Arzeda, the Industry-Leading Protein Design Company, Closes $33 Million Series B Funding Led by Conti Ventures

Investments Will Accelerate Product Development and Commercialization of New Enzymes

SEATTLE, March 30, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Arzeda, the industry-leading Protein Design Company™, announced today that it has closed a $33 million investment, in a Series B round of funding, led by Conti Ventures, the venture arm of investor Continental Grain Company. This round also includes investments from Lewis & Clark Agrifood, Bunge Ventures, the venture capital arm of the leading global agribusiness and food company Bunge, and Circulate Capital, among others, as well as repeat investments from Series A investors OS Fund, Casdin Capital, UMI and Bioeconomy Capital.

With its world-leading digital biology techniques, Arzeda harnesses the power of computer-designed enzymes and applies the latest advances in digital biology to discover and design new enzymes. This technology platform solves wider consumer, industrial and environmental challenges across multiple sectors. The Protein Design Company has been focused on leading innovation within food, personal and homecare products, and the technology also has applications within agriculture, sustainable chemicals and materials, and pharmaceuticals and diagnostics.

The funding will allow Arzeda to advance its product portfolio development and accelerate the commercialization of key enzymes in its portfolio. To date, the company has been working with a number of global players to produce solutions to large societal and everyday problems including better detergents and sustainably-produced food ingredients.

"We see tremendous opportunity to leverage Arzeda's leading technology, which combines biology with cloud computing and AI, to bring impactful novel enzymes to market across a number of industries," said Brian Loeb from Conti Ventures. "At Conti Ventures we are looking to drive forward cutting-edge technology that will define the future of food and agriculture. We are impressed with Arzeda's existing enzyme portfolio and its commercial potential, alongside Arzeda's pipeline of innovation and ability to partner with industry. This is a technology that makes the future bright."

To date, science has only scratched the surface of the benefits that enzymes could provide in our everyday lives. Enzymes are a key ingredient in food, consumer products, chemicals, materials, and pharmaceuticals. Arzeda's technology platform develops enzymes to replace ingredients with a high environmental footprint - optimizing naturally occurring enzymes and designing diverse, new versions of enzymes with unique benefits that would otherwise not have been possible.

"Through key partnerships with leading companies such as Unilever and BP, we have achieved significant milestones in developing our portfolio of products. We also have a robust pipeline of innovation," said Alexandre Zanghellini, Ph.D., CEO of Arzeda. "With this funding, we will move our existing portfolio towards commercialization and increase our technology platform's ability to further drive our mission of designing and manufacturing new proteins. This will improve health and sustainability and deliver vital innovation needed to support a more circular economy."

About Arzeda
Arzeda harnesses the power of computation to create and manufacture proteins that enhance our lives and protect our planet. In partnership with Fortune 500 companies and industrial leaders, we develop healthy and sustainable products for the food & nutrition, advanced materials, and diagnostics & pharma industries globally. Arzeda's proprietary protein design platform combines physics-based computational protein design, machine learning, and lab automation to expand the reach of biotechnology beyond the solutions that nature evolved. For more information, please visit www.arzeda.com.

Media contact: 
Atalanta Rafferty, RF|Binder
[email protected]
212-994-7511

SOURCE Arzeda