Biotech startup Imperagen has raised £5 million in seed funding to advance its computational enzyme engineering platform.
The round was led by PXN Ventures, with participation from IQ Capital and Northern Gritstone. The company was founded in 2021 as a spin-out from the Manchester Institute of Biotechnology by Dr Andrew Currin, Dr Tim Eyes, and Dr Andy Almond, and is focused on transforming how enzymes are designed and optimised for industrial use.
What The Company Does
Imperagen is developing a technology platform that aims to significantly speed up and reduce the cost of enzyme engineering by replacing traditional experimental iteration with a hybrid computational approach.
Instead of relying primarily on lab-based trial-and-error mutation cycles, the company uses physics-informed simulations to model enzyme behaviour in silico. These simulations are designed to explore large mutation spaces computationally, enabling the evaluation of potential enzyme variants before physical testing.
The outputs of these simulations are then fed into proprietary AI models trained specifically on enzyme design problems. This is combined with automated laboratory systems that generate experimental validation data, creating a closed feedback loop between simulation, machine learning, and physical experimentation.
The goal is to improve the efficiency and accuracy of enzyme discovery and optimisation while reducing the time required to reach commercially viable candidates.
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Market Context / Industry Background
Enzymes play a foundational role across multiple industries, particularly in pharmaceuticals, where they are essential to drug development and biocatalysis processes. They are also widely used in food production, agriculture, and bio-based manufacturing, where they can help reduce reliance on traditional chemical processes.
However, conventional enzyme engineering remains slow and resource-intensive, often requiring multiple rounds of laboratory testing and optimisation. Even with the introduction of AI-based tools, many approaches struggle to maintain performance when scaled to real industrial environments.
As demand grows for more sustainable and efficient production methods, enzyme engineering has become a key area of interest for both biotech startups and industrial players looking to reduce environmental impact while improving production efficiency.
In parallel, advances in computational biology and machine learning are enabling researchers to simulate enzyme behaviour more accurately, significantly reducing development timelines. This shift is also encouraging greater collaboration between academic institutions and private biotech companies seeking to accelerate innovation pipelines and bring new enzyme-based solutions to market faster.
Founder / Investor Commentary
Imperagen has recently appointed Guy Levy-Yurista as CEO to support its next stage of development, while the founding team continues to focus on core scientific and technological work.
He said current approaches in enzyme engineering are not yet meeting industrial requirements, particularly when it comes to scaling AI-driven results beyond controlled environments.
Levy-Yurista described the company’s objective as building a more reliable pathway from computational design to real-world industrial application, where enzyme development can be validated more consistently and brought to market with fewer delays and uncertainties.
He also highlighted the importance of integrating AI systems with physical experimentation and automation to ensure that models remain grounded in real-world biological performance.
Growth Plans / Use Of Funds
The new funding will be used to expand Imperagen’s engineering and AI research teams, strengthen its laboratory automation capabilities, and accelerate development of its computational enzyme design platform.
The company also plans to invest in building out its commercial strategy and industry partnerships over the next two years, with a focus on scaling adoption in sectors such as pharmaceuticals and industrial biomanufacturing.
To date, Imperagen has raised approximately £8.5 million in total funding.
About Imperagen
Imperagen is a UK biotechnology company developing AI- and physics-driven tools for enzyme engineering. Founded in 2021 as a spin-out from the Manchester Institute of Biotechnology, the company focuses on improving biocatalysis by combining computational modelling, machine learning, and automated laboratory systems to accelerate the design of enzymes for industrial and scientific applications.
