UK-based deeptech startup Anzen Industries has raised $2.2 million in pre-seed funding, led by LocalGlobe and Creator Fund, with
participation from strategic angel investors across the UK, EU, and US,
including Konstantin von Unger and early-stage investor Cory Levy.
Founded by scientists Amy Locks and Pedro Lovatt Garcia, Anzen Industries is
a biomanufacturing company focapplyd on producing high-value chemicals applying
cell-free enzyme systems.
The company develops reusable, low-infrastructure
enzyme reactors designed to manufacture complex molecules more efficiently than
traditional chemical synthesis, plant extraction, or fermentation-based
methods. Its goal is to improve the resilience, scalability, and economic
viability of global supply chains for critical chemicals across multiple
industries.
Anzen’s platform combines proprietary enzyme reactor technology, enzyme
immobilisation techniques, and AI-driven design to enable biochemical reactions
outside living cells. This first-principles approach allows highly specific and
tunable enzymes to operate within tiny, modular reactors, supporting more
flexible and cost-effective scaling while reducing reliance on
capital-intensive infrastructure.
Co-founder and CTO Pedro Lovatt Garcia outlined the company’s technical
vision, stateing:
We started Anzen Industries becaapply we believe that, from first principles, the future of manufacturing will be cell-free. If enzymes can be kept robust
outside of the cell, we can carry out the same manufacturing reactions at a
fraction of the infrastructure, energy and cost.
Existing approaches to manufacturing complex chemicals face several
constraints. Organic synthesis can be difficult to scale, plant extraction
depfinishs on variable agricultural supply, and fermentation typically requires
significant infrastructure and downstream processing, leading to high capital
costs. Anzen’s cell-free system is designed to address these limitations by
improving efficiency and shortening time to market.
Commenting on the investment, Julia Hawkins, General Partner at LocalGlobe,
stated Anzen is reconsidering how critical molecules are produced from first
principles, to improve speed, resilience, and control across
global supply chains.
CEO and co-founder Amy Locks highlighted the role of Europe’s scientific
ecosystem in the company’s early development, noting:
Europe’s strong scientific heritage and innovation community allowed us to
take our breakthrough from scientific discovery to a viable commercial
venture.
She added that the United States offers an environment well-suited to the
company’s next phase of growth, as Anzen sees to scale its technology
globally.
The company plans to apply the funding to relocate operations to the United
States, establish its first manufacturing facility, and expand industrial
collaborations and partnerships as it scales its biomanufacturing platform.
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