Sweden’s EnginZyme bags €21M to commercialise its cell-free biomanufacturing tech

Stockholm-based EnginZyme, a biotechnology company that creates biomanufacturing processes for the sustainable production of common goods, announced on Monday, December 19, that it has raised €21M in a Series B round of funding. 

The investment came from new investors Almi Invest GreenTech, Navigare Ventures and Bunge Ventures. Existing investors Sofinnova Partners, Industrifonden and SEB GreenTech VC also participated in this round.

Helen Taflin, Investment Manager of Almi Invest GreenTech, says, “EnginZyme provides a unique and green solution with the potential to drive the chemical sector in a sustainable direction at a large scale and on commercial terms by improving the carbon footprint and climate impact. We look forward to supporting the company alongside our fellow co-investors.”

“Enabling the future of sustainable chemical production”

The chemical industry is in a difficult situation because by 2050 the output of chemicals would need to quadruple to keep up with the ever-increasing demand. However, to achieve sustainability goals, the sector must cut greenhouse gas emissions by more than 50 per cent. Also, there need to be ways to create everything sustainably if modern society is to function properly, including medications, food goods, flavourings, cosmetics, plastics, and even fuel.

The amount of waste and energy used in current chemical production techniques makes them unsustainable. The majority of chemical production uses petroleum as a feedstock and catalyses it using high heat, pressure, and metals. Energy is wasted in the heat produced, and these processes produce an excessive quantity of physical waste that is also expensive to dispose of.

According to EnginZyme, nature is very efficient. That’s why many green chemistry companies have biomimetic processes — they imitate what nature does. In the natural world, enzymes are the primary catalysts that enable cells to produce the chemicals required for life. However, using live cells to produce chemicals or transforming products industrially can be a delicate, unpredictable process that requires a conditioned environment known as a bioreactor.

This is where EnginZyme aims to make a difference. The company creates biomimetic processes, but instead of living cells, it uses a proprietary method that helps them use enzymes similar to how the conventional chemical industry uses catalysts, but under much gentler, less energy-intensive conditions.

Founded in 2014 by Karim Engelmark Cassimjee and Samuel Hargestam, EnginZyme wants to play a key role in tackling climate change by enabling green chemistry for every industry. The company aims to accelerate the transition to sustainable bio-manufacturing of goods that are essential to modern society by displacing traditional fossil-based manufacturing with the proprietary cell-free technology platform.

Capital utilisation

EnginZyme says it will use the funds to carry out its objectives for extensive worldwide commercialisation as well as to develop new features of its technology platform to improve performance and enable scalability in both existing and new markets.

Cassimjee says, “This fundraising marks a pivotal moment for EnginZyme. This started as an idea at The Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm to fight climate change by enabling greener chemistry for every industry. We attracted several established investors and created a company at the intersection of chemical engineering and biology. Today, we are extremely proud to have the support of this high-quality syndicate of investors as we drive forward into our next stage of growth.”