Having relocated its headquarters to the Netherlands, TurtleTree has signed a research partnership with Nizo Food Research to speed up the development of its precision-fermented lactoferrin protein for women’s health.
Lactoferrin is leading the precision fermentation industry’s commercialisation efforts, thanks to its immense functional benefits and ability to unlock an otherwise hard-to-access protein.
TurtleTree was the first startup to begin selling animal-free bovine lactoferrin globally, having launched its consumer-facing supplement brand, Intentional, in the US last year with an emphasis on women’s wellness.
The Novonesis-backed company is now deepening this focus through a research collaboration with Nizo Food Research, a Dutch contract research organisation based in Ede. Together, the two entities will accelerate the clinical and scientific development of the startup’s LF+ lactoferrin platform for female health.
The development also sees TurtleTree move its global headquarters from Singapore to the Netherlands. Its work will be based at Nizo’s Food Innovation Park in the Dutch Food Valley, giving it access to Europe’s largest independent food-grade pilot facilities and the country’s dense food, biotech and fermentation ecosystem.
“This partnership lets us push LF+ development further and faster in women’s health, and gives us a real foothold in Europe. Instead of spending years building a research operation, we can draw on a dedicated Nizo team from day one,” said TurtleTree co-founder and CEO Fengru Lin.
“The Netherlands gives us the science, the infrastructure and the access to the European market we need to move at the pace this category demands.”
TurtleTree, Nizo to spotlight healthy ageing and menopause research
An iron-binding glycoprotein with over 690 amino acids, lactoferrin is revered for its antiviral, antibacterial, immunity-boosting, and gut-strengthening properties, and is used to treat low iron levels during pregnancy, lower the risk of respiratory tract infections, and enhance metabolism.
It’s present in both human milk and bovine colostrum. In the latter, though, it’s available in much smaller concentrations, and extracting 1kg of purified lactoferrin requires at least 10,000 litres of milk. This drives up costs – ranging from $600 to $2,000 per kg – and makes lactoferrin supply reserved for applications like infant nutrition and premium supplements.
TurtleTree solves this bottleneck with precision fermentation, which involves inserting a specific DNA sequence into microbes to teach them to produce the desired molecules when fermented in bioreactors.
Its cow-free lactoferrin is well-suited for a range of applications, including sports nutrition, adult and elderly nutrition, functional foods, and women’s health.
The startup’s partnership with Nizo pairs its proprietary precision fermentation tech with the scientific expertise of one of Europe’s foremost food and health research institutes, advancing work on women’s wellness with an emphasis on healthy ageing, menopause, and perimenopause.
A dedicated team from Nizo will work with TurtleTree on a multi-year programme spanning clinical studies, health claim substantiation, and product formulation, helping the latter validate and substantiate next-generation functional ingredients through rigorous clinical science.
Precision-fermented lactoferrin gathers pace
TurtleTree’s move to the Netherlands was supported by Oost NL, the regional development agency for East Netherlands, and the Netherlands Foreign Investment Agency (NFIA). “The Netherlands offers international companies a strong combination of scientific expertise, research infrastructure and access to the European market,” said NFIA commissioner Hilde van der Meer.
“TurtleTree’s decision to establish its global headquarters here shows the value of bringing these strengths together. Its partnership with Nizo also demonstrates how international companies can connect directly with the Dutch innovation ecosystem to accelerate research and bring new technologies to market.”
For Nizo, the collaboration reflects a shift in how the institute works with fast-moving startups. “We want to make our scientific capabilities accessible to the most ambitious innovators, not only to large established players,” said CEO Nikolaas Vles.
“By being an extension of a scale-up like TurtleTree, we help promising technologies reach the market faster and more rigorously. TurtleTree is exactly the kind of partner this model is built for, and a strong example of what it can achieve.”
The partnership will help TurtleTree expand its product footprint. Its LF+ ingredient is already available in an IronKind supplement under its Intentional brand, cold brew espresso shots from Cadence Performance Coffee, and a supplement powder with Waywyld in the US. And Strive Nutrition is planning to use it in an immunity-support beverage and a ready-to-mix protein powder.
The company has raised around $40M from investors, and was in the middle of a new fundraising round as of last year (reportedly targeting $15M). As reported by Green Queen, it had conducted multiple rounds of layoffs over the six months leading up to January 2025. But earlier this year, it secured an investment from Novonesis to scale up and commercialise LF+ for the early nutrition market.
Vivici, Daisy Lab, Eclipse Ingredients, Eden Brew, De Novo Foodlabs and its co-owned joint venture FerrinX, and All G are all working on precision-fermented bovine lactoferrin. The latter is also developing recombinant human lactoferrin, as are PFx Biotech, Guoke Xinglian, and Helaina (which sells its ingredient through around a dozen products and is developing infant formula with Nestlé).
