ⓘ TurtleTree Labs founders: From left, Max Rye and Fengru Lin; Source: supplied
▸ The pre-seed round was led by Lever VC with K2 Global and KBW Ventures joining the round and backing TurtleTree Labs’ first raise
▸ TurtleTree is the world’s first company using technology to create real milk from animal cells, with no animal required
▸ The raise will be used to onboard more scientists to the TurtleTree team
The Singapore-based startup TurtleTree Labs is working with biotechnology to create the full nutritional content of milk, announced today that it has completed its pre-seed funding round led by Lever VC, a venture capital fund specializing in alternative protein investments, Prince Khaled’s KBW Ventures, and K2 Global.
Co-founded by CEO Fengru Lin, CSO Rabail Toor, and CTO Max Rye, TurtleTree Labs is the world’s first cell-based milk company using technology to create real milk from animal cells, with no animal needed.
TurtleTree’s breakthrough is quite significant; it allows for not just the full functionality of dairy milk but will disrupt the existing baby formula industry. The company has developed a unique proprietary technology that uses mammary cells to produce real, full milk in clean food production facilities. The end product being the same as human breast milk and cow milk and will be sold as a food product.
Commenting over the investment round, Nick Cooney, Founder and Managing Partner at Lever VC said…
“What TurtleTree Labs is doing is fascinating, and their technology could be a serious disruptor in the global dairy industry,”
“They are the first company in the world producing real, whole milk from cell cultivation—which opens the door for safer, healthier and customized dairy products that can be produced with far fewer natural resources.” Cooney added
Affirming KBW Ventures’ interest in TurtleTree Prince Khaled bin Alwaleed bin Talal Al Saud, founder & CEO of KBW Ventures said…
“KBW Ventures’ interest in TurtleTree stems from both the team vision and the company’s strategic approach to the future of food using stem cell technology. Having spent time with the founding team in Singapore, we have a lot of confidence in TurtleTree’s progress as a biotech company and in the direction they are taking from a business perspective,”
Sharing the plans to utilise the funds, the chief strategist of TurtleTree Labs Max Rye said…
“The seed funding will be used to further build out the company’s scientific team and to create additional prototypes. TurtleTree Labs plans to publicly debut the world’s first cultivated milk products in the Spring,”
Fengru Lin explained that the focus now is to bring in the right talent during the company’s early-stage to provide TurtleTree with the support needed for rapid acceleration, thereby contributing in the global change the company is passionate about.
“We believe the entire landscape of traditional bovine milk will be transformed as a result of our technology,” Said Lin
