BIOMILQ, Inc. Secures $21 Million to Further Its Mission to Produce Sustainable, Commercial Lab-Grown Breastmilk
North Carolina-based mammary biotechnology company BIOMILQ, Inc., proudly announces the successful close of $21 million in Series A financing, which will enable their acceleration of bringing cell-cultured human milk to market. Leading the fundraise are Danish life science investor Novo Holdings and clean tech leader Breakthrough Energy Ventures. Additional support comes from Blue Horizon, Spero Ventures, Digitalis Ventures, Green Generation Fund, Alexandria and Gaingels.
“While we’re thrilled to announce an oversubscribed series A, we’re more excited about the value beyond capital being added around the table from our new investors.” said Michelle Egger, CEO and co-founder of BIOMILQ. “Each partner brings technical expertise, passion for human and planetary health, and belief in female founded ventures.”
Investment partners were selected based in part on alignment with BIOMILQ’s core set of values: having female leadership within their fund, having a portfolio of diverse founders, and having an internal mandate for positive impact in the world.
“Michelle and I founded BIOMILQ on clear beliefs. Thoughtful planning and relationship building was required to find a commonality of mission among our partners,” said Leila Strickland, CSO and co-founder, BIOMILQ. “While we narrowed the aperture of possible partners, we’ve already seen the ripples of demanding a more representative world of venture capital,” said Strickland.
Utilizing proprietary technology, the company announced capability for producing human milk outside of the body this year. These additional funds will accelerate their process development and optimization, enabling full commercialization over the next 4 years.
Novo Holdings, a leading international life science investor with a focus on creating long-term value lends significant market experience and technical knowhow to BIOMILQ’s mission to produce human milk outside of the body. Breakthrough Energy Ventures and food tech innovation leader Blue Horizon share BIOMILQ’s mission to unlock human potential by providing more feeding options to parents.
“The mission of Novo Holdings is to make a growing and positive impact on health, science and society. We are delighted to support BIOMILQ through their journey pioneering mammary biotechnology and aim to use our scientific knowledge, operational expertise and global network to further strengthen the company’s ability to improve lives through their product offerings,” said Kartik Dharmadhikari, Partner, Novo Growth, part of Novo Holdings.
“We’re proud to have added partners such as Gaingels who are helping us source diverse candidates for our team and board of directors. Green Generation Fund is Europe’s first all-female-led fund and exemplifies that female-founded rounds can compete with the heavy hitters of the venture capital world,” said Egger. “Spero puts supporting diverse, mission-driven founder teams at the forefront of their program and Digitalis has a depth of experience in infant nutrition and improving human health.”
Over the last year, BIOMILQ has grown from a team of two to more than twenty at their Research Triangle Park Headquarters. If you are interested in advancing the world of human health and nutrition, consider joining our team or reach out at hello@biomilq.com.
