What Protein Evolution does

Protein Evolution is a private biotechnology company founded in 2021 and headquartered at 85 Willow Street, New Haven, CT. It builds an AI-powered enzyme discovery and engineering platform aimed at industrial and sustainable-plastics customers, using proprietary physics-informed sequence language models that preserve enzyme activity while enabling large-scale mutations, together with a multi-objective Bayesian optimization engine for balancing properties such as thermostability, pH tolerance, solvent resistance, and activity.

The company sells three core services — Improve Existing Enzymes, Discover Novel Enzymes, and Rescue Dead-End Programs — plus an add-on Laboratory Services module delivered through a Partner Alliance of 10+ trusted wet-lab laboratories that together cover the full R&D spectrum from discovery to production scale-up. Pricing is project-based and outcome-based: clients pay only when a wet-lab-validated enzyme hit is confirmed, with first libraries delivered in under one month and second-round optimization within two weeks. The business runs on an enterprise field sales motion via direct engagement from the company website, and all intellectual property from the designed sequences is retained by the client.

Protein Evolution disclosed a $20,000,000 funding round in October 2022 from Eldridge Industries, Good Friends, New Climate Ventures, Nextrans, and Redbird Ventures. It operates with 11–50 employees and has not publicly disclosed revenue, named customers, patents, or scientific advisory personnel in the available source material.

Name

Protein Evolution

Legal name

Protein Evolution

Website

https://pei.bio

Company type

Private

Founded year

2021

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Protein Evolution is a private biotech company developing AI-powered enzyme discovery and engineering services for industrial and sustainable-plastics applications, using physics-informed language models and outcome-based pricing to deliver functional enzyme libraries to enterprise clients in under one month.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

AI-powered enzyme discovery and engineering services

NAICS

Research and Development in Biotechnology (except Nanobiotechnology) (541714)

akta.pro primary industry

Protein Engineering & Directed Evolution Platforms (enzyme/therapeutic protein optimization) (HLAAAIAC)

akta.pro secondary industry

AI/ML-Enabled Biologic Discovery Platforms (computational design, in silico screening) (HLAAAIAE)

Keywords

• AI enzyme engineering
• Computational protein design
• Enzyme discovery services
• Industrial biotechnology
• Sustainable plastics recycling

Headquarters

HQ city

New Haven

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. Enzyme Library Development Services: The company delivers functional enzyme libraries in under one month, with a second-round optimization library within two weeks. Revenue is generated through project-based fees for enzyme discovery and engineering services. The key revenue mechanic is success-based: clients pay only when a hit is validated in wet-lab testing.
2. Laboratory Services: Wet-lab validation services offered through their partner alliance network. Custom assay development and analytics are provided as part of the service offering. Revenue is generated through service fees for laboratory work performed by their trusted wet-lab partners.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels1 record

Core offering

Protein Evolution provides AI-powered enzyme discovery and engineering services using physics-informed language models. The company delivers functional enzyme libraries in under one month and offers second-round optimization libraries within two weeks, with success-based pricing tied to validated wet-lab hits. Its three core solutions cover improving existing enzymes, discovering novel enzymes for new substrates, and rescuing stalled screening programs.

Product overview

Protein Evolution offers a unified AI-powered enzyme discovery and engineering platform with three core services: Improve Existing Enzymes (optimizing activity, stability, expression), Discover Novel Enzymes (de novo design for new substrates), and Rescue Dead-End Programs (reviving stalled screens). The platform is built on physics-informed language models with multi-objective Bayesian optimization. Laboratory Services are available as an add-on through the Partner Alliance network, providing integrated wet-lab validation with success-based pricing. All services deliver functional enzyme libraries in under one month, with all IP retained by the client.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Improve Existing Enzymes AI-powered enzyme optimization service that boosts the activity, stability, or expression of existing enzymes. Delivers functional libraries in under one month with validated results, including documented capability to achieve 10x activity at low pH. Targeted at organizations seeking to improve current enzyme performance under challenging operational conditions.
• Discover Novel Enzymes De novo enzyme design service that creates functional sequences for new substrates or chemistries while maintaining activity across 500+ variants from a single exploration campaign. Designed for companies expanding into new chemistries or substrates where existing enzymes are unavailable.
• Rescue Dead-End Programs Enzyme library generation service that revives stalled screening programs by creating fresh, functional libraries from low-activity hits, delivered within standard timelines. Targeted at organizations with under-performing enzyme candidates that need fresh leads.
• Computational Protein Design AI-powered enzyme discovery and engineering service using physics-informed language models that preserve activity while enabling large-scale mutations. Includes automated, lab-ready library design with all IP retained by the client. Available as a discrete engagement for companies seeking custom computational protein design work.
• Laboratory Services Integrated wet-lab validation services delivered through the Protein Evolution Partner Alliance network of 10+ trusted laboratory partners. Covers assay development, analytics, and validation with success fees tied to real data, spanning discovery research through production validation and scale-up. Services can be executed in the client's lab or through Protein Evolution's partner network.

