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Background. Botany AI, Inc., doing business as Ummino, acquired Mammae Biosciences in 2022. In 2023, NC State and Ummino restated and amended the license agreement, formally assigning it from Mammae to Ummino. Since then, Ummino has raised more than $5 million in private capital and invested more than $4 million of it commercializing this licensed technology: advancing the production strain to a commercial-ready state, completing an FDA pre-submission meeting for GRAS (Generally Recognized As Safe) notification that clears the regulatory path to an FDA filing, and running pilot manufacturing trials with Danone in France validating commercial scale production. This investment has been complemented by third-party funding that reflects outside confidence in Ummino: an NSF SBIR Phase I grant awarded to Ummino as the principal recipient (a Phase II application was also submitted), and a $500,000 Strategic Growth Loan from the North Carolina Biotechnology Center, a state-funded award that required Ummino to secure a matching equity investment from outside investors and to clear NC Biotech's milestone diligence. Ummino has also reimbursed NC State more than $100,000 in patent fees to date, and continues to fund active prosecution of NC State's licensed patent portfolio.
GLP-1 therapy is now mainstream. About 12% of U.S. adults take a GLP-1 medication (KFF, 2025). These users eat less and shift toward smaller serving sizes, nutrient-dense products, and functional beverages, which drives demand for protein and fiber in ready-to-drink formats, the fastest-growing format in the segment (Mordor Intelligence, 2026). The companion-nutrition market is projected to reach roughly $13 billion by 2035 (Future Market Insights, 2025).
Lactose is poorly tolerated by GLP-1 users, which makes it a liability in this category. The rBHT (beta-hexosyl-transferase) platform treats it as a raw material instead: the enzyme converts the lactose already in a dairy product into GOS (galacto-oligosaccharide), a prebiotic fiber with published support for intestinal barrier integrity (NCT06068894), while reducing how much lactose is left behind. The result is dairy that fits what GLP-1 consumers need: added fiber, better tolerance, a clean label, and no new ingredient to declare.
Tnuva is Israel's largest food manufacturer and dominant dairy company (founded in 1926, with roughly half the national dairy market and over $2 billion in annual revenue), spanning fresh dairy, fermented products, functional beverages, and specialty cheese. Tnuva is pursuing functional-dairy innovation through its Ba'emek group and its Tnuva Ventures platform, and is evaluating the rBHT platform across the three commercial applications below. Ummino has already executed a Material Transfer Agreement with Tnuva covering this work, and commercial-scale supply chain manufacturing for the partnership is established.
Why this is a beachhead, not a one-off. One anchor partner, multiple product wedges: this is a land-and-expand entry point, not a single SKU that lives or dies on its own. Tnuva's evaluation spans exactly the categories that scale internationally: functional beverages, fermented dairy, and functional ingredients.
The enzyme converts lactose into prebiotic fiber directly inside the beverage, a clean-label benefit with no separately declared new ingredient. Best fit with the GLP-1 companion positioning.
Enzyme performance in live fermented systems, including starter-culture compatibility and the finished-product oligosaccharide profile.
Ummino enables the partner to upgrade its lactose waste stream into a high-value functional ingredient.
One anchor partner across three product lines creates room to expand within that account. The same platform supports parallel conversations with other tier-one dairy companies, including near-term discussions with Schreiber Foods (U.S.) and FrieslandCampina (EU).
This is the execution plan Ummino is ready to run the moment this amendment is signed. Reinstating the license unlocks the funding to move on manufacturing, strain development, and regulatory filing together.
Commercial-scale production is being established with a bioprocessing partner located near our anchor commercial partner. That supply chain partner will ultimately have a 25,000-liter bioprocessing facility to supply this program at industrial volume.
We've established a partnership that will allow the strain to be reengineered into an improved, food-clean production strain, moving away from the GS115 host to a non-royalty-bearing host chassis. That partnership is with the group that originally established the Komagataella phaffii (Pichia pastoris) expression system used for industrial protein production, giving Ummino direct access to the team behind the platform's core science.
Immediate submission of GRAS (Generally Recognized As Safe) notification to the FDA once the license agreement and funding are resolved. U.S. GRAS and additional regulatory dossiers are in preparation with Exponent.
The plan starts September 2026. The independent production strain program completes in Q4 2026. Ummino executes an evaluation agreement with its commercial partner at the outset, moving through proof of concept, joint product development, and pilot scale-up, with first commercial launch in October 2027. GRAS notification is submitted to FDA shortly after the plan begins, with a "no questions" letter expected in H1 '28.
Expanding NCSU's Royalty Revenue Opportunity. Under the current license, royalty-bearing revenue flows only from Ummino's Net Sales of GOS and hGOS as Licensed IP Products. The enzyme, used directly as an additive, falls outside the current royalty and milestone mechanics. The proposed amendment brings Net Sales of enzyme into the royalty-bearing structure as a third Licensed IP Product, materially increasing NCSU's return.
Success Fee at exit. Separately, Ummino is proposing to raise the Success Fee payable to NC State upon a Liquidation Event or IPO (Article 3.02) from 1.5% to 3% of Aggregate Consideration or Pre-Money Valuation. This is in addition to, and separate from, the running royalty and milestone streams above.
| Timing | Amount |
|---|---|
| At execution | $75,000 |
| Month 3 | $25,000 |
| Months 4–15 (12 months) | $5,000/month ($60,000) |
| Total | $160,000 |
| Milestone | Target Date |
|---|---|
| Executed development or evaluation agreement with a commercial partner | Within 6 months |
| GRAS notification relating to a Licensed IP Product submitted to the US FDA for review | Within 9 months |
| First Commercial Sale of a Licensed IP Product | Within 24 months |
| Running royalty floor under Article 3.06 | Beginning the second full calendar year following First Commercial Sale |
| Term | Current | Proposed |
|---|---|---|
| Success Fee at exit (Article 3.02) | 1.5% | 3.0% |
| Running royalty on Net Sales (Article 3.06) | 1.5% first $10M / 2.5% above | 3.0% first $10M / 1.5% above |