Portugal’s PFx Biotech Raises €5M for Precision-Fermented Human Milk Proteins

Portuguese startup PFx Biotech has secured €2.5M in seed funding, matching a recent EU grant for its recombinant human milk proteins.

Making breast milk alternatives from yeast, Porto-based firm PFx Biotech has bagged €2.5M ($2.85M) in funding from investors, months after securing a €2.5M ($2.6M at the time) grant from the EU.

The round was led by Buenavista Equity Partners, alongside the EU food innovation body EIT Food and Beta Capital. They join early investors in the startup, such as Biotope Incubator, Big Idea Ventures, and Pascual InnoVentures.

It takes the food tech startup’s total raised to €5M, following the grant from the EIC Accelerator, which backed 71 companies in its latest cohort.

“We believe PFx Biotech is one of the few companies with the scientific depth, technical execution, and visionary leadership required to make precision fermentation commercially viable at scale,” said Bibi Sattar Marques, partner at Buenavista Equity Partners.

Making human lactoferrin from yeast

Founded in 2022 by CEO Ali Osman, COO Harry Barraza and R&D head Diana Oliveira, PFx Biotech uses precision fermentation to produce a range of human milk proteins for the advanced nutrition market. The technology combines traditional fermentation with the latest biotech advancements to produce compounds of interest.

To do so, it provides the genetic information of milk proteins to proprietary strains of microbes, developed to be capable of secreting high yields of the proteins. They’re then supplied with water, sugar and other nutrients in a bioreactor, where they produce high amounts of protein under the right conditions. These are then collected as pure proteins and sold as ingredients.

The proteins are structurally and functionally identical to those found in breast milk, and can be used across multiple applications. They can help reduce allergy risks and provide optimal nutrition to babies, boost immunity, bone health and muscle mass in elderly consumers, enhance performance and recovery in athletes, and offer nutraceutical benefits and general wellness across demographics.

PFx Biotech is starting with lactoferrin, a whey protein found in human milk and bovine colostrum. It’s an iron-regulating ingredient that strengthens the gut and possesses antibacterial and anti-carcinogenic properties. The protein is “key in human immune system regulation, from birth to death”, a company spokesperson explained.

However, lactoferrin isn’t easily available. It takes at least 10,000 litres of milk to produce just 1kg of purified lactoferrin, driving costs up to $750-$1,500 per kg in retail. It’s why a majority of the lactoferrin supply is reserved for the infant nutrition sector.

By producing it in bioreactors via a scalable and repeatable process, companies can overcome the supply bottleneck. And the high costs of conventional lactoferrin make what is otherwise an expensive technology more viable. It’s why a number of startups are using precision fermentation to produce either bovine or human lactoferrin, including TurtleTree, All G, Helaina, De Novo Foodlabs, Noumi and Triplebar.

Only the first two have received regulatory clearance to commercialise their animal-free lactoferrin: TurtleTree in the US, and All G in China and the US.

PFx Biotech working on other human milk proteins too

Human lactoferrin isn’t the only protein under development at PFx Biotech. The firm told Green Queen that its technology platform can be “adapted to produce” bovine lactoferrin as well. Additionally, it is working on alpha-lactalbumin and osteopontin.

The former accounts for up to a quarter of the protein content in breast milk and plays a key role in providing essential nutrients to the infant, including amino acids and bioactive peptides. The latter, meanwhile, boosts immunity, intestinal and brain development, and gut health in infants.

In adults, alpha-lactalbumin improves sleep, aids in cognitive resilience, and relieves stress, while osteopontin has been shown to bolster bone health and regulate the body’s inflammatory response.

PFx Biotech was the winner of the Most Innovative Nutraceutical Ingredient category at Vitafoods Europe 2025’s Startup Challenge last month, and with the latest capital injections, it’s aiming to accelerate its path to commercial readiness.

“This is a defining moment for PFx Biotech,” said Osman. “We’re proud to be backed by mission-aligned investors to help us unlock the potential of lactoferrin in a more sustainable nutrition model.”

He added: “As we enter this new growth stage, we are actively exploring strategic collaborations across R&D, scale-up, and go-to-market opportunities.”

Other precision fermentation players working on human milk proteins include All G, Helaina, Better Dairy, Yali Bio and The Live Green Co.