PumpKin

Pumping. Breastmilk. Liquid gold.

It’s not *not* a big deal.

So why don’t we know more about it?

representation of a working mom feeding her baby with a bottle

1,800

hours/year

The amount of time breastfeeding is estimated to take. A “full time job” is 1,960.

60%

of moms do not meet their breastfeeding goals. 

42%

of moms stop breastfeeding due to work.  And not always by choice.

>50%

of parents struggle to feed their baby stored milk. And sometimes, because the thawed milk is rancid.

Parents don’t have all the tools or knowledge they need to feed their baby.

But we can change that with science. And your help.

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Breast milk. Liquid gold. There’s nothing else like it. It’s the original superfood. And it’s our goal to help moms preserve every last ounce. So they can feed their babies breastmilk as long as they want.

baby looking off while drinking bottle

A new way to keep breast milk fresh for longer.

At some point in almost every mother’s breastfeeding journey, she stores her breast milk. Often in the freezer. But the longer that milk stays in the freezer, the more nutrients it loses. And by the time it’s thawed, the baby may not take it. 

Pumpkin is developing a new kind of all-natural, infant-safe product that moms can add to their pumped breast milk to keep it fresh and nutritious whenever it’s stored. Not only that, we’re also creating new diagnostic tools that enable professionals to test the nutritional quality of breast milk in a more rapid way. Because the more breastmilk we can keep fresh for baby, the less stress there is around feeding baby.

Breakthrough breastmilk research.

In one year, we’ve won awards, received grants, and secured the scientific support we need to make this solution a reality.
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Princeton University

Princeton University

As a new University spinout, we are building off of our foundational experience incubating in the academic lab.

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NSF I-Corps

NSF I-Corps

This program enabled us to travel to conferences and partner sites, and interview more than 100 parents and professionals to inform our work.

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NIH

NIH

The Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) at the National Institute of Health (NIH) awarded our team a Phase I STTR grant to further develop our novel solution to extend breastmilk shelf-life during freezer storage. 

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Activate

Activate

Co-Founder Dr. Justin Silpe was awarded the Activate Fellowship for his scientific leadership and will enable him to fully dedicate himself to this work as a scientist-entrepreneur.

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USDA

USDA

The USDA awarded our team a Phase I SBIR grant to further develop our rapid, point-of-care diagnostic technology to inform breastmilk use.

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Got a burning question for our experts? Wanna team up? Participate in our research? Or fund it? We'd love to hear from you.

Let’s chat.