Biosynth

What Biosynth does

Biosynth is a privately held, PE-backed manufacturer and supplier of life sciences reagents, complex chemicals, peptides, and biologics, founded in 1966 by Hans Spitz. Since 2019, the company has pursued an aggressive roll-up strategy, merging with Carbosynth in 2019 and completing nine additional acquisitions in 2022-2023 (vivitide, Pepscan, Aalto Bio Reagents, EUCODIS Bioscience, Fitzgerald Industries International, Cambridge Research Biochemicals, celares, Pepceuticals, and VIO Chemicals). The combined group operates over 11 facilities across Switzerland, the UK, Slovakia, Ireland, the Netherlands, Austria, Germany, the United States, and China, with manufacturing capacity ranging from milligram research scale to multi-ton commercial production, including 2500L reactors at the Staad headquarters and a 100L GMP laboratory.

The company offers an integrated portfolio of over one million catalog products spanning bioactive small molecules, peptides, carbohydrates, bioconjugates, antibodies, antigens, enzymes, plasma, nucleosides, and synthetic enzyme substrates, supported by proprietary technology brands (Bio-X, CLIPS, CTAT, AquaSpark, TrypTides, Bibridged). Custom services include CDMO/chemical manufacturing, GMP peptide production, custom antibody development, epitope mapping, phage display-based peptide discovery, and bioconjugation services. The business model combines high-volume catalog product sales with project-based custom synthesis and CDMO contracts, sold through direct enterprise sales, a digital storefront with instant online quoting, and a global distributor network.

Customers span pharmaceutical and vaccine developers, life sciences researchers, IVD manufacturers, food and agrochemical companies, and cosmetics producers. Biosynth is owned by KKR and Ampersand alongside senior management, with Matt Gunnison appointed CEO in 2024 to lead the integrated platform. The company holds ISO 9001 and ISO 13485 certifications and received an EcoVadis Silver sustainability rating in 2024.

Name

Biosynth

Legal name

Biosynth Ltd

Website

https://biosynth.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1966

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

501–1,000 employees

Short description

Biosynth is a PE-backed, globally integrated manufacturer of life sciences reagents, complex chemicals, GMP peptides, and biologics, supplying pharma, diagnostics, and research customers across three continents via an over-one-million-product catalog and custom CDMO services.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Life Sciences Reagents

NAICS

Pharmaceutical Preparation Manufacturing (325412), Biological Product (except Diagnostic) Manufacturing (325414), In-Vitro Diagnostic Substance Manufacturing (325413), Medicinal and Botanical Manufacturing (325411)

SIC

Pharmaceutical Preparations (2834), Medicinal Chemicals & Botanical Products (2833), Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731), Biological Products, (No Disgnostic Substances) (2836)

akta.pro primary industry

Small-Molecule Drug Product (Solid/Oral/Parenteral) CDMO (HLAGABAB)

akta.pro secondary industries

Biologics (mAbs/Recombinant Proteins) CDMO (HLAGABAC), Small-Molecule API & Intermediates CDMO (HLAGABAA)

Keywords

• Life sciences reagents
• Custom peptide synthesis
• CDMO services
• Biologics manufacturing
• Specialty chemicals

Headquarters

HQ city

Saint Gallen

HQ country

Switzerland

HQ region

Europe

Offices11 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Catalog Product Sales: Sale of research products including bioactive small molecules, peptides, carbohydrates, enzymes, antibodies, antigens, and biological reagents. Over one million products across diverse categories.
2. Custom Synthesis & CDMO Services: Contract development and manufacturing services for custom chemicals, peptides, and biologics. Includes route scouting, custom synthesis, GMP manufacturing, large-scale production from milligram to multi-ton scale.
3. Biocatalysis Services: Enzyme-based manufacturing routes working seamlessly with synthetic chemistry teams for complex product development.
4. GMP Manufacturing: Good Manufacturing Practice production for clinical and commercial supply of peptides and chemicals.
5. Custom Antibody Development: Monoclonal and polyclonal antibody production, epitope mapping, and antigen design services.
6. IVD Raw Materials: Supply of diagnostic reagents including viral and bacterial antigens, antisera, plasma, and matched antibody pairs for in vitro diagnostics.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Biosynth is a life sciences company that manufactures and supplies bioactive small molecules, peptides, biologics, carbohydrates, enzymes, antibodies, and diagnostic reagents. The company also offers contract development and manufacturing services (CDMO) including custom peptide synthesis, biologics services, and complex chemical manufacturing for pharmaceutical, diagnostic, and research customers across three continents.