Quantifiable outcome

• >95% yield in PET depolymerization achieved in 4 months
• +3 more outcomes

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability3 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Partner Alliance NetworkcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerProtein Evolution has built a Partner Alliance network of 10+ trusted wet-lab laboratory partners that extend beyond their in-house computational design capabilities. These partners provide integrated wet-lab validation services with success fees tied to real data. The network covers the full R&D spectrum from initial discovery research through production validation and scale-up. Partners specialize in custom assay development and analytics, enabling the company to offer comprehensive enzyme development services without maintaining all laboratory capabilities in-house.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Cradle: Cradle is an AI-driven protein design platform serving industrial biotech and pharma customers with generative models for enzyme and binder engineering. It is the closest direct competitor to Protein Evolution, with an overlapping horizontal GTM targeting enterprises that need fast, validated enzyme variants.
• Arzeda (dsm-firmenich): Arzeda builds AI-designed enzymes for industrial applications across food, materials, and chemicals, and was acquired by dsm-firmenich. It directly overlaps Protein Evolution on AI protein/enzyme design and on the industrial enzyme customer segment, while also validating the category's strategic appeal to incumbents.
• Bota Bio: Bota Bio is an AI-powered biomanufacturing company that designs and scales enzymes and microbial strains for industrial customers. It overlaps Protein Evolution on AI-driven enzyme engineering, pilot-to-scale biomanufacturing, and B2B services to industrial buyers.
• Generate Biomedicines: Generate Biomedicines applies generative AI to the design of novel proteins for therapeutics and other applications. While more therapeutics-focused, it shares the same physics/ML-based generative protein-design paradigm and competes for the same underlying AI-bio talent and investor capital.
• Carbios: Carbios is a biotech company developing enzyme-based processes for plastic recycling, including PET depolymerization. It directly overlaps Protein Evolution's marquee PET use case and represents both a potential customer/partner and a competitor in enzymatic plastic recycling.

Broad incumbents

• Codexis: Codexis is an established protein engineering company selling engineered enzymes and biocatalysis services to pharma and industrial customers. It is a broad incumbent in the same protein engineering category, with overlapping buyer segments but a broader, more traditional product-and-service portfolio.
• Novonesis (formerly Novozymes): Novonesis is a global industrial enzyme leader serving food, beverage, household care, and bioenergy markets. It is a broad incumbent whose industrial enzyme customer base overlaps Protein Evolution's go-to-market, with much deeper scale and library assets but slower AI-native design cycles.
• Ginkgo Bioworks: Ginkgo Bioworks operates a synthetic biology platform offering organism and enzyme engineering services across industrial applications. It is a broad incumbent competing for similar R&D services budgets, with a much larger platform scope but a less differentiated enzyme-specific AI offering.

Emerging players

• Insitro: Insitro combines machine learning with high-throughput biology to accelerate drug discovery and target identification. While its primary focus is therapeutics rather than industrial enzymes, it overlaps on the underlying ML-for-biology stack and competes for similar AI-bio talent and capital.
• ProteinQure: ProteinQure applies computational methods to protein design for therapeutic and other applications. It is an emerging player in computational protein engineering with partial methodological overlap to Protein Evolution's physics-informed modeling approach.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks4 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/ProteinEvo

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds2 records

Investors6 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 Protein Evolution