TurtleTree Labs secures $3.2m to bring its cell-based milk to the market

“The Covid-19 situation highlights the need for food security, not just in Singapore, but globally. It is heart-wrenching to see excess milk being dumped because of the global lockdown,” said TurtleTree Labs CEO Fengru Lin.

Lin runs a Singapore-based biotech startup TurtleTree Labs, which uses cell-based technology to create milk. It just raised US$3.2 million in its seed round to accelerate its plans.

TurtleTree Labs co-founders Max Rye (left) and Fengru Lin / Photo credit: TurtleTree Labs

The round saw participation from VC firms Green Monday Ventures, KBW Ventures, CPT Capital, Artesian, and New Luna Ventures, according to a statement.

Founded just last year, TurtleTree Labs claims to be the first biotech company in the world that can recreate real milk from all mammals inside a lab. The company’s focus, however, is on high-value human breast milk, followed by cow’s milk.

The company said it plans to use the new funds to help inch its product closer to commercialization. Currently, the startup has its own in-house bioprocessing team working with industrial partners for its pilot facility, Lin told Tech in Asia.

“The bioreactors that we are working with have well-defined technology that allows us to linearly scale up to 50,000-liter industrial-scale bioreactors,” she said.

See also: Singapore startup wants to make cow’s milk – without cows

What are its future plans? Moving forward, the company said it looks to continue accelerating its growth by working with global R&D and manufacturing partners.

For 2020 specifically, Lin said the team aims to optimize a 5-liter continuous-flow bioreactor that churns out milk. “We plan to sign our first license contracts by mid-next year. Following that, we will work with our dairy partners to co-develop the end product for consumers,” the CEO added.

How much traction has it gotten? The startup was just building its team to create more prototypes when it secured seed money early this year.

Now, it boasts a team of more than 20 full-time scientists and engineers, allowing the company to start collaboration talks with several major dairy and infant nutrition companies.

“We have a strong understanding of what the initial SKUs will look like working with them,” Lin said.

What challenges has it faced recently? Like most startups, TurtleTree Labs had to adjust to and develop a safety plan to cope with the pandemic. The company said it has received support from the Singapore government, giving them a financial boost to continue working amid Covid-19.