales) diversified ingredients company, owns EnviroFlight, a profitable black soldier fly protein operation, showing insect protein can work at scale with the right balance sheet, unlike Aspire's failed standalone plant.
- Could AI replace what Aspire Food Group does?
- No, cricket farming is physical biological production, not an AI-replaceable task. Aspire even used a DarwinAI machine-learning system (circa 2022) to optimize over 50 farm parameters, but the plant still ran at about half capacity through 2024-2025 before receivership.
- What happened to Aspire Food Group's cricket plant in London, Ontario?
- The 150,000 sq ft plant, built for 12,000-ton annual capacity, never hit its H1 2024 target and ran at roughly 50% capacity from May 2024 onward. It went into receivership in May 2025 owing ~$41M and was sold to Halali Group Holdings in September 2025.
Timeline
- 2025-11Peer Enorm Biofactory, Northern Europe's largest insect farm, goes bankrupt despite EUR55M funding
- 2025-09-29Ontario court approves sale of Aspire's assets to Halali Group Holdings; restart planned early 2026
- 2025-05-13Farm Credit Canada gets court order placing Aspire into receivership over ~$41M debt
- 2025-01Peer Agronutris enters debt-restructuring safeguard proceedings in France
- 2024-12Aspire raises emergency, undisclosed 'meaningful amount' just to keep operating
- 2024-11-11Aspire lays off 100 of 150 employees, cutting staff to about 50
- 2023David Rosenberg, AeroFarms co-founder, becomes Aspire CEO
- 2022Aspire signs MOU with Lotte Confectionery and deploys DarwinAI machine learning on 50+ farm parameters
- 2019Series B funding of up to $40M raised, tied to building the London, Ontario facility
- 2013Aspire founded by McGill University MBA students after winning the $1 million Hult Prize
Revision history
25 July 2026
First assessed. Little protection left. The text above is fixed as of this date and is not edited afterwards.
In the same band
Sources
- Cricket Protein Farming For Cricket Powder Production
- Products, Competitors, Financials, Employees, Headquarters Locations (2026-02-09)
- London, Ont. cricket plant ordered into receivership (2025-05-12)
- Aspire Food Group Stock Price, Funding, Valuation, Revenue & Financial Statements (2024-12-11)
- Aspire raises 'meaningful amount' to keep insect ag operation going (2025-01-07)
- London, Ont. cricket plant ordered into receivership (2025-05-13)
- Aspire Food Group cricket farm sold as firm collapses under debt (2025-09-29)
- Revenue, Competitors, Alternatives (2022-04-16)
- Conservatives claim Liberals want Canadians to 'eat bugs' (2024-11-15)
- Aspire Food Group cuts staff, scales back production at cricket farm (2024-11-11)
- (2026-07-12)
- Insect ag recalibrates after a brutal shakeout (2026-06-03)