Enzymicals
Enzymicals AG is a German contract research and manufacturing firm that designs chemo-biocatalytic synthesis routes for pharmaceutical, fine chemical, food, cosmetics, and chemical clients, producing enzymes, APIs, and intermediates from gram to ton scale using proprietary cascade, membrane, and antibiotic-free fermentation technologies.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2009
- HeadquartersGreifswald, Germany
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What Enzymicals does
Enzymicals AG is a privately held German contract research and manufacturing organization founded in 2009 by Prof. Dr. Uwe Bornscheuer at the University of Greifswald. The company specializes in industrial biocatalysis, designing and executing chemo-biocatalytic synthesis routes for fine chemicals, active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), and intermediates at scales ranging from grams to tons. Its technology stack includes cascade biocatalytic one-pot reactions, membrane reactor techniques with in-situ crystallization, in-licensed antibiotic-free fermentation (Gen-H system and Syngulon bacteriocin technology), a curated collection of more than 3,500 biocatalysts across 50+ enzyme panels, protein engineering capabilities, an enzymatic flow reactor (2–5 L/h throughput), and a SpinChem rotating bed reactor for immobilized-enzyme processes. Production capacities have been demonstrated up to 800-liter fermentation scale for antibiotic-free enzyme manufacturing.
The business operates on six revenue streams: contract R&D delivered under milestone-based fee-for-service engagements where clients retain 100% of generated IP; multi-year FTE arrangements for ongoing program staffing; off-the-shelf and custom enzyme product sales; kg-to-ton scale chemical manufacturing using biocatalytic routes; licensing of proprietary technologies (e.g., transaminase chiral amine synthesis with salt precipitation); and strategic R&D partnerships. Customers are enterprise buyers in pharmaceuticals (primary), fine chemicals, food and beverage, cosmetics, and the broader chemical industry, with named engagements including Zanoprima Lifesciences (synthetic (S)-nicotine via imine reductase process) and a world-leading diagnostics company for antibiotic-free diagnostic enzyme production.
Enzymicals distributes primarily through direct enterprise sales supplemented by listings on Science Exchange, Scientist.com, and SAP Ariba. The company is a founding member of the Enzyme Technology Alliance, a consortium of six complementary biotech SMEs covering the full value chain from enzyme discovery to cGMP manufacturing. It operates from 850 m² of lab and production space at the Z4 Centre for Life Science and Plasma Technology in Greifswald, employs approximately 20 staff (roughly 60% scientists), and is led by CEO Dr. David Liese following a November 2024 leadership transition, with Prof. Bornscheuer remaining as Chairman of the Supervisory Board.
Enzymicals firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Enzymicals
- Legal name
- Enzymicals AG
- Website
- https://enzymicals.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2009
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Enzymicals AG is a German contract research and manufacturing firm that designs chemo-biocatalytic synthesis routes for pharmaceutical, fine chemical, food, cosmetics, and chemical clients, producing enzymes, APIs, and intermediates from gram to ton scale using proprietary cascade, membrane, and antibiotic-free fermentation technologies.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Enzymicals industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Industrial Biocatalysis Services
- NAICS
- Chemical Manufacturing (325), Medicinal and Botanical Manufacturing (325411)
- SIC
- Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731), Industrial Organic Chemicals (2860), Medicinal Chemicals & Botanical Products (2833)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Chiral / Asymmetric Synthesis & Complex Chemistry Services (HLAGAHAE)
Keywords
Where Enzymicals is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Greifswald
- HQ country
- Germany
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices1 record
Markets served
Enzymicals business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Infrastructure, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations
Revenue model
- Contract R&D Services: Milestone-based fee-for-service projects where clearly defined projects are carried out with upfront payments, fixed fees per milestone, and achievement fees. All results and newly generated IP are 100% owned by the client.
- FTE Arrangements: Full-time equivalent arrangements for ensuring long-term predictable access to consistent project team for ongoing development needs
- Enzyme Products: Sale of off-the-shelf enzymes from extensive collection including catalog products and custom enzyme production up to kg-scale
- Chemical Manufacturing: Production of customized chemicals and pharmaceutical intermediates using enzymatic processes from multi-kilograms to ton quantities
- Technology Licensing: Licensing of proprietary technologies including transaminase reactions with salt precipitation for chiral amine production
- R&D Partnerships/Joint Ventures: Strategic partnerships where Enzymicals contributes to technology development at reduced charges in exchange for co-participation in new business IP
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Other | Multi-year contract | Milestone-based fee-for-service |
| Subscription | Monthly | FTE arrangements |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels9 records
Enzymicals product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Enzymicals AG is a contract research organization that designs, develops, and implements chemo-biocatalytic routes to fine chemicals, APIs, and intermediates. The company offers three core product lines: Tailor Made Enzymes (custom biocatalyst development and production), Customized Chemicals (enzymatic manufacturing of organic molecules up to kilogram to ton scale), and Individual Process Solutions (comprehensive contract services from concept evaluation and feasibility studies through process optimization, scale-up, and technology transfer for industrial implementation of biocatalysis).
