UPTEC startup raises 9.5 million in European accelerator

PFx Biotech, a startup incubated at UPTEC – Science and Technology Park of the University of Porto, has just been approved for 9.5 million euros in funding from the European Innovation Council’s (EIC) Accelerator programme.

The funding obtained thanks to the European programme “will allow PFx Biotech to expand the team and bring together highly qualified, multidisciplinary skills and scale up the production of its human milk lactoferrin to an industrial scale”, says Diana Oliveira, co-founder and R&D director at PFx Biotech.

The motivation to develop this technology arose from a concrete need: the newborn son of Ali Osman, CEO and one of the co-founders of PFx Biotech, suffered from an allergy to cow’s milk protein, a problem that affects more than 15 million children worldwide. With no alternative to conventional dairy products, Ali Osman, together with Harry Barraza and Diana Oliveira, developed Pfx Biotech’s technology, which aims to offer consumers a sustainable option with a positive impact on health and the environment.

As well as investing in the growth of the team, the funding will allow the startup to scale up its production: “our focus now is on the large-scale production of our first human milk protein, lactoferrin, and the submission of the technical dossiers to the regulatory bodies of the target markets, paving the way for the commercialisation of these ingredients produced by the precision fermentation technology developed”, adds Diana Oliveira. In the future, Pfx Biotech wants to be “the European pioneer in producing the next generation of high-performance, scalable and planet-friendly bioactive proteins (…)”.