On Monday, Copenhagen-based Enduro Genetics, a synthetic biology startup, announced that it has raised €12M in a Series A funding round from Supernova Invest, NOON Ventures, and Sandwater.
The new funding takes the total raised by Enduro to €18M including grants from the BioInnovation Institute and the European Innovation Council accelerator grant.
The Danish company will use the fund to expand its platform and scale commercialisation.
Christian Munch, CEO of Enduro Genetics says, “The funding allows us to accelerate our commercialisation efforts, strengthen our technology platform and expand the technology for use in biopharmaceutical expression systems, and we are excited to take this next step with the strong backing of both our existing and new investors.”
What does Enduro solve?
Enduro is addressing a problem that has challenged the global biomanufacturing industry for decades: declining productivity at the industrial scale.
The estimated €400B market, encompassing everything from industrial enzymes, biodegradable materials, alternative proteins, and pharmaceuticals, depends on genetically engineered microorganisms to produce these compounds.
Despite best efforts to optimise genetic strains, large-scale industrial processes create conditions that drive microorganisms to mutate, creating “cell-to-cell variation”, as cells prioritise their survival overproduction.
These non-productive cells proliferate, outcompeting the productive cells for space and nutrients, until ultimately all the productive cells are gone.
Peter Rugbjerg, Founder and CSO of Enduro Genetics says, “Solving the cell-to-cell biomanufacturing challenge has plagued academia and industry for decades. Too many companies have been limited by the fact that only a minority of cells used in bioprocesses today contribute to high production. At Enduro, we’re redefining bioprocesses with a new optimization technology to unlock biotechnology’s full potential, which we use to boost already very high-performing processes.”
Enduro Genetics: Transforming biomanufacturing
Founded as a spin-off of the Technical University of Denmark, Enduro Genetics is a deeptech company transforming biomanufacturing by solving the challenge of microbial productivity.
Christian Munch and Peter Rugbjerg developed a patented technology called “synthetic addiction.”
This technology integrates a genetic plug-in into the microbial production host, linking the productivity of each cell to its health and growth.
As a result, only high-producing cells can survive and thrive, effectively eliminating non-productive cells from the population.
By maintaining a stable and productive microbial community, Enduro Sense maximises the potential of industrial biomanufacturing, enabling consistent, scalable, and cost-efficient production.
The company is commercialising its technology at a time when industries are embracing biomanufacturing to decarbonise and create sustainable alternatives to fossil-based products, such as bio-based fuels, bioplastics, specialty chemicals, alternative proteins, and pharmaceuticals.
Currently, the company works with clients including biomanufacturing leaders from both the biopharma and food, agriculture, and industrial space.
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