What Proteros does

Proteros biostructures GmbH is a Munich-based contract research organization (CRO) founded in 2000 by Dr. Torsten Neuefeind on Nobel Prize-winning science from Professor Robert Huber at the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry. The company provides structure-based early-stage drug discovery services to pharmaceutical and biotechnology clients, specializing in technically challenging drug targets — multi-subunit protein complexes, membrane proteins (GPCRs, ion channels), and complex biologics — that the company describes as "high hanging fruits." Proteros serves 200+ pharma and biotech partners across the US, Europe, and Japan, including most of the world's top 20 pharmaceutical companies, with a headcount of 51-100 employees distributed across offices in Martinsried (HQ), Cambridge MA, San Diego, and London.

The company's core technology platform is anchored by industrialized X-ray crystallography — including co-ownership of a synchrotron beamline at the Swiss Light Source — and a premium cryo-EM facility equipped with Glacios and Titan Krios microscopes. Supporting proprietary capabilities include the Reporter Displacement Assay (RDA) for high-throughput binding screening and a 480-fragment Crystallographic Fragment Screening library delivering 3D binding poses for every hit. The integrated workflow spans gene-to-protein production (E. coli, yeast, insect, mammalian systems; HEK/CHO for biologics), assay development, biophysical characterization (SPR, ITC, nanoDSF, TSA, MST), and structure-based screening, producing 700+ meaningful protein structures annually across a gallery of 200+ validated targets and 100+ pre-established assays.

Proteros operates a fee-for-service professional services model with project-based, quote-driven pricing. Distribution is direct enterprise sales led by Chief Business Officer Ryan Brady (ex-Evotec), supplemented by an event-driven GTM motion at industry conferences (BIO-Europe, Swiss Biotech Day, Gordon Research Conferences) and strategic channel partnerships — notably the March 2026 collaboration with Axcelead Drug Discovery Partners providing access to Japanese clients and a 1.2M+ compound library. In January 2023, the company received a minority growth investment from private equity firm Inflexion to fund US expansion and service enhancement.

Name

Proteros

Legal name

Proteros biostructures GmbH

Website

https://proteros.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2000

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Proteros biostructures is a Munich-based contract research organization providing structure-based early-stage drug discovery services — including X-ray crystallography, Cryo-EM, protein sciences, and biophysics screening — to 200+ pharmaceutical and biotechnology clients globally, including most of the top 20 pharma.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Drug Discovery Services

NAICS

Research and Development in Biotechnology (except Nanobiotechnology) (541714), Scientific Research and Development Services (5417)

SIC

Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731)

akta.pro primary industry

Preclinical CROs (Discovery/Pharmacology/DMPK) (HLAGAAAB)

akta.pro secondary industry

Proteomics & Mass Spectrometry Services (HLAGANAB)

Keywords

• Structural biology services
• Drug discovery CRO
• Cryo-EM services
• Protein crystallography
• Biologics characterization

Headquarters

HQ city

Martinsried

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices4 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Contract Research Services: Fee-for-service contract research organization providing structure-based early drug discovery services including X-ray crystallography, Cryo-EM, protein sciences, biologics, assays, biophysics, and screening services to pharma and biotech clients.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Proteros is a contract research organization providing structure-based early drug discovery services for pharmaceutical and biotechnology clients. Its service portfolio spans X-Ray Crystallography, Cryo-EM, Protein Sciences (Gene-to-Protein), Biologics characterization, Assays/Biophysics/Screening, and proprietary Crystallographic Fragment Screening — applied in "target-to-qualified hits" drug discovery programs or as individual service components (Discovery Your Way). The company also distributes off-the-shelf Gallery Proteins, Gallery Assays, Gallery Structures, and screening libraries sourced via collaborations with Enamine and X-Chem.

