Enzymicals

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.

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

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

• Industrial biocatalysis services
• Enzyme contract research
• Biocatalytic process development
• Custom enzyme production
• Enzymatic chemical manufacturing

Headquarters

HQ city

Greifswald

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. 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.
2. FTE Arrangements: Full-time equivalent arrangements for ensuring long-term predictable access to consistent project team for ongoing development needs
3. Enzyme Products: Sale of off-the-shelf enzymes from extensive collection including catalog products and custom enzyme production up to kg-scale
4. Chemical Manufacturing: Production of customized chemicals and pharmaceutical intermediates using enzymatic processes from multi-kilograms to ton quantities
5. Technology Licensing: Licensing of proprietary technologies including transaminase reactions with salt precipitation for chiral amine production
6. 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

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels9 records

Core 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

Named customers2 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature9 records

Partnerships

18 partnerships are on record, tiered strategic, core and minor.

• EUROIMMUNstrategicStrategic or Co-development Partner · 19 June 2025Joint research project for miniaturized ELISA-Microspot allergy diagnostics system. EUROIMMUN developing system capable of analyzing hundreds of allergens simultaneously.
• University of RostockstrategicStrategic or Co-development Partner · 19 June 2025Joint research partner in allergy diagnostics project; collaborating on validation of recombinant allergens functionality.
• XOTOTECstrategicStrategic or Co-development Partner · 19 June 2025Joint research partner in allergy diagnostics project co-funded by European Union.
• BioNukleocoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 February 2025Non-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-ProdictstrategicTechnology or Integration · 2 October 2024Joined Enzyme Technology Alliance bringing AI-driven protein research and 3DM platform for protein sequence-structure-function analysis, complementing ETA's mission.
• SpinChemstrategicTechnology or Integration · 2 October 2024Joined Enzyme Technology Alliance bringing Rotating Bed Reactor (RBR) technology for faster, more efficient, and environmentally friendly chemical reactions.
• Proteineer GmbHstrategicTechnology or Integration · 12 July 2024Strategic 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.
• AllozymesstrategicTechnology or Integration · 2 July 2024Joined Enzyme Technology Alliance bringing pioneering microfluidics technology for enzyme optimization with remarkable efficiency.
• SpinChem ABstrategicTechnology or Integration · 16 December 2023Alliance 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 GmbHstrategicTechnology or Integration · 14 September 2023Engineered and constructed novel enzymatic flow reactor for MACBETH project with throughput of 2-5 L/h for omega-3 fatty acid enrichment.
• Solutex CorpminorOthers · 14 September 2023Provides marine oils for enzymatic enrichment of omega-3 fatty acids in MACBETH project.
• Sanomol GmbHcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 31 August 2023Transformative 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 AlliancecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 13 October 2022Alliance 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 AGcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 8 November 2021Non-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 InstitutestrategicTechnology or Integration · 22 February 2021License 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 SAcoreTechnology or Integration · 1 May 2020Non-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 LtdstrategicImplementation/ SI/ Consulting Partner · 1 January 2017Developed imine reductase catalyzed process for producing (S)-Nicotine. Supported scale-up to commercial production resulting in synthetic nicotine on market.
• University of GreifswaldcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 17 September 2009Co-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

Direct 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

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/5746687

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors1 record

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 Enzymicals