Arzeda, the Protein Design Company™, announced the closing of a $38M oversubscribed funding round. This fundraise brings in new investments from Sofinnova Partners, Fall Line Capital, Sucden Ventures, Silver Blue, and the venture arm of W.L. Gore & Associates (makers of Gore-Tex®), which has been in a joint development agreement with Arzeda since 2022. Previous investors also participated in the round, including the venture arm of the Continental Grain Company, Bunge Ventures, and Lewis & Clark Agrifood.
With this funding, Arzeda will expand the production capacity of its ProSweet Enzymes™ and ProSweet RebM™ to meet strong market demand of better tasting stevia and accelerate the commercialization of additional breakthrough products in its pipeline. Arzeda has partnered with several global industrial leaders to bring these products to the market including Unilever, AAK, and W.L. Gore & Associates.
“Arzeda is at a key inflection point with its products now at commercial scale,” said Michael Krel, Partner at Sofinnova Partners. “This funding will enable Arzeda to accelerate the commercialization of its industrial biotech products, including new designer proteins and enzymes that have the ability to reduce GHG emissions. Arzeda’s Intelligent Protein Design Technology™ is transformational to many industrial verticals and they are one of the few companies that have been able to translate this promise into commercial products that solve real- world problems and create value for the customer.”
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Arzeda’s Intelligent Protein Design Technology™ is built on one of the largest proprietary datasets of high-quality protein designs linked to experimental results and leverages the latest advances in generative artificial intelligence (AI) to design and manufacture higher-performing proteins and enzymes tailored for large-scale production. Arzeda’s proteins and enzymes enable alternatives which outperform existing products across various industries, including food, personal and home care, agriculture, chemicals, materials, pharmaceuticals, and diagnostics, in a more sustainable manner.
“We are impressed with the progress Arzeda has made in developing next generation materials that have superior performance with a reduced environmental footprint” said Ed Rubin, SVP of External Ventures at W.L. Gore & Associates. “We are excited to further our relationship with Arzeda through this strategic investment.”
The biotech industry has only scratched the surface of what can be done with designed proteins, and Arzeda is on a mission to make this future a reality. “Our designed proteins and enzymes will touch every aspect of our lives in the future. I am thrilled to see Arzeda delivering on its mission” said Alexandre Zanghellini, co-founder and CEO of Arzeda. “The field of protein design has experienced explosive growth in recent years but has faced challenges in translating these advances into products. Where we excel is in developing solutions that can be manufactured sustainably at scale.”
Source: Businesswire