hephaistos.bio raises CHF 150,000 from Venture Kick to bring tailor-made enzymes to resilient and sustainable chemical manufacturing

The biotech startup hephaistos.bio has obtained CHF 150,000 from Venture Kick to help manufacturers replace complex and energy-intensive chemical processes with more resilient and sustainable production methods. Combining computational biology, chemistry, and machine learning, the ETH-born venture develops custom protein catalysts tailored to industrial reactions that are currently difficult to perform efficiently.

Traditional chemical manufacturing relies on energy- and resource-intensive processes that create significant environmental impact and dependencies on vulnerable supply chains. Using enzymes instead can simplify production, reduce manufacturing costs by up to 30%, and cut CO2 emissions by up to 50%. However, suitable enzymes do not yet exist for many industrial reactions, particularly in pharmaceutical manufacturing.

‍hephaistos.bio addresses this challenge by designing custom enzymes using computational tools, machine learning, and structural biology. Its end-to-end enzyme design pipeline creates custom biocatalysts for chemical reactions that are difficult or impossible to perform efficiently with existing solutions. The approach simplifies pharmaceutical and fine chemical manufacturing while making it more resilient, sustainable, and cost-effective.

The startup is already demonstrating its potential through an industrial pilot project with the Swiss-based contract research organization SpiroChem. Building on this early commercial traction, hephaistos.bio aims to help pharmaceutical and fine chemical manufacturers reshore production to Europe by enabling more cost-competitive and sustainable manufacturing processes using custom enzymes.

The CHF 150,000 from Venture Kick will support follow-up industrial enzyme design campaigns, finance the expansion of laboratory automation, and enable the company’s first hires.

The team, formed by CEO Lukas Radtke, CTO Lucas Merlicek, Head of Operations Jannik Neumann, Head of Lab Moritz Ullhofen, and Head of Business Development Ilya Schneider, combines expertise in chemistry, biotechnology, machine learning, and industrial applications to develop custom enzyme solutions for more sustainable manufacturing processes.

‍“Venture Kick is a catalyst for industrial innovation,” highlights CEO Lukas Radtke. “The support and funding pushed us to transition from being a research project towards a business, providing the momentum required to deploy our custom enzymes where traditional chemistry has failed for years.”

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