A New York biotech using precision fermentation to make effera - the first human-identical lactoferrin, produced in yeast rather than extracted from a cow.
Helaina's effera powder - a human-equivalent lactoferrin grown in fermentation tanks and sold as a B2B ingredient. New York, 2024.
Helaina builds human-equivalent bioactive proteins - the functional molecules found in human milk - and produces them at scale with precision fermentation. Its first commercial product, effera, is lactoferrin: an iron-binding protein tied to immune function and gut health that is abundant in human milk but scarce and expensive to source otherwise.
The distinction Helaina draws is precise. For decades, the lactoferrin used in supplements has been extracted from cow's milk. Helaina engineers yeast to express a protein with the same amino acid sequence as human lactoferrin, with similar glycosylation patterns. The result is a molecule the body recognizes as its own rather than a close cousin from another species.
The company was born from an unlikely spark. Founder Laura Katz heard a podcast about the black market for breast milk and realized people - athletes, new parents - were going to extraordinary lengths to access the bioactive proteins inside it. Her question was whether fermentation could recreate those nutrients safely and at scale, rather than merely imitate them.
Six years later, effera is on the market and Helaina describes itself less as a lactoferrin company than as a platform for human-centric nutrition - with lactoferrin the first of a broader pipeline of milk-inspired proteins.
"The future of nutrition is human-centric."
Helaina's core claim rests on biology, not branding. In its research, participants taking bovine lactoferrin developed antibodies against the protein; those taking effera showed no such immune response - a difference the company attributes to sequence-level identity with the human protein.
effera is a B2B ingredient. Rather than sell to shoppers directly, Helaina supplies brands that formulate it into finished products across four broad areas - and it already appears in roughly a dozen consumer items.
Support for iron regulation and immune function, an area where lactoferrin has long been studied.
Lactoferrin's role in gastrointestinal support makes effera a fit for digestive-focused formulations.
Recovery and performance products aimed at athletes seeking human-equivalent proteins.
Immune and nutritional support positioned for consumers focused on long-term wellness.
Helaina operates as a B2B (and B2B2C) ingredient supplier. It develops and manufactures effera, then sells it to consumer brands and through distribution partners who turn it into finished supplements, powders and functional products. The end customer rarely sees Helaina's name - they see the brand on the shelf.
Early adopters include Kroma Wellness, The Feed, Levelle Nutrition and Healthgevity, with distribution via Mitsubishi International Food Ingredients. The company has also engaged Nestle as a strategic partner, a notable signal for a young ingredients business.
Manufacturing is the other half of the model. Working with co-manufacturing partners, Helaina has scaled effera to metric-ton volumes, with up to 10 million servings produced per run - the unglamorous engineering that separates a lab result from a shippable ingredient.
Revenue remains early-stage - estimated around $1.5M - consistent with a company that has only recently moved from development into commercialization.
The 2024 Series B was led by Avidity Partners, with Spark Capital, Siam Capital, Primary Venture Partners, Barrel Ventures, Relish Works, CF Private Equity and others participating. The earlier Series A was co-led by Spark Capital and Siam Capital.
Food scientist Laura Katz launches the company in New York to recreate human milk bioactive proteins.
Combined pre-seed and seed rounds (~$4.6M) with Primary Venture Partners back the platform.
Spark Capital and Siam Capital co-lead a round to scale production of human milk proteins.
The first precision-fermented human-identical lactoferrin reaches the US market.
Avidity Partners leads a round funding commercialization and metric-ton scale-up.
Helaina sits at the intersection of precision fermentation and functional nutrition. Much of the fermentation industry has framed the technology as an alternative-protein or climate story - replacing meat, dairy or eggs. Helaina reframes it as a human-health story: not "what can we replace?" but "what can we finally make?"
Its nearest competitors split in two. On one side are traditional bovine lactoferrin suppliers rooted in dairy processing - long-established but limited to the cow's version of the protein. On the other are precision-fermentation peers working on human milk components, including BIOMILQ, Wilk and TurtleTree, along with the broader fermented-protein field.
The expertise that anchors the company is a blend of food science, bioprocess engineering and regulatory work. effera required not just expressing a human protein in yeast but proving it safe, characterizing its structure, and scaling manufacturing - a multi-year path most launches skip.
The result is a defensible position: being the identical protein rather than a substitute. In a market crowded with "plant-based" and "alternative" labels, Helaina's differentiation is that its ingredient is the real thing.
"We're not imitating human milk proteins - we're recreating the exact bioactive proteins the body recognizes as its own."
Laura Katz is a food scientist and Helaina's founder and CEO. Before starting the company she developed products for some of the nation's most recognized food brands, and she has been named to Forbes' 30 Under 30 for her work on the future of nutrition.
Her central insight was that precision fermentation could be used not just to imitate nutrients but to create biologically-aligned ones - proteins matched to the human body rather than borrowed from another species. That thesis is the through-line of everything Helaina has built, from its first fermentation run to its metric-ton manufacturing today.
Helaina uses precision fermentation to produce human-equivalent bioactive proteins. Its first product, effera, is a human-identical lactoferrin made in yeast.
Conventional lactoferrin is extracted from cow's milk. effera has the same amino acid sequence as the lactoferrin in human milk, so the body recognizes it as "self," with better bioavailability and no anti-lactoferrin antibody response in testing.
No. Helaina is primarily a B2B ingredient supplier. It sells effera to consumer brands and distributors who formulate it into finished supplements and functional products.
Helaina was founded in 2019 by food scientist Laura Katz, a Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree.
Roughly $84 million in equity to date, including a $20M Series A in 2021 and a $45M Series B in 2024 led by Avidity Partners.