Lithuanian company Biomatter raises 6.5 million euros – Silicon Canals

Vilnius-based synthetic biology company Biomatter (formerly Biomatter Designs), which creates new proteins for applications in healthcare and sustainable manufacturing, has raised €6.5 million in seed funding.

The round was led by Inventure and UVC Partners. Existing investors, including Practica Capital and Metaplanet, as well as angel investors and industry experts, also participated in the round.

Dr. Oliver Schoppe, Director of UVC Partners, says: “AI-assisted protein design is one of the most exciting and dynamic areas for venture capital today. Biomatter’s innovative approach to enzyme design from scratch allows them to go beyond the boundaries of natural enzymes, leading to breakthroughs in biotechnology.”

“We are very impressed with the team’s work and confident that Biomatter is a pioneer in AI-driven protein design.”

Kevin Lösch, Chief Investment Officer at Inventure, adds: “The application of AI to protein design will be revolutionary and will address major current design limitations.”

“Early results from projects with global companies show that Biomatter’s technology is dramatically accelerating innovation in this transformative field, changing the way enzymes are implemented in existing and new structures. The team is rapidly expanding its platform to meet high customer demand.”

Capital utilization

These funds will help Biomatter improve its platform and develop new enzymes.

Laurynas Karpus, co-founder and CEO of Biomatter, says: “Enzymes will play a key role in the future of the bioeconomy – they are the building blocks that enable us to create new molecules, cells and organisms for the world.”

“The unique enzymes we have developed for our global partners to date demonstrate our ability to think far beyond the existing paradigm of enzyme improvement. At Biomatter, we believe that our limitless ability to design new enzymes will help build a better tomorrow for all.”

Creating proteins using intelligent architecture

According to Biomatter, the world’s growing population creates an urgent need for advances in medicine, sustainable chemical production, and efficient food production. Enzymes are key to these transformations, playing important roles in diagnostics, gene editing, biofuels, and agriculture.

However, designing new enzymes is difficult and often requires expensive, time-consuming trial-and-error methods using natural enzymes.

Biomatter says its technology provides a more efficient approach to enzyme design that overcomes these challenges and broadens potential applications.

In 2019, the company achieved a milestone by introducing the first fully functional enzymes created using generative AI. This achievement has since accelerated progress in synthetic biology, leading to new R&D initiatives around the world.

Now, Biomatter’s Intelligent Architecture platform enables the creation of new enzymes from scratch, overcoming the limitations of natural enzymes and expanding their potential applications. It can create tailored enzymes for a variety of industries, reducing development time from years to weeks.

Biomatter has already produced unique enzymes for companies such as Thermo Fisher Scientific, BASF and Neogen.

A key achievement is the collaboration with Kirin to efficiently produce human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) such as lacto-N-fucopentose I (LNFP I), which benefit infant health.

Briefly about the main investors

UVC Partners, based in Munich and Berlin, is an early-stage VC firm investing in European B2B technology startups from pre-seed to Series A. With assets of around €400 million, the firm typically initially invests between €500k and €10m, up to a maximum of €30m per company.

The company’s portfolio includes leaders in deep tech, climate technology, hardware, software and mobility. Partnering with UnternehmerTUM, the company has access to exclusive deal flow, an extensive corporate network and top European talent. Notable investments include Flix, Vimcar and Isar Aerospace.

Inventure is an early stage VC firm with offices in Helsinki and Stockholm, specializing in scaling startups from the Nordic and Baltic countries. Since 2005, Inventure has invested in over 90 companies from sectors such as deep tech and consumer internet, with assets under management of €377 million.

The company typically invests between €500,000 and €5 million in early-stage ventures. Notable investments include Wolt, Swappie, AiMotive, Canatu, Lassie, Stravito, and Medoma.