Leipzig biotech Primogene raises €4.1M to produce human milk molecules at an industrial scale — starting with premature infant nutrition

Every year, around 13 million babies are born prematurely worldwide. For these infants, the gap between what breast milk provides and what formula can deliver is not a nutritional detail — it is a clinical matter with long-term consequences for immune development, cognitive growth, and gut microbiome establishment.

At the heart of breast milk’s biological complexity are human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) — a family of structurally complex molecules that perform critical functions in infant development. Science has understood their importance for decades. The problem has always been producing them at scale.

Primogene, a Leipzig-based biotech startup founded in 2023, has developed an enzymatic platform that solves exactly that problem — and has raised €4.1 million in seed funding to bring it to industrial production. The round is led by High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF), with participation from Technologiegründerfonds Sachsen (TGFS), better ventures, Sächsische Beteiligungsgesellschaft (SBG), Golzern Holding, FS Life Science Investment, and Dr. Marc Struhalla, founder and CEO of c-LEcta GmbH — one of Europe’s leading industrial biotech companies.

The technology: enzymatic vs. fermentation

Most HMOs commercially available today are produced through fermentation — a process that uses engineered microorganisms to generate target molecules. Fermentation works well for structurally simple HMOs, but hits hard biological and economic limits when applied to complex molecules. The capital investment required is significant, operational costs are high, and the biological constraints mean that some of the most clinically important HMOs — including DSLNT (disialyllacto-N-tetraose), the complex HMO with the strongest demonstrated clinical benefits for premature infants — have remained effectively out of reach at commercial scale.

Primogene’s enzymatic platform takes a fundamentally different approach. Rather than engineering microorganisms, the company deploys cascades of enzymes — biological catalysts — to construct complex molecules step by step, with precision and control that fermentation cannot match. The result: structurally complex molecules produced at industrial scale, identical to their natural counterparts, sustainably and cost-efficiently.

The company has already developed scalable processes for DSLNT and a family of fucosylated lacto-N-tetraose molecules, including LNDFH I — the HMO with the second-highest concentration found in breast milk.

Three founders from Leipzig’s life sciences ecosystem

All three founders are based in Leipzig, and the company operates its entire production process — from enzyme development and production through biotransformation and downstream processing — from a single facility in the city. This vertical integration is both a quality control advantage and a strategic one: in an era of supply chain fragility, European domestic production of pharmaceutical and nutritional raw materials carries real strategic value.

A platform that spans the human lifespan

Primogene’s entry point is premature infant nutrition — the most acute and clinically validated application. But the company’s technology extends well beyond it. The same HMOs and related bioactive molecules play significant roles throughout life: supporting gut health in adults, enhancing cognitive function in older populations, and serving as functional ingredients in personal care products.

The commercial momentum reflects this breadth. Primogene has already established partnerships in the personal care sector, with active ingredients commercially available. In pharma, raw materials are under active customer evaluation with partnerships in advanced development stages. The infant nutrition partnerships are the next major frontier — and the company is actively seeking joint development partners among formula producers and functional food manufacturers.

In parallel, Primogene is collaborating with Fraunhofer IZI (Institute for Cell Therapy and Immunology) in Leipzig on infectious disease prevention applications, and working directly with neonatal intensive care units to monitor HMO concentrations in the breast milk of mothers who have given preterm birth — defining clinically relevant dosing for neonatal care.

Investor perspective

“Primogene combines deep scientific excellence with strong industrial relevance. They address a core challenge: the inefficient, expensive, and technically limited production of complex biomolecules using chemical or traditional fermentation methods. Their multi-enzyme platform unlocks complex biomolecules which were previously too costly or difficult to produce at scale. The team executes fast, listens to customer feedback, and already shows great traction.”

— Dr. Stephan Ruck, Investment Analyst, HTGF

“Enzymatic synthesis is the key to unlocking the next generation of complex bioactive molecules and Primogene has developed concepts to efficiently produce several high-potential products.”

— Dr. Marc Struhalla, founder and CEO of c-LEcta GmbH

The market context

The global HMO market is growing at approximately 18–20% annually. Over 65% of newly launched infant formula products in 2023 featured one or more HMOs — a reflection of the category’s commercial momentum and the growing evidence base for their clinical benefit. The challenge has never been demand; it has been supply of the most complex and most valuable molecules. Primogene’s enzymatic platform is designed to unlock precisely that supply.

Primogene GmbH is based in Leipzig, Germany. More information at primogene.bio.

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