North Carolina-based mammary biotechnology company BIOMILQ has successfully closeed USD21 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,” says 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,” says 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,” adds Strickland.
Utilising 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 optimisation, enabling full commercialisation over the next 4 years.
Novo Holdings, an 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.
“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,” says 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,” says Egger. “Spero puts supporting diverse founder teams at the forefront of their program and Digitalis has a depth of experience in infant nutrition and improving human health.”