Product overview

Biosynth offers an integrated portfolio of over one million research products combined with end-to-end manufacturing services across three core areas: Complex Chemicals (carbohydrates, nucleosides, enzyme substrates, bioactive small molecules, research chemicals), Peptides (research peptides, custom synthesis, GMP production, peptide libraries, neoantigens), and Biologics (antibodies, antigens, enzymes, plasma, IVD reagents). The portfolio is organized into catalog products (Bioactive Small Molecules, Bioconjugates, Carbohydrates, Peptides, Research Chemicals, Proteins, Plasma/Serum, Antibodies, Enzymes, Nucleosides, Synthetic Enzyme Substrates) supported by manufacturing services (CDMO, Custom Peptide Synthesis, Biologics Services). Proprietary brands include Bio-X™, TrypTides™, CLIPS Technology, AquaSpark®, Bibridged™ Peptides, and CTAT™. The company operates through multiple acquired brands including vivitide, Pepscan, Aalto Bio Reagents, EUCODIS, Fitzgerald, CRB, celares, Pepceuticals, and VIO Chemicals. Customers span pharmaceutical, vaccine, diagnostic, food, agrochemistry, and cosmetics sectors.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Bio-X™: Bioactive small molecules product line
• TrypTides™
• CLIPS™
• AquaSpark®
• BCM®
• Bibridged™
• FLSharp™
• Aldol®

Products and services

• Custom Peptide Synthesis Services

Quantifiable outcome

• Largest provider of bulk disease state plasma for controls in Europe
• +2 more outcomes

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature8 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Slovak University of Technology (STU)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerStrong and long cooperation with Slovak University of Technology for research and development support at Bratislava site.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves10 records

Expansion highlights7 records

Direct peers

• Lonza Group: Leading small-molecule and biologics CDMO with peptide, antibody, conjugate and cell-and-gene therapy manufacturing. Closest direct peer to Biosynth's GMP peptide and biologics CDMO services.
• Abcam: Specialist antibody catalog provider (now part of Danaher). Direct overlap with Biosynth's Fitzgerald, Aalto Bio and antibody businesses serving life-science research and IVD manufacturers.
• Bachem: Pure-play peptide CDMO leader with GMP peptide APIs and custom synthesis. Most direct competitor to vivitide/Pepscan/Pepceuticals sites within Biosynth's peptide division.
• Bio-Techne: Research reagents and diagnostics raw materials provider (proteins, antibodies, ELISA kits, GMP cytokines). Directly competes in the IVD reagent, antibody and protein catalog markets.
• Catalent (Novo Holdings): Large-scale CDMO specializing in peptides, biologics, softgel and inhalation fill-finish. Direct competitor in GMP peptide synthesis and complex molecule manufacturing.

Broad incumbents

• MilliporeSigma (Merck Life Science): Largest life-science reagents and chemicals incumbent (Sigma-Aldrich legacy). Overlaps with Biosynth's catalog of bioactive small molecules, carbohydrates, nucleotides, and analytical reagents across pharma, diagnostics and academic research.
• Thermo Fisher Scientific: Global life-sciences platform spanning research reagents (chemicals, peptides, antibodies), CDMO services (Patheon) and IVD raw materials. Competes with Biosynth across catalog reagents and contract manufacturing.
• Eurofins Scientific: Global bioanalytical testing and life-sciences services group with reagents, IVD raw materials and CDMO-like offerings. Comparable in providing critical materials and analytical services to pharma and diagnostics customers.

Regional players

• WuXi AppTec / WuXi Biologics: Asia-based integrated CDMO with API/intermediates (WuXi STA) and biologics (WuXi Bio). Compares to Biosynth's Jinan large-scale API manufacturing and biologics services across Asia-Pacific.

Emerging players

• Sartorius Stedim Biotech: Bioprocess and biologics manufacturer of cell-culture media, filtration and bioreactors. Adjacent/competing supplier for upstream biologics production inputs where Biosynth supplies enzymes, peptides and biological raw materials.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/biosynth
• Xx.com/BiosynthGroup

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Subsidiaries11 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A8 records

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Biosynth