Israel’s Enzymit, a 2024 World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer, is developing a cell-free bio production technology that aims to transform global manufacturing by converting any feedstock into any product.
“Our mission is to empower localized, resilient product systems to mitigate climate change and revolutionize manufacturing globally,” says Co-founder and CEO Gideon Lapidoth.
Traditional chemical manufacturing contributes 25% of global C02 emissions, wastes resources and strains supply chains. Bio-manufacturing is an attractive greener alternative but today bio-production relies primarily on fermentation, which entails significant complexities, lengthy development time, and high capital costs, says Lapidoth. As a result, today’s fermentation processes are not able to produce commodity chemicals that are cost competitive. “The reason it is so hard is that natural enzymes are not optimized for industrial reactions and they are not stable,” he says.
Enzymit leverages computational design and deep learning to engineer enzymes that outperform their natural counterparts—delivering improved expression and thermal stability, both critical for cost efficiency, and eliminating the need for expensive cofactors, external molecules that many enzymes require to function, which add complexity and cost to industrial-scale production. “Now we have a path forward,” says Lapidoth.
The startup, which was founded in 2020 by experts in computational protein design, bioengineering, and molecular biology, is modifying existing enzymes to work with new molecules under a variety of different conditions. They have achieved this through the development of a number of new proprietary AI-based tools: CoSaNN (Conformation Sampling using Neural Network), SolvIT and ThermIT. Combined, the company says the tools enable the creation of new enzymes with significantly higher thermal stability and superior expression levels compared to alternative methods.
Enzymit’s bio-production method is 10x more energy efficient than fermentation and 100x less water is required for production, says Lapidoth. It also offers 50% to 70% lower CAPEX compared to traditional methods, up to 10x faster production cycles, from input to output and 100% yield conversion,” Lapidoth says.
Enzymit is leveraging this breakthrough to target carbon molecules that are foundational in products used in everyday life: hydrocarbons (food, cosmetics and energy) and carbohydrates (materials, pharma and food). Specialty biochemicals is its first target market. These include hyaluronic acid which provides long-lasting hydration and reduces skin wrinkles and lines; lipids and oils used in beauty, personal care and food manufacturing; human milk oligosaccharine, which boosts the immune system and protects infants against microbial infections and heparin which presents blood clots in patients undergoing surgery.
The company, which has raised $15 million, has already announced its success in synthetically producing hyaluronic acid (HA) for use in a range of cosmetic, aesthetic, and therapeutic applications. HA is a $15 billion market, with high demand from companies such as L’Oreal and Estee Lauder, who are looking to reduce reliance on Chinese sourcing, according to Enzymit. “Most of that market is dominated by a single company in China,” says Lapidoth. “What we are offering to Western companies with our technology is a higher grade HA at a lower cost. It is very disruptive.”
Enzymit is currently collaborating with several global partners to validate its synthetic hyaluronic acid (HA) in cosmetic and medical applications. The company is in the process of scaling up production through a pilot facility, with initial commercial supply anticipated in the near future.
Longer term the company is looking to transform synthetic ethanol to produce a variety of high-value chemicals, such as sustainable aviation fuels, specialty polymers, food-grade products. and high-value chemicals.
One of the big advantages of cell-free bio manufacturing is that enables near shoring at a time when supply chains are becoming more unpredictable due to geopolitics, says Lapidoth.
It also supports food security. Cell-free bio manufacturing promises to help countries establish sustainable and independent food production systems, even in desert climates, he says. By eliminating the need for large-scale fermentation infrastructure, which is costly, slow, and difficult to distribute, Enzymit’s platform enables local, modular production of essential molecules, reducing supply chain risk and supporting sustainability in water and energy scarce regions.”
The company says a single 100L bioreactor powered by Enzymit could replace the annual yield of a 100 acre field, with 10x less energy use and 1000x less water use. ‘
Enzymit is one of a number of young companies working to bring about what a February 2025 OECD report on synthetic biology predicts will be transformative change in distributed manufacturing, human health, food security and soil regeneration, and emissions reductions. Others include the U.S.’s Solugen, which is also using AI to engineer enzymes to create greener chemicals as well as Debut Bio, Enginzyme, Zymtronix and eXoZymes.
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