Key Investor Signals
Won a €2.5M EIC Accelerator grant from the European Commission.
Numi became an laureate in June 2026 and received €2.5 million in non-dilutive grant funding from the European Commission.
Raised €3M in November 2023 in a round led by Heartcore Capital
led Numi's €3 million round in November 2023, with , , , and participating.
Won the €100,000 Grand Prize at the 2025 Hello Tomorrow Global Challenge from 4,600+ applicants
Numi took the Grand Prize at the Paris summit in March 2025. More than 4,600 startups applied and 80 reached the finals.
Other Positive Signals
- Built a team of 20 across cell science, bioprocess engineering, and IP.
- Backed by additional non-dilutive support from and .
- Selected for the Forward Fooding FoodTech 500 in 2024 and 2025
- CEO named to 's 100 Women in Tech in Europe 2025
Team
Eden Banon-Lagrange
Co-founder & CEO
- Spent nearly three years at in Paris, rising from Associate to Manager.
- Served as Business Development Director for in Chicago, advising US companies investing in France.
- Ran business development at asset manager for Moniwan, its digital investment-distribution platform.
- Analysed small and mid-business sales at Hewlett Packard Enterprise for French and EMEA leadership.
Eugénie Pezé-Heidsieck
Co-founder & CTO
- Co-authored a 2018 paper in on protecting adult dopaminergic neurons from degeneration.
- First-authored a 2022 review in on retrotransposons and DNA damage.
- Spent nearly three years as a postdoctoral researcher in neuroscience at Columbia University in New York.
- Earned a PhD from Sorbonne Université in 2019, researching at the .
Product
Numi uses cultured human mammary cells to produce components of breast milk for food manufacturers. Its first application is infant formula, where concentrated human-milk ingredients could be incorporated into existing products.
Cell-cultured human milk
Mammary cells are cultivated in bioreactors under controlled conditions that reproduce the nutrients and hormonal signals involved in lactation. The cells can secrete a mixture of milk components rather than producing one molecule per process.
Drop-in powdered ingredients
After cultivation, Numi separates the cells from the milk, purifies the resulting components and dries them into a powder. Formula manufacturers can add this ingredient to their existing products without changing their production lines.
Business-to-business supply
Numi plans to sell ingredients directly to infant formula manufacturers. This model removes the need for its own consumer brand, retail distribution or formula production facility.
Market Overview
Infant formula still relies mainly on cow milk and reproduces only a small part of human milk's biological complexity. More than 200 human milk oligosaccharides have been identified, yet fewer than ten are produced at industrial scale. This leaves formula manufacturers with a limited range of human-milk ingredients.
Commercial demand for these ingredients is already established. The human milk oligosaccharide market was valued at $264 million in 2023 and is projected to reach $732 million by 2030, with infant formula accounting for 90.7% of revenue. The broader infant formula market is expected to reach $126.5 billion by 2034.
Share of infants under six months worldwide who are not exclusively breastfed.
Identified human milk oligosaccharides currently produced at industrial scale.
Projected global market growth from 2023 to 2030.
Projected global market growth from 2024 to 2034.
Comparable Outcomes
Glycom
developed and manufactured human milk oligosaccharides for infant nutrition. It managed research, regulatory work and large-scale production before supplying the ingredients to formula manufacturers. DSM acquired Glycom in April 2020 for €765 million.
Jennewein Biotechnologie
Jennewein produced human milk oligosaccharides and rare sugars for a global customer base. It had commercialized six oligosaccharides for use in infant formula. Its business demonstrates the value of supplying differentiated human-milk ingredients to established manufacturers. acquired Jennewein in October 2020 for €310 million.
Mead Johnson Nutrition
Mead Johnson sold infant formula worldwide under the Enfamil and Nutramigen brands. Benckiser acquired the company in 2017 for approximately $16.6 billion.
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Sources
This profile was built from public company materials, ecosystem sources, market references, and professional profiles.