Nūmi lands €3.7M French state grant to scale cell-cultured breast milk
What's the deal? Parisian startup NūmiDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → has secured a €3.7M ($4.3M) non-dilutive grant from the French governmentDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → to scale up its cell-cultured breast milk. The financing came after Nūmi was selected as a laureate of the i-Démo 5 R&D programme, with the investment carried out by state investment bank Bpifrance.
What's the endgame? Founded in 2023 by chief executive officer Eden Banon-Lagrange and chief technology officer Eugénie Pezé-Heidsieck, Nūmi uses cell culture technology to recreate the environment mammary glands need to produce breast milk. It sources mammary cells through partnerships with hospitals and lactariums, then feeds them nutrients to kickstart milk production.
What's the money for? "This funding will help us push the technology further, from scaling our bioprocess to advancing our next generation of human milk bioactives and preparing for industrialisation," Banon-Lagrange said. The startup aims to replicate as many of the 1,500 constituents found in human milk as possible, including immunity boosters like lactoferrin, human milk oligosaccharides, and antibodies.
Why now? The grant is part of the €54B France 2030 plan, which backs products in high-potential markets that "generate value and competitiveness" for the economy. The Numindus project was chosen by Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu's office.
What's the market? About 5-10% of women are physiologically unable to breastfeed, and many more report insufficient supply or nutritional deficiencies. Most of the world's 130 million babies born annually are fed infant formula at some point, which Nūmi positions as nutritionally inferior to breast milk.
The signal: At €3.7M, Nūmi's grant sits above the 90th percentile of all grant rounds in France, a marker of state confidence in cellular agriculture. The government backing follows an earlier EU grant, pointing to growing institutional appetite for alternatives to conventional formula.
Read more: greenqueen.com.hk
Image credit: Nūmi
