Seattle protein design company Arzeda raises $33 million Series B
SEATTLE, WA - March 30, 2022
Seattle-based protein design company Arzeda has raised a $33 million Series B round.
The round, announced Wednesday, will go toward advancing the company’s products and helping its products reach the market, the company said in a release. According to Arzeda, the company is already “working with a number of global players” making items like better detergents and sustainable food ingredients.
“Through key partnerships with leading companies such as Unilever and BP, we have achieved significant milestones in developing our portfolio of products,” Alexandre Zanghellini, CEO of Arzeda, said in a news release. “With this funding, we will move our existing portfolio towards commercialization and increase our technology platform’s ability to further drive our mission of designing and manufacturing new proteins.”
Arzeda has seven open roles listed on its website, including roles in engineering, testing and research.
Arzeda was founded in 2008. The company designs proteins that don’t exist in nature, and its technology has applications in agriculture, chemicals and pharmaceuticals, according to Arzeda. The company raised a $15.2 million Series A round in 2017, at which time Arzeda said it had already developed proteins for DuPont and Mitsubishi Chemical.
Conti Ventures led the Series B round, while Lewis & Clark Agrifood, Bunge Ventures, Circulate Capital, OS Fund, Casdin Capital, UMI and Bioeconomy Capital all participated. Conti Ventures’ portfolio includes the plant-based meat company Impossible Foods and the lab-grown meat company Upside Foods, formerly Memphis Meats.
“We see tremendous opportunity to leverage Arzeda’s leading technology, which combines biology with cloud computing and AI, to bring impactful novel enzymes to market across a number of industries,” Brian Loeb from Conti Ventures said in a news release. “At Conti Ventures we are looking to drive forward cutting-edge technology that will define the future of food and agriculture. We are impressed with Arzeda’s existing enzyme portfolio and its commercial potential.”