Product overview

Proteros offers a unified platform of structure-based early drug discovery services built around its core Structural Biology capabilities (X-Ray Crystallography and Cryo-EM), supported by integrated Protein Sciences (Gene-to-Protein, Gallery Proteins, Biologics), Assays/Biophysics/Screening services, and Crystallographic Fragment Screening. The company's Discovery Solutions platform applies these enabling technologies in a 'target-to-qualified hits' workflow, with services including Qualified Hits programs and 'Discovery Your Way' customization options. Proteros combines its own proprietary technologies (Reporter Displacement Assay, Crystallographic Fragment Screening) with strategic collaborations (Enamine for screening libraries, X-Chem for DNA-encoded libraries, BioSolveIT for chemical space docking) to deliver comprehensive hit-to-lead discovery services for biotech and pharma clients.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Drug Discovery Programs Structure-based early drug discovery programs applying Proteros' enabling Discovery Solutions technology platform in a 'target-to-qualified hits' workflow. Delivered to pharmaceutical and biotech clients as full-service programs including Qualified Hits and modular Discovery Your Way customization.
• X-Ray Crystallography High-resolution protein X-ray crystallography services for elucidation of complex structures, supported by industrialized processes from protein construct design through structure generation and co-ownership of a synchrotron beamline at Swiss Light Source (SLS). Sold to pharma and biotech clients as a standalone service or as part of integrated drug discovery programs.
• Cryo-EM Industrialized cryo-electron microscopy services for structural elucidation of challenging proteins and complexes, featuring Glacios cryo-EM microscope equipped with a Falcon 4 direct electron detector (≥3Å resolution) and access to Titan Krios (2-3Å). Delivered to pharma and biotech clients for challenging target characterization.
• Protein Sciences (Gene-to-Protein) Gene-to-Protein services delivering fit-for-function proteins, including in silico construct design, expression in E. coli, Yeast, Insect, and Mammalian cells, analytics-driven purification using 60+ Äkta chromatographic systems, and analytical characterization via SEC-RI-MALS, Mass Spec, SDS-Page, and CE-SDS. Endotoxin-free environment available. Sold to pharma and biotech clients.
• Gallery Proteins Off-the-shelf catalog of high-quality proteins for drug discovery research, including kinases, proteases, gyrases, phosphodiesterases, epigenetic targets, apoptosis regulators, and growth factors with established SOPs and secured re-supply. Sold as a product to pharma and biotech research customers.
• Biologics One-stop-shop service for complex biologics and antigens, covering expression in HEK/CHO cells, analytics-driven high-quality purification, biochemical, biophysical, and structural characterization (X-Ray/Cryo-EM), and early developability assessment (non-GxP). Delivered to pharma and biotech clients developing biologics-based therapeutics.
• Assays, Biophysics & Screening Full biochemical and biophysical characterization of ligand-target interactions, including the proprietary Reporter Displacement Assay (RDA), enzymatic profiling, and biophysical technologies (SPR, ITC, nanoDSF, TSA, MST). Applicable for library screening, affinity profiling, and kinetic profiling of fragments, small molecules, peptides, protein-protein interactions, and biologics.
• Screening Libraries High-quality fragment and small molecule screening libraries provided in collaboration with Enamine, including a 3k fragment library, 41k range finder library, 150k diversity library, and 191k combined library. Sold to pharma and biotech clients for hit identification campaigns.
• Gallery Assays Pre-established Reporter Displacement Assays for over 100 protein targets, applicable immediately for library screening, affinity profiling, and kinetic profiling. Sold as an off-the-shelf product offering to pharma and biotech clients.
• Crystallographic Fragment Screening Structure-based screening service that combines Proteros' proprietary 480-fragment library with high-throughput X-ray crystallography to deliver guaranteed 3D binding poses for every hit. Includes systematic crystallization and soaking conditions, pilot screening, and a specialized high-throughput data processing pipeline with fragment evolution into Enamine REAL space via BioSolveIT Chemical Space Docking.
• Gallery Structures Structure gallery of over 200 validated drug discovery targets, searchable via the Proteros website Gallery Search tool. Sold as a content/reference product to pharma and biotech research customers seeking target structural information.

Quantifiable outcome

• 700+ meaningful structures generated per year
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration3 records

Feature6 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Axcelead Drug Discovery Partners (DDP)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 16 March 2026Strategic collaboration announced March 2026 where Axcelead DDP gains access to Proteros' capabilities in structural biology including Cryo-EM for Japanese clients, while Proteros gains access to Axcelead's capabilities in diverse assays and compound libraries (including ion channels, transporters, and proprietary 1.2M+ compound library) for European and US clients. Combined databases of 200+ validated targets and 1,000+ pharma-derived drug discovery projects enable comprehensive discovery support.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Charles River Laboratories: Diversified CRO with significant discovery and safety assessment services for pharma. Overlaps with Proteros on structural biology and protein sciences but operates at much greater scale across the full preclinical-to-clinical value chain.
• WuXi AppTec: Largest Asia-headquartered CRO with discovery, biologics, and testing services. Proteros's CGO Dr. Tobias Gabriel was previously VP and Head of Europe at WuXi AppTec, evidencing direct competition for discovery outsourcing contracts from global pharma.

Direct peers

• Evotec: Global discovery and development CRO offering structural biology, protein sciences, screening, and integrated drug discovery programs. Proteros's CBO Ryan Brady was previously Head of Global Discovery BD at Evotec, highlighting direct overlap in customer base and service portfolio.
• Sygnature Discovery: UK-headquartered specialist discovery CRO offering medicinal chemistry, in vitro biology, and structural biology services to pharma. Closely comparable to Proteros in scale (sub-1,000 employees) and in serving mid-sized pharma/biotech with outsourced discovery.
• Selvita: Polish CRO providing integrated drug discovery, structural biology, protein production, and assay services to global pharma/biotech. Comparable in scale and service breadth to Proteros, with a similar target-to-hit discovery positioning.
• Domainex: UK-based integrated drug discovery CRO offering structural biology, protein production, assay development, and medicinal chemistry. Similar scale and target customer set to Proteros, often competing head-to-head for European biotech discovery contracts.
• BioAscent Discovery: UK-based integrated drug discovery CRO with protein production, assay biology, biophysics, and structural biology offerings. Directly comparable niche-discovery positioning to Proteros, often competing for European biotech structural biology contracts.

Emerging players

• Schrödinger: Computational chemistry platform combining physics-based simulation with discovery services. Overlaps with Proteros on structure-based drug discovery and serves the same enterprise pharma buyers, but differentiates via AI/ML software rather than wet-lab structural biology.
• Recursion Pharmaceuticals: AI-native drug discovery company combining high-throughput biology with machine learning. Competes with Proteros for early discovery dollars from pharma partners, but differentiates through platform economics and large-scale phenotypic screening rather than structural biology services.

Regional players

• GVK Biosciences: India-headquartered CRO offering discovery, medicinal chemistry, and biology services with strong US/EU client overlap. Competes for outsourced discovery work but at different price points and with different geographic delivery model than the Munich-based Proteros.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/proteros-biostructures
• Xx.com/proteros_munich

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds2 records

Investors2 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 Proteros