Nestle Partners With Startup Helaina to Develop Infant Formula With Human Proteins

By Aimee Look

Nestle is betting on U.S. startup Helaina to develop baby formula made from proteins identical to those found in human breast milk, months after a tainted-ingredient crisis rocked the Swiss giant's infant nutrition business.

The two companies entered a multiyear partnership for Nestle to buy the ingredient from the U.S. startup and to work together to advance infant nutrition, Helaina said Tuesday.

Infant formula makers have spent years trying to match the health benefits of human milk. Nestle said the partnership aims to uncover new opportunities in infant nutrition.

Helaina has been working for years to get to the point of scaling and commercializing the proteins identical to those found in human milk for baby formula, it said. Making the lactoferrin protein--bioidentical to that found in breast milk--requires fermentation.

"Probably the hardest part is scaling the technology and ensuring that this is replicable and very consistent and high quality at scale. We've been doing that now for three years," Helaina Chief Executive Officer Laura Katz said in an interview.

Nestle previously worked with Danish company Glycom--now part of DSM-Firmenich--for the use of biotechnology to replicate sugars, called human milk oligosaccharides.

Helaina's valuation is in the hundreds of millions of dollars, according to people familiar with its financial details. In an emailed statement, the company said it has raised more than $95 million to date.

"Innovating in infant nutrition is the most complex area of the food chain," Katz said.

Makers of baby formula including Nestle and Danone issued a series of recalls earlier this year after identifying traces of a toxin called cereulide in their products.

Nestle--named after pharmacist Henri Nestle, who in 1867 began selling infant nutrition he had created--in April said its first-quarter sales took a hit from the recalls and weaker demand for baby formula, but the rest of its sprawling portfolio made up for the shortfall.

Write to Aimee Look at aimee.look@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 02, 2026 07:14 ET (11:14 GMT)