Mother's Milk Is Best

What Mother's Milk Is Best does

Mother's Milk Is Best (MMIB Inc.) is a pre-commercial medical device startup developing a Human Milk Concentration (HMC) device intended for use in hospital neonatal intensive care units (NICUs). The device passively removes water from a mother's own milk without compromising its nutritional integrity, producing a nutrient-dense, low-volume concentrate suitable for preterm infants whose stomach capacity (often described as marble-sized) precludes adequate intake from unprocessed milk. The technology is positioned as an alternative to current practice of diluting mother's milk with cow-based or human-based fortifiers, which carry elevated Necrotizing Enterocolitis (NEC) risk and/or high cost.

The company is founder-led by CEO Beth Schinkel (MS RD RN CLC, 25 years of NICU clinical experience) and CTO Elizabeth Nelson (PhD, 20+ years of medical device development from concept through FDA clearance). MMIB has funded development through non-dilutive sources: a $150,000 Colorado Advanced Industries Accelerator grant (2016), an NIH Phase I SBIR grant (2019), a $250,000 Colorado OEDIT grant (2024), and an NIH Phase II SBIR grant (2023), with recent angel and seed capital from New York Angels ($250K, June 2025), MassVentures ($100K, May 2025), and an additional $796,613 raise in February 2025. Scientific validation includes peer-reviewed publications in the Journal of Perinatology.

The business model is hardware sales of the HMC device to U.S. hospital NICUs through direct enterprise field sales, contingent on FDA clearance which has not yet been obtained. Pricing is undisclosed, the device is not yet on the market, and MMIB has not yet generated commercial revenue. The company is operating from Colorado with remote operations, supported by a small team and an expanding board that now includes two healthcare and innovation leaders.

Name

Mother's Milk Is Best

Legal name

MMIB Inc.

Website

https://mmib.health

Company type

Private

Founded year

2014

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Mother's Milk Is Best (MMIB) is a pre-commercial medical device startup developing a Human Milk Concentration device that passively removes water from mother's milk to deliver nutrient-dense, low-volume feedings for preterm infants in hospital NICUs, as an alternative to cow- and human-based fortifiers linked to NEC risk.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Neonatal Medical Devices

NAICS

Totalizing Fluid Meter and Counting Device Manufacturing (334514)

SIC

Surgical & Medical Instruments & Apparatus (3841), Wholesale-Medical, Dental & Hospital Equipment & Supplies (5047)

akta.pro primary industry

Baby Nutrition for Premature/Low Birth Weight Infants (CRADAEAN)

akta.pro secondary industry

Special Medical Purpose Infant Formula Manufacturing (FSMP/Medical Nutrition) (AFAHAHAC)

Keywords

• Human milk concentration
• Neonatal medical devices
• Preterm infant feeding
• NICU nutrition solutions
• Breastmilk processing devices

Headquarters

HQ city

Boston

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Medical Device Sales: Revenue will be generated through the sale of the Human Milk Concentration device to hospital NICUs. The company is still in development/testing phase and has not yet launched commercially.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

MMIB develops the Human Milk Concentration (HMC) Device, a medical device designed for use in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs). The device passively removes water from mother's own milk without compromising nutritional integrity, producing a nutrient-dense, concentrated feeding volume suitable for preterm infants who require high-nutrient, low-volume feedings due to their small stomach capacity.

Product overview

MMIB offers a single core product: the Human Milk Concentration (HMC) Device. This is a medical device designed for use in neonatal intensive care units (NICU) that passively removes water from mother's own milk while preserving its nutritional integrity, producing a concentrated feeding solution. The device addresses the specific challenge that preterm infants have small stomachs (comparable to the size of a marble) and cannot tolerate large feeding volumes, yet require high nutrient intake for growth and immunity development. By concentrating only the water from human milk, the device enables more nutrition in smaller volumes without relying on commercial cow-based or human-based fortifiers that may increase NEC risk.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Human Milk Concentration (HMC) Device A medical device designed for neonatal intensive care units that passively removes water from mother's own milk without compromising nutritional integrity, creating a nutrient-dense, concentrated feeding volume for preterm infants who require high-nutrient, low-volume feedings due to their small stomach capacity. Intended for hospital NICU settings to reduce reliance on cow-based and human-based fortifiers linked to NEC risk.

Quantifiable outcome

• Reduces reliance on commercial formulas and cow-based fortifiers that have been linked to increased incidence of Necrotizing Enterocolitis (NEC)

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Larimer Small Business Development CenterminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2024CEO Beth Schinkel served as keynote speaker at the Unstoppable Women's Conference, indicating a relationship with this regional business development organization.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Abbott Nutrition: Abbott's nutrition division makes infant formulas and fortifiers (including Similac) used in NICUs and is one of the dominant incumbents in preterm feeding. As a large diversified nutrition player, it competes for the same hospital formulary budgets MMIB will target.
• Danone Nutricia (Neocate): Danone Nutricia produces specialized infant formulas including the Neocate line for allergies and medical nutrition needs. It is comparable as a broad incumbent in specialized/preterm infant nutrition competing for the same NICU feeding decisions.
• Chiesi Farmaceutici (Neopuff and NICU products): Chiesi is a specialty pharma company with a neonatal franchise including respiratory devices and surfactant products for the NICU. It is comparable as an incumbent NICU device and nutrition company that shares the same hospital buyer and clinical decision-maker.
• Perrigo Nutritionals: Perrigo produces store-brand and specialty infant formulas including neonatal nutritional products. It is comparable as a broader nutrition incumbent that could compete on price or product breadth within hospital feeding formularies.
• Mead Johnson Nutrition (Reckitt): Mead Johnson (Enfamil) is one of the largest preterm and term infant formula manufacturers. It is comparable because its cow-based fortifiers are the incumbent option MMIB explicitly seeks to displace and its NICU relationships are the eventual distribution targets.
• Medela: Medela is a leading breast milk pumping, collection, and feeding equipment maker with deep NICU and lactation consultant relationships. It is comparable because it owns the upstream human-milk workflow that MMIB's HMC device plugs into and has established hospital sales channels.

Direct peers

• Prolacta Bioscience: Prolacta is the leading human milk-based fortifier manufacturer for NICUs. It is the most direct competitor to MMIB, offering an alternative approach (donor milk fortifiers) to the same clinical problem of delivering high-nutrient, low-volume feedings to preterm infants.
• Neomed: Neomed develops enteral feeding products, including syringes and specialized feeding devices for neonatal and NICU use. It is comparable to MMIB as a neonatal feeding-device peer targeting the same clinical buyer and workflow.

Emerging players

• Syrge Healthcare (NICU feeding disposables): Syrge is an emerging player in enteral feeding disposables and neonatal accessories. It is comparable because it touches the same NICU feeding workflow and competes for procurement contracts alongside MMIB's eventual hardware.
• NeoPrems: NeoPrems is an emerging neonatal health startup developing solutions for preterm infant care. It is comparable as an early-stage peer addressing adjacent unmet needs in the same NICU customer base MMIB targets.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/mmib-llc

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds3 records

Investors2 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Mother's Milk Is Best