Eclipse Ingredients Secured Funding of $7M to Revolutionize Human Lactoferrin Production with Precision Fermentation
- Maddison Chaffin
- Aug 5
- 1 min read
Updated: 3 days ago
Australian startup Eclipse Ingredients has secured funding of AUD 7 million (about USD 5 million) to revolutionize the production of lactoferrin using precision fermentation. Led by AgFunder and supported by the Australian Government, this funding marks a major step in making one of nature’s most potent functional proteins widely accessible through a more sustainable and efficient biotech solution.
Lactoferrin plays a crucial role in immunity, maintaining microbiome balance, regulating iron levels, and providing antimicrobial defense. As founder Siobhan Coster explains, lactoferrin is “one of the most powerful health proteins out there.” While bovine lactoferrin (sourced from cow’s milk) is commercially available, it lacks the functionality of the human version and is resource-intensive to produce, requiring up to 10,000 liters of milk per kilogram. This inefficiency creates a bottleneck in meeting the growing demand for human-identical functional proteins.
How Eclipse Ingredients Secured Funding
Eclipse Ingredients startup is addressing this problem with precision fermentation, a technology that has been used in pharmaceuticals for decades.
By inserting the human lactoferrin gene into yeast, Eclipse can produce the protein in fermentation tanks similar to those used in brewing.
What sets Eclipse apart is its capital-light approach, which reduces costs and accelerates scalability compared to traditional fermentation infrastructure.
With new funding, Eclipse aims to begin with skincare products by 2027. As AgFunder’s Michael Dean highlights, Eclipse’s technology has the potential to solve the key bottleneck in the scalable production of complex bioactive proteins.
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