Product overview
Enzymicals AG is a biotech contract research organization specializing in industrial biocatalysis services operating across three core product lines: Tailor Made Enzymes (custom biocatalyst development and production), Customized Chemicals (enzymatic manufacturing of organic molecules up to kg-scale), and Individual Process Solutions (comprehensive contract services from concept to scale-up). The company also operates an Antibiotic-Free Enzyme Production Platform utilizing Gen-H and bacteriocin technologies for sustainable protein production without antibiotics. Through the Enzyme Technology Alliance, a network of six complementary biotech companies, Enzymicals provides integrated services spanning in-silico catalyst discovery, AI-supported enzyme engineering, process intensification, and scale-up to commercial manufacturing.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Quantifiable outcome
- Synthetic nicotine produces up to 12x fewer greenhouse gas emissions than tobacco-derived nicotine
- +4 more outcomes
Companies that use Enzymicals
Customer profileNamed customers2 records
Segments5 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
Enzymicals technology and API
TechnologyAPI detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature9 records
Enzymicals partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
18 partnerships are on record, tiered strategic, core and minor.
- EUROIMMUNstrategicJoint research project for miniaturized ELISA-Microspot allergy diagnostics system. EUROIMMUN developing system capable of analyzing hundreds of allergens simultaneously.
- University of RostockstrategicJoint research partner in allergy diagnostics project; collaborating on validation of recombinant allergens functionality.
- XOTOTECstrategicJoint research partner in allergy diagnostics project co-funded by European Union.
- BioNukleocoreNon-exclusive partnership for enzymatic synthesis of nucleosides and nucleotides. BioNukleo provides 70+ specialized enzymes for tailored synthesis while Enzymicals transforms proof-of-concept reactions into kilogram-scale processes. Proximity in Greifswald and Berlin provides advantage for clients.
- Bio-ProdictstrategicJoined Enzyme Technology Alliance bringing AI-driven protein research and 3DM platform for protein sequence-structure-function analysis, complementing ETA's mission.
- SpinChemstrategicJoined Enzyme Technology Alliance bringing Rotating Bed Reactor (RBR) technology for faster, more efficient, and environmentally friendly chemical reactions.
- Proteineer GmbHstrategicStrategic collaboration providing access to over 4 billion protein sequences and 15+ petabytes of genomic data. Enables integrated search, structures, docking, and AI model support for enzyme discovery.
- AllozymesstrategicJoined Enzyme Technology Alliance bringing pioneering microfluidics technology for enzyme optimization with remarkable efficiency.
- SpinChem ABstrategicAlliance partner providing cutting-edge Rotating Bed Reactor (RBR) technology for superior biocatalytic reactions with immobilized enzymes, enabling seamless solid phase handling and catalyst recovery.
- Microinnova Engineering GmbHstrategicEngineered and constructed novel enzymatic flow reactor for MACBETH project with throughput of 2-5 L/h for omega-3 fatty acid enrichment.
- Solutex CorpminorProvides marine oils for enzymatic enrichment of omega-3 fatty acids in MACBETH project.
- Sanomol GmbHcoreTransformative partnership to advance biotechnology and pharmaceutical sectors. Merges Enzymicals' enzyme products and technologies with Sanomol's strategic capabilities including chemdemand, scaledemand and trackdemand platforms.
- Enzyme Technology AlliancecoreAlliance of complementary biotech-SMEs: Candidum GmbH, Aminoverse B.V., ChiralVision B.V., and Enzymicals AG. Offers full scope of protein development from discovery to cGMP production. Now expanded with Allozymes, SpinChem, and Bio-Prodict.
- Solvias AGcoreNon-exclusive partnership for contract research, development and sustainable manufacturing. Combines Solvias' chemocatalysis expertise with Enzymicals' biocatalysis capabilities, offering customers alternative synthetic technology platforms.
- EMBLEM / EMBL European Bioinformatics InstitutestrategicLicense and collaboration agreement to use Transform-MinER in silico tool package for identifying novel high value-added biosynthetic enzyme reactions relevant to Enzymicals' proprietary product portfolio.
- Syngulon SAcoreNon-exclusive license agreement for antibiotic-free enzyme production using bacteriocin-based selection marker technology. Successfully scaled production to 500L fermentation and expanded to Gen-H system.
