The future of chemical manufacturing may depend less on traditional industrial chemistry and more on biology. As industries face increasing pressure to reduce emissions, improve efficiency, and strengthen supply chain resilience, enzymes are emerging as powerful tools capable of transforming how chemicals and pharmaceutical ingredients are produced. However, one major obstacle remains, many industrially important chemical reactions still lack suitable biocatalysts. Swiss biotech startup hephaistos.bio is tackling this challenge by designing custom enzymes tailored to specific manufacturing processes, and the company has now secured new funding to accelerate its mission.
hephaistos.bio has received €161,000 in funding through Venture Kick to further develop its enzyme engineering platform and expand industrial collaborations.
The investment will support the company’s efforts to create custom protein catalysts for pharmaceutical and chemical manufacturers seeking more sustainable production methods.
Addressing a Major Manufacturing Challenge
Chemical production remains one of the world’s most resource intensive industries.
Many manufacturing processes rely on high temperatures, large amounts of energy, complex supply chains, and chemical inputs that contribute significantly to environmental impact.
While enzymes have long been recognised as an attractive alternative due to their ability to accelerate reactions under milder conditions, suitable enzymes are not available for many commercially important industrial processes.
This limitation is particularly significant in pharmaceutical manufacturing, where complex chemical reactions often require expensive and resource intensive production methods.
hephaistos.bio aims to bridge this gap by creating custom designed enzymes specifically tailored to challenging industrial applications.
Combining Biology and Artificial Intelligence
The company’s technology integrates computational biology, chemistry, machine learning, and structural biology into a single enzyme design platform.
Rather than searching for naturally occurring enzymes that might perform a desired reaction, hephaistos.bio designs biocatalysts specifically for industrial needs.
Its platform is capable of developing protein catalysts for chemical transformations that are difficult or impossible to perform efficiently using existing solutions.
By engineering enzymes from the ground up, the company aims to help manufacturers simplify production processes while reducing environmental impact and operational costs.
Building a New Generation of Biocatalysts
Founded by Lukas Radtke, Lucas Merlicek, Jannik Neumann, Moritz Ullhofen, and Ilya Schneider, the company brings together expertise from chemistry, biotechnology, machine learning, and industrial manufacturing.
The founding team believes custom enzyme design can unlock new possibilities for sustainable production while helping manufacturers remain competitive in an increasingly challenging global market.
Their approach focuses not only on improving efficiency but also on enabling entirely new pathways for chemical synthesis.
Early Industrial Validation
The startup has already begun demonstrating the practical value of its technology through an industrial pilot project with SpiroChem.
This collaboration provides an opportunity to validate the platform in real world manufacturing environments and showcase how tailored enzymes can improve industrial processes.
The company views these early projects as important steps toward broader commercial adoption across pharmaceutical and fine chemical markets.
Supporting European Manufacturing Resilience
Beyond sustainability, hephaistos.bio sees custom enzyme design as a way to strengthen manufacturing resilience and support the reshoring of production to Europe.
By making chemical processes more efficient and economically competitive, the company believes manufacturers can reduce dependence on fragile global supply chains while increasing local production capacity.
The newly secured funding will help advance the company’s enzyme design platform while supporting new partnerships with industrial customers seeking greener and more cost effective manufacturing solutions.
As biotechnology, artificial intelligence, and computational design continue to converge, hephaistos.bio is positioning itself at the forefront of a growing movement to replace traditional industrial chemistry with smarter, more sustainable biological alternatives.
