TurtleTree moves headquarters to Netherlands and signs NIZO women’s health research deal

TurtleTree is relocating its global headquarters to the Netherlands and launching a multi-year research partnership with NIZO Food Research to develop its precision-fermented lactoferrin, LF+, for women’s health applications.

• TurtleTree is moving its global headquarters to the Netherlands, with its research work based at Food Innovation Park in Ede.
• A dedicated NIZO team will support clinical studies, health-claim substantiation and product formulation, emphasizing healthy aging and perimenopause and menopause.
• The agreement follows TurtleTree’s July partnership with Novonesis to scale, manufacture and commercialize LF+ for early life nutrition and selected dietary supplement applications.

Announced on October 26, the collaboration will give TurtleTree access to a dedicated research team and food-grade pilot facilities as it builds scientific evidence to support further applications for its lead ingredient.

“This partnership lets us push LF+ development further and faster in women’s health, and gives us a real foothold in Europe,” said Fengru Lin, Founder and CEO of TurtleTree.

“Instead of spending years building a research operation, we can draw on a dedicated NIZO team from day one. Some of the best scientists in the field, working directly on our platform. The Netherlands gives us the science, the infrastructure and the access to the European market we need to move at the pace this category demands.”

The program combines TurtleTree’s proprietary precision-fermentation technology with NIZO’s food and health research expertise. Its scope covers clinical studies, substantiation of potential health claims and formulation work, connecting research on LF+ with its development into finished products.

Healthy aging and perimenopause and menopause are identified as priorities. Individual study designs, target health claims and a timetable for results were not disclosed.

The agreement follows TurtleTree’s partnership with Novonesis, announced in July, to scale, manufacture and commercialize LF+ for early life nutrition and selected dietary supplement applications. That deal included a strategic investment from Novonesis, alongside participation from 321Catalyst Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of Mitsui Chemicals.

Speaking during an earlier PPTI webinar supported by Hamilton Process Analytics, Lin explained how TurtleTree had prepared its process to work in existing manufacturing facilities. The company characterized its tolerance to changes in pH, temperature and feed rate, establishing the flexibility available when assessing production partners.

“For us as startups, we need to know our acceptable range going in, rather than assuming one fixed setup,” she said.

“We know our actual operating window, not just the optimum, and this is how we can walk into different CMOs and adapt to what they already have, rather than having them adapt to our fixed process.”

Lin said that preparation needed to begin during research and pilot development, before discussions with contract manufacturers. Existing facilities bring their own equipment and operating constraints, making an understanding of acceptable process conditions important when transferring production.

The NIZO agreement adds a dedicated clinical and formulation research program to those manufacturing preparations.

Originally established to develop cell-cultivated milk, TurtleTree subsequently concentrated on high-value dairy proteins produced through precision fermentation. Lactoferrin, an iron-binding protein naturally present in milk, became its lead ingredient.

In May 2025, TurtleTree received an FDA “no questions” letter for LF+, following the agency’s review of its Generally Recognized as Safe notification. The response concerned the company’s safety conclusion for the ingredient under its specified intended food uses.

For NIZO, the partnership reflects a deliberate effort to make its scientific capabilities more accessible to startups and companies expanding their operations.

“We want to make our scientific capabilities accessible to the most ambitious innovators, not only to large established players,” said Nikolaas Vles, CEO of NIZO.

“By being an extension of a scale-up like TurtleTree, we help promising technologies reach the market faster and more rigorously. TurtleTree is exactly the kind of partner this model is built for, and a strong example of what it can achieve.”

NIZO has more than 75 years of food and health research experience and a team of over 100 experts. Its infrastructure at Food Innovation Park includes a flexible food-grade pilot plant and the Biotechnology Fermentation Factory.

TurtleTree’s establishment in the Netherlands was supported by Oost NL, the regional development agency for East Netherlands, and the Netherlands Foreign Investment Agency (NFIA). The organizations helped facilitate its arrival and access to local facilities, resources and networks.

“The Netherlands offers international companies a strong combination of scientific expertise, research infrastructure and access to the European market,” said Hilde van der Meer, Commissioner at NFIA.

“TurtleTree’s decision to establish its global headquarters here shows the value of bringing these strengths together. Its partnership with NIZO also demonstrates how international companies can connect directly with the Dutch innovation ecosystem to accelerate research and bring new technologies to market.”

(Main photo shows Fengru Lin, Founder & CEO of TurtleTree, which is relocating its global headquarters to the Netherlands and partnering with NIZO on women’s health research)

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