Allozymes announced today that it has raised US $5 million in a seed financing round led by Xora Innovation, the deep science investment arm of Temasek Holdings. Co-founded by scientist-entrepreneurs Peyman Salehian, PhD and Akbar Vahidi, PhD, Allozymes plans to disrupt the trillion dollar biomanufacturing sector by delivering cleaner, greener, sustainably-produced natural ingredients, at scale, through custom-designed enzymes.
“Think of enzymes as autonomous nano-scale bio-machines that build molecules or break them down as needed, to provide energy, weaponry and construction material for living cells. It takes millions of years for nature to evolve these bio-machines for natural processes like the creation of cheese and wine but at Allozymes we accelerate the evolution of these bio-machines and engineer them in a matter of weeks,” said Dr. Akbar Vahidi, CTO of Allozymes.
Allozymes’ proprietary platform analyzes and maps millions of enzyme variants per day, boosting the likelihood of developing the most effective, fit-for-purpose enzyme for a given commercial application. It has already demonstrated the ability of their platform to produce novel functional enzymes through pilot projects with
innovative pharma, agri-food, and personal care companies, in a fraction of the time and cost, compared to robotics technology. These enzymes include oxidases, reductases, isomerases, and hydrolases, workhouse enzymes of industrial biotechnology. The platform is also capable of generating massive enzyme performance datasets, exponentially larger than competitors.
“We plan to utilize this data for enzyme discovery, design, and optimization. Ingredient manufacturers would only need to search in our data set to find the right enzymes for their needs or to quickly improve their available enzymes. Our biotechnology platform enables the sustainable and economical production of natural ingredients for a broad array of industrial applications, everything from sweeteners, to natural colors, to vitamins, personal care and cosmetic ingredients, for a start.” said Dr. Peyman Salehian, CEO of Allozymes.