Biomatter, a Lithuania-based biotechnology company, has raised $18 million in an oversubscribed Series A funding round to expand its artificial intelligence (AI)-powered enzyme design technology. The funding will help the company increase its research capabilities, expand its presence in the United States and develop new enzymes for pharmaceutical, industrial and biotechnology applications.
The funding round was led by Astanor, with participation from existing investors UVC Partners, Inventure and Metaplanet.
Founded in 2018, Biomatter develops custom enzymes using AI and computational biology. Its technology is designed to create enzymes for specific industrial and biological processes, including reactions that naturally occurring enzymes cannot easily perform.
The company plans to use the new investment to establish a 2,000-square-metre design and testing facility in Vilnius, Lithuania, which is expected to open in 2027. The facility will bring more research, enzyme design and laboratory testing activities under one roof.
Biomatter expects the new facility to significantly shorten development timelines. While conventional enzyme development can take months or even years, the company aims to reduce its design and testing cycles from weeks to just days.
Part of the funding will also support the expansion of its commercial team and US operations. Around half of Biomatter’s customers are based in the United States. The company will continue investing in its AI platform and proprietary enzyme data.
AI Technology Creates New Enzyme Possibilities
Enzymes are proteins that speed up chemical reactions and play an important role in pharmaceutical manufacturing, food production, agriculture and industrial biotechnology.
Traditionally, enzyme development involves modifying naturally occurring enzymes to improve their performance for specific applications. This process can require extensive laboratory testing and multiple rounds of optimisation.
Biomatter takes a different approach by designing enzymes based on the chemical reaction required by a customer rather than starting with an existing natural enzyme.
Its AI-powered platform uses computational models and proprietary experimental data to design new enzyme structures and predict how they will perform. Each enzyme design is then tested in the laboratory before being delivered to customers.
One example of its technology is an enzyme developed for mRNA vaccine manufacturing. The company designed a methylase that can perform its function without S-adenosyl methionine (SAM), an expensive chemical compound normally required by naturally occurring methylases.
Working with Global Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology Companies
Biomatter has delivered more than 50 custom enzymes to over 25 enterprise customers across Europe, the United States and Japan.
Its customers include AstraZeneca, BASF, Kirin Holdings, Neogen, Sanofi and Tereos, with applications spanning biopharmaceuticals, diagnostics, agriculture and industrial biotechnology.
The company’s technology is also being used in products from Thermo Fisher Scientific. Biomatter collaborated to improve the oxidation resistance of Invitrogen SuperScript V Reverse Transcriptase, an enzyme used to convert RNA into DNA in molecular biology research and mRNA applications.
The improvement supports greater reagent stability, including ambient shipping and room-temperature storage for up to six months.
Laurynas Karpus, CEO and Co-Founder of Biomatter, said the funding would help the company design enzymes on a larger scale and bring customised solutions into customers’ products faster.
Harry Briggs, Partner at Astanor, highlighted the potential of AI-designed enzymes to improve food production and biomanufacturing. He noted that Biomatter’s ability to develop enzymes beyond what naturally occurs could open new opportunities across several industries.
Strengthening the Future of Enzyme Engineering
The latest funding marks an important step in Biomatter’s efforts to expand AI-driven enzyme engineering beyond research laboratories and into commercial applications.
By combining computational design, proprietary biological data and laboratory testing, the company aims to make customised enzymes more accessible to pharmaceutical and industrial manufacturers.
As demand grows for more efficient and sustainable manufacturing processes, AI-designed enzymes could play an increasingly important role in drug production, diagnostics, agriculture and other biotechnology applications.