- Zanoprima Lifesciences LtdstrategicDeveloped imine reductase catalyzed process for producing (S)-Nicotine. Supported scale-up to commercial production resulting in synthetic nicotine on market.
- University of GreifswaldcoreCo-founded by Prof. Uwe Bornscheuer from University of Greifswald. Ongoing collaboration on upPE-T project, enzyme engineering, and various research initiatives.
Scale indicators16 records
Recent moves7 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Enzymicals competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- BRAIN Biotech AG: BRAIN Biotech operates an industrial biocatalysis and bioactives business and was Enzymicals' earliest disclosed investor; both companies serve similar pharma/fine-chem customers with proprietary enzyme discovery and engineering capabilities.
- Codexis: Codexis is the leading pure-play industrial biocatalysis CDMO with deep pharma relationships, an extensive proprietary enzyme library, and codevelopment agreements with multiple top-10 pharma companies—the closest large-scale analog to Enzymicals' offering.
- c-LEcta (Kerry Group): c-LEcta is a German biocatalysis specialist offering enzyme engineering, process development, and GMP manufacturing for APIs/fine chemicals—highly comparable in size, geography, and technology stack to Enzymicals.
- Solvias AG: Solvias is a Swiss CRO/CDMO with chemocatalysis and analytical services; Enzymicals has an active partnership with Solvias that explicitly combines chemocatalysis and biocatalysis, making them both collaborators and natural competitors in chiral chemistry services.
Broad incumbents
- Novonesis (formerly Novozymes): Novonesis is the world's largest industrial enzyme company with broad applications across food, feed, and pharma; competes with Enzymicals in enzyme supply while also being a potential customer/licensing partner at scale.
- DSM-Firmenich: DSM-Firmenich operates across food, health, and industrial biotech including bioconversion and enzyme technologies; an incumbent whose sustainability-driven customer base overlaps with Enzymicals' pharma/F&B/cosmetics clients.
- Johnson Matthey: Johnson Matthey's Fine Chemicals and Catalyst Technologies divisions serve pharma with both precious-metal catalysts and emerging biocatalysis offerings—a large incumbent that competes for similar chiral synthesis and API process work.
Emerging players
- Carbios: Carbios is a French biotech specializing in enzymatic recycling of PET and other plastics; its plastic-depolymerization enzymes are directly relevant to Enzymicals' role in the EU-funded upPE-T upcycling project.
- Ingenza Ltd: Ingenza is a Scotland-based industrial biotechnology and biocatalysis CDMO offering microbial strain engineering and scale-up for pharma/fine chemicals—comparable niche specialist with similar scale and contract manufacturing profile.
Regional players
- Amano Enzyme: Amano is a Japanese specialty enzyme manufacturer with a strong catalog across food, pharma, and diagnostics; comparable as a regional enzyme producer and potential partner for diagnostic enzyme supply chains similar to Enzymicals' Syngulon-bacteriocin work.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat6 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Enzymicals social profiles
Digital presenceEnzymicals financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Enzymicals leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Enzymicals funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds1 record
Investors1 record
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Enzymicals M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Enzymicals
What does Enzymicals do?
Enzymicals AG is a contract research organization that designs, develops, and implements chemo-biocatalytic routes to fine chemicals, APIs, and intermediates. The company offers three core product lines: Tailor Made Enzymes (custom biocatalyst development and production), Customized Chemicals (enzymatic manufacturing of organic molecules up to kilogram to ton scale), and Individual Process Solutions (comprehensive contract services from concept evaluation and feasibility studies through process optimization, scale-up, and technology transfer for industrial implementation of biocatalysis).
Is Enzymicals a public or private company?
Enzymicals is a private company. It is classified as management employee owned and is currently operating.
When was Enzymicals founded?
Enzymicals was founded in 2009. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Enzymicals based?
Enzymicals is headquartered in Greifswald, Germany, in the Europe region.
How does Enzymicals make money?
Six revenue lines are on record. Contract R&D Services are the primary driver. The others are FTE Arrangements, enzyme Products, chemical Manufacturing, technology Licensing and R&D Partnerships/Joint Ventures.
Who are Enzymicals's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are BRAIN Biotech AG, Codexis, c-LEcta (Kerry Group) and Solvias AG. Broad incumbents are Novonesis (formerly Novozymes), DSM-Firmenich and Johnson Matthey. Emerging players are Carbios and Ingenza Ltd. Amano Enzyme is listed as a regional player.
Does Enzymicals have an API?
No public API is recorded for Enzymicals.
What industry is Enzymicals in?
Enzymicals's product category is Industrial Biocatalysis Services. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HLAGAHAE, Chiral / Asymmetric Synthesis & Complex Chemistry Services. Its NAICS code is 325 and its SIC code is 8731.