biotechnology company Imperagen announced on Thursday a £5 million ($6.7 million) seed round led by PXN Ventures, with participation from IQ Capital and Northern Gritstone. The company was founded in 2021 by Manchester Institute of Biotechnology scientists Dr Andrew Currin, Dr Tim Eyes and Dr Andy Almond, and was spun off from the university.
The startup seeks to improve enzyme engineering by making it faster, more efficient and less expensive than the slower, more physical, trial-and-error-focused process now used.
Imperagen is using three core technologies as it seeks to redefine enzyme engineering. Specifically, it uses a simulation based on quantum physics instead of trial-and-error enzyme mutations in a lab. Imperagen predicts the behavior of enzyme variants on a computer using advanced quantum physics models that can explore millions of mutations, the company said. It then translates this information into its custom AI models, trained on the enzymatic problems Imperagen seeks to explore. Finally, to preserve its AI models, Imperagen uses robots and automation to generate experimental data, which is fed back to the AI model, in a process called closed-loop simulation.
Enzymes are incredibly important in many industries, especially pharmaceuticals, as they are essential for drug development. Startups like Imperagen hope to accelerate enzyme engineering because it can have a ripple effect, making, for example, drug discovery faster and more efficient. Enzymes are also used in sectors such as food, biofuels and agriculture. Sustainability experts they are also looking to enzymes – and the artificial intelligence technologies that surround them – make industrial production and manufacturing more sustainable.
Others in this space include Biomatter, Cradle Bio and Absci.
On Thursday, Imperagen also announced that Guy Levy-Yurista will take over as CEO. Speaking to TechCrunch, he said that right now, the enzyme engineering process is falling short, where even many new AI-driven technologies can pass trial and error but fail when put into practice on an industrial scale.
Imperagen hopes its technology will make enzyme development “faster, more reliable, and more commercially accessible, helping companies bring better bio-based products to market without the long lead times and uncertainty that have traditionally held the field back,” he told TechCrunch.
Levy-Yurista has experience in artificial intelligence, life sciences and business technology. Although the founders will remain with the company, Levy-Yurista was hired to help develop its new technologies, including a vertical AI infrastructure for biocatalysis (a process that speeds up chemical reactions using natural catalysts such as enzymes), while scaling the startup’s AI strategy, business models and industry partnerships.
The company has raised £8.5 million ($11.42 million) in funding to date and the new capital will be used to hire more AI specialists, dedicate it to research and development, expand its experimental lab capabilities and build a commercialization function over the next two years.
“Ultimately, Imperagen hopes that broader use of engineered enzymes will help industries reliably produce products that are cleaner, safer and better for people and the planet, while also making business sense for the companies that adopt them,” Levy-Yurista said.
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