What Is EvoEnzyme?
EvoEnzyme is where deep science meets industrial innovation. Our company is a biotechnology spin-off from the prestigious Institute of Catalysis and Petrochemistry (CSIC) in Madrid, built on more than two decades of groundbreaking research led by Professor Miguel Alcalde. We serve as the bridge between the academic laboratory and real-world industrial challenges.
EvoEnzyme specializes in engineering custom enzymes for industries such as healthcare, green chemistry, and renewable energy. Using a powerful protein engineering technology known as Directed Evolution, we develop tailor-made biocatalysts that solve complex problems, making industrial processes more efficient and more sustainable.
Meet EvoEnzyme’s Team
The EvoEnzyme multidisciplinary team is made up of highly qualified professionals with strong expertise in Biotechnology, Biocatalysis, and Protein Engineering.
María Urbano, Co-Founder and CEO of EvoEnzyme, brings more than 15 years of experience in business development. Together with our administration and accounting specialist, she oversees the company’s financial management and strategic business growth.
Scientific leadership is provided by PhD researchers from the group of Professor Miguel Alcalde—EvoEnzyme’s co-founder and scientific advisor. They serve as Managers of the Grants, Quality & Product, and Industrial divisions, guiding the work of our research scientists and laboratory technician. Additionally, a dedicated PhD scientist supports project management to ensure smooth coordination and successful execution across all initiatives.
EvoEnzyme’s Vision & Goals
Vision Statement
With the demand for biotechnological solutions constantly on the rise, enzymes have become a crucial alternative for numerous industrial processes. At EvoEnzyme, we are acutely aