TurtleTree Labs

We know cattle farming isn’t sustainable and produces 37% of global methane emissions. Plant-based products are great but don’t have the full functionality of raw milk. Being functional means being able to make cheese, butter, cream or yoghurt. As a result, plant based products have less than 1% market share in global milk consumption. 

We can harness the power of cell-based technology to create milk that is clean, fresh and free from contaminants.

We will shape the future of not just how we get dairy milk but how humans will feed infants. To maximise impact, the team will work with industry leaders to adopt our sustainable and safe methods to create milk. Our focus on impact will disrupt this multi-billion dollar industry while reducing the carbon footprint on this planet, while creating milk free of contaminants. Our innovation will provide millions access to safer, reliable and higher quality dairy products.

Firstly, cattle farming is not sustainable and produces 37% of global methane emissions. Also, the climate changes will shift the location of dairy production to areas with more sustainable water supplies and growing seasons. In countries where land space is scarce, traditional cattle farming makes producing and manufacturing milk locally extremely difficult. Moreover, based on USDA, heat stress on dairy cattle can reduce milk production and fertility. This makes cattle farming in tropical countries challenging. Quality milk is hard to come by and when available, is only at limited quantities.

Secondly, there are no superior alternatives to milk as the nutrition of milk alternatives such as plant based milk do not match up to natural milk. Calcium-fortified soy milk is the closest to cow’s milk but still lower in potassium and some other nutrients. Some plant-based beverages are very low in protein as well (like almond milk) which can be a problem for kids and the elderly. 

Thirdly, female cows are artificially inseminated when they are two to three years old. After giving birth, they lactate for 10 months and are then inseminated again, and this cycle continues. The TurtleTree technology can addresses the ethical issues surrounding cattle farming

We start with cells that we can get right from fresh milk, multiply these cells, then put them in our special lactation media. The cells then convert the lactation media into milk. 

Using the cell-based approach described above allows us to create the complete milk as we are mimicking the environment that happens inside the living mammals. The milk produced by methods described herein has the ability to match the natural milk in nutritional content, taste, and quality as the same cells that produce milk in the mammals are cultured and induced to secrete milk in vitro. 

The technique can be implied for the recreation of any mammalian milk, including human milk. Moreover, with cell editing tools, cells can be programmed to produce milk with desirable nutritional content (lactose-free, more or less fat or protein content). We are currently working on optimising our processes and talking to partners to scale our technology. 

Dairy deficit areas: Our method of creating milk will enable dairy deficit areas like Africa and Singapore to have the potential to be self-sufficient for dairy products. This helps to alleviate food distribution risks and fear, especially during critical times.

Different nutrition needs: We are able to enhance the milk producing cells to output desired nutritional content. For example we can program the cells so we can reduce cholesterol or have no lactose right from the initial output. This reduces the amount of resources required significantly during the downstream process. Dairy conglomerates like Danone, Nestle and Mead Johnson have all shown significant interest in customized products for their needs. 

High-Value Nutritional Components: The milk produced by the TTL’s method includes the variety of high-value human milk oligosaccharides HMOs. The primary functions of HMOs include the prevention of infection, supply of sialic acid for brain development, and prebiotic effects. This has been proven to be beneficial both for babies and senior adults.

Clean milk: The products produced by TTL methods will significantly minimise the risks of chemical contamination as compared to milk obtained traditionally today. PFAS has shown to be present in 2% of American ground water today.

TurtleTree Labs opens up a new way of obtaining milk which is both sustainable and feasible. The dairy market is at US$716B and is used in many of the products we consume today. With TurtleTree Labs' technology, companies now have the option to produce milk within their own facility and be less reliant on the traditional supply source. Our technology also alleviates the sustainability and ethical issues associated with the traditional way of getting milk. Our B2B licensing strategy will allow us to bring our milk to the world without us having to invest in a huge manufacturing plant.

Perfect Day: Creating milk protein through acellular methods. Their end product is a protein powder that they are partnering with ADM as a food ingredient. TurtleTree Labs creates milk using cell-based technology to produce whole milk with the whole spectrum of components identical to milk obtained traditionally from cows. Our product has almost identical composition and full functionality of milk; which opens up the possibility of creating dairy products like cheese, butter, yoghurt. 

Legendairy: Through a fermentation process, LegenDairy Foods transform microorganisms and sugar into milk protein and then on to dairy products. (similar to process of Perfect day) They do not produce the complete milk.

Biomilq: Biomilq is a mother-cultured infant breastmilk company. The concept is to culture human mammary cells to produce custom and commercial lab-grown breastmilk in a sustainable and ethical manner. Biomilq aims to target the western market and plan to enter the market selling its own product to consumers either through Direct-To-Consumer models or through retail channels. Biomilq has been experimenting on human cells and creating customised milk for mothers. TurtleTree Labs has a huge advantage in terms of technological and business approach. In terms of technological impact, TurtleTree Labs approach is applicable to a large variety of mammalian cells, including human, bovine, camel, sheep and goat. We are also able to create components of milk as ingredients or fortifiers. Our B2B licensing business model is also different from Biomilq and we are able to scale faster and impact the world.

The cell lines, media formulation, defendable bioreactor customizations, variations of the product, and the overall process make up the technologies that covers the process of milk production for all mammals including human milk.

We are using cell engineering technology to upregulate/ downregulate certain genes of the cells using to refine the composition of our product.  Since we are not inserting any foreign genetic material in our cells, our cells are not GMO. Moreover, the cells are adherent and will not be part of our product.

In-vitro differentiation and lactation of bovine mammary epithelial cells have been reported in various studies conducted to establish a bovine mammary epithelial cell line as a model to study mammary differentiation and lactation. Hyunh et al., (1991) reported the establishment of MAC-T mammary epithelial cell line from cells isolated from the mammary gland of lactating Chinese Holstein cow. The cell line was responsive to lactogenic hormones and secreted 50µg/ml casein/24h (7.6µg/106 cells/24h) upon induction. 

Shareholder ReturnsClimate ActionActivitiesAs a first proof of technology and market viability, we will target high-value components like Human Mik Oligosaccharides. Currently we are in contact with a dozen potential customers (that represents 22% fo the diary market) and they have all shown significant interest in the HMO components.Through our B2B model, TTL will enable the dairy industry to use our technology to source milk.
OutputsTrust in the TurtleTree technology and viable product-market fit.TTL bioreactors deployed around the world to produce milk.Short Term OutcomesReturns of investment for our shareholders and continued growth of the company.Our method of creating milk uses 98% less land, water and is less carbon demanding than traditional methods of dairy farming.Long Term OutcomesContinued R&D in the cell-based technology for applications across the dairy industry, reaching commodity prices of the dairy market. When the prices of TTL milk is able to reach dairy prices, it will then make economical sense for dairy companies to fully adopt the technology.Cattle farming produces 37% of global methane emissions. If we can eliminate that, we can lower the impacts of climate change and global warming.

Q2 2020: Currently we are still in R&D stage, optimising the technology. We aim to have a 5L bioreactor churning out milk on a continuous flow. Because the bioreactor that we are working on is linearly scalable, we can expand to a 50,000L bioreactor quickly following that. 

Q2 2021: We will sign on licensing deals with 5 industry partners.

Q2 2022: We will sign on licensing deals with another 13 industry partners.

Q1 2023: We will sign on licensing deals with another 33 industry partners. the first 5 manufacturing plants will be complete and ready for milk production. With our first targets being human oligosaccharides, we aim to serve up to 5 million infants and children each year.

Q1 2024: We will sign on licensing deals with another 83 industry partners.The next 13 manufacturing plants will be complete and ready for milk production expanding to more applications for our technology across adult and infant nutrition.

Q1 2025: In total, there will be 51 manufacturing plants which have been completed and supplying nutrition to 51M people.

TTL has the ability to create a new source of milk supply that has nutritional value similar to that obtained traditionally. Modelling the ARM semiconductor’s business model, TurtleTree Labs aims to become the largest milk technology provider without investing heavily in a large scale manufacturing plant.

 TTL’s business model includes licensing out their IP to help dairy manufacturers to create their own sources of milk using the TTL methods. Working with a network of contract manufacturers, we will help the dairy conglomerates attain clean, standardised and consistent sources of milk. In addition to IP, TTL will also receive royalties based on the volume produced by TTL-approved manufacturers. Every milk produced by TTL that goes out to the market will be printed with the TTL logo where it can be recognised by consumers (much like how the organic logo is printed on cartons). It symbolises quality, sustainability and safety. In adopting this model, TTL remains capital light and is able to focus on R&D while making an impact in the dairy market. 

Our licensing will be based on per location basis at a fixed rate, and the royalties will be collected as a percentage of revenue based on produced volume. As TTL continues to scale up production and optimise costs, TTL is expected to reach price parity with market prices of local dairy milk by 2022. 

Over the next year technical challenges around scaling up to 50,000 liter needs to be solved as it’s necessary to make an impact. Currently we are at 5 liter continuous flow at lab scale. With insights into the existing dairy industry we’ve identified that 50,000 liter is a standard size that will fit into existing dairy plants. The market barriers that we must overcome are consumer perception on cell based foods as it’s so novel. Consumers must feel this product is safe, nutritious and cruelty free.

To solve the challenges for scaling up we have brought onboard engineers to tackle this. We have an inhouse bioprocessing team that is co-developing 50,000 liter along with an industry leader in commercial bioreactors. We have made significant progress in and believe by next year this scalable solution will be ready. On the consumer perception side we are working with our partners that are dairy conglomerates. Once closer to launch they will be launching campaigns towards there consumers on the benefits of cultured milk(clean, nutritious and environmentally friendly)

20 Full time

2 Part time

7 Advisors

11 Contract

Our executive team is a combination of seasoned business and science experts. 

What started as a passion to make cheese and the inability to find good milk in Asia, Fengru knew she had to do something about the challenges facing the dairy industry today. Coming from a background of 10x thinking in Google, Fengru boldly co-founded TurtleTree labs to improve the way milk is produced and consumed. 

Hailing 20+ years of executive experience in the tech space, Max believes that technology can solve the world's biggest problems. As a co-founder and chief strategist his focus is on leading the team to transform the global milk industry. 

Dr Gen Yong is our CTO. After completing his undergraduate degree at Duke University, Dr Gen went on to pursue his PhD in Bioengineering and Biomedical Engineering at UCSD. Prior to joining TurtleTree Tree Labs, Dr Gen was conducting breakthrough cancer research under the Knight Cancer Institute. 

The entire team has grown significantly to over 20 across 6 different teams; Cell biology, molecular biology, bioprocessing, G&A, Business Development and Regulatory.

We have also made a deliberate decision to start the company in Singapore. Singapore is at the heart of a dairy deficit part of the world, food security is a big issue for this island country. The need to be self-sufficient is echoed by Singapore’s “30 by 30 goal” which aims to produce 30% of Singapore’s nutritional needs locally by 2030. TTL is receiving significant government support and grants to advance our technology here.

• A*STAR research institute on technology development and a broader research partnership
• Our investors like KBW (Middle East), Lever VC (Hong Kong and NY), CPT Capital (UK), K2 Global (Singapore and SF), Artesian (Australia) are helping us with various corporate partnerships and market expansion opportunities into their respective markets.
• The Smithsonian and Save Earth are working with us to develop milk products for endangered baby animals like Snow Leopards and Elephants. (Snow Leopard mother in captivity tend to attack their babies in captivity, so the Smithsonian Zoo havent been able to feed these babies. Elephants in Sumatra have been hunted for their tusks. The orphaned baby elephants have been sent to orphanages but it has been a challenge to feed these babies because elephant milk is one of the most nutritionally dense milks and difficult to replicate.)

TTL has the ability to create a new source of milk supply that has nutritional value similar to that obtained traditionally. Modelling after how ARM semiconductor’s business model works, TTL aims to become the largest milk company without having to invest in capital heavy equipment. The diagram below shows TTL’s sources of revenue:

below shows TTL’s sources of revenue:

TTL’s business model includes licensing out their IP to help dairy manufacturers to create their own sources of milk using the TTL methods. Working with a network of contract manufacturers, we will help the dairy conglomerates attain clean, standardised and consistent sources of milk. In addition to IP, TTL will also receive royalties based on the volume produced by TTL-approved manufacturers. Every carton of milk produced by TTL that goes out to the market will be printed with the TTL logo where it can be recognised by consumers (much like how the organic logo is printed on cartons). It symbolises quality, sustainability and safety. In adopting this model, TTL remains capital light and is able to focus on R&D while making an impact in the dairy market. 

On a smaller scale basis, we also aim to target geographical locations where the dairy conglomerates are not present with direct distribution and marketing. Our demo TurtleTree facility will focus on R&D activities and churn out milk samples of different SKUs.

Getting public acceptance of new technologies including novel foods is a joint effort and being a part of Solve would highlight how our technology is a game changer for the global dairy industry.  Tapping into the network of Solve mentors and thought leaders we’d like to build the right strategy for consumer perception.This could mean connecting us with global partners to work with, sculpting the right messaging and understanding regional preferences. 

We also believe we can gain insights from experts on any blind spots around scaling up that we may have missed through this process. Connecting with fellow solvers would be very helpful for us as well. Mr. Afeyan from Flagship Pioneering has extensive experience in the biotech industry and as an advisor can guide us on choosing the right contract manufacturers and technology partners.

Since we are a B2B focused company in the foodtech space, it's important to work with all the major players in the dairy industry. We are always looking for technologies or networks we can tap on to accelerate our R&D. Putting a food product to market requires deep regulatory knowledge and we are currently working with Singapore Food Agency and the FDA.

• MIT CHEME - Collaborations in R&D
• MIT KI Swanson Biotechnology Center - Collaborations in R&D

Childhood diarrhoea from unsafe drinking water sources is one of the main causes for death in post neonatal children (https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/children-reducing-mortality) and this is due to infant nutrition being delivered in powdered format to refugees. The conditions they live in are not conducive to source clean water for mixing infant formula in. 

TTL technology allows for fresh milk to be produced straight from the bioreactors, bypassing the need for powder delivery, thereby reducing the risk of contamination.

Breast is best, there is no arguing that breast feeding is the best for our babies. 

The reality is that women who exclusively breastfeed after 6 months in developed countries is less than 1%. Giving mothers the peace of mind that they are able to access technologies like TTL, means that babies can continue accessing the highly nutritious components of human milk like human fats and HMOs. Women can now shift away from 'mum-guilt' or even 'mum-shaming' that plagues women who are unable to breastfeed either because of insufficient breastmilk or busy work schedules. This is extremely liberating for all women.

Our team is using bioinformatics and big data to validate the best pathways for our gene engineering work. As we move ahead, there are other high-throughput screening technologies we'd like to access to perform clonal selection to build our cell lines. 

Since TurtleTree is an R&D focused company, we will always be building new cell lines to increase expression of certain components in milk, or optimise output. Bioinformatics will continuously help us to grow our product offering, build more price-effective solutions for the dairy producers and provide affordable quality nutrition for everyone.

TurtleTree Labs is the first biotech company in the world with the ability to create milk from all mammals in a sustainable way. Using our proprietary cell-based methods, we have the potential to transform the dairy and nutrition industry to move towards a more sustainable future. 

We would like to use the funding and support of the  Future Planet Capital Prize to ultimately reach our target of building a 50,000L continuous flow bioreactor that can produce fresh milk that the industry needs. We would like to use the spotlight from winning the Prize to expand our food production solution and enable other food entrepreneurs to create dairy products (like cheese, butter, yoghurt).To maximise impact, the team will work with industry leaders to adopt their sustainable and safe methods to create milk. The production methods by TurtleTree Labs occupy significantly less space and are able to achieve a 98% reduction in carbon footprint as compared to current traditional farming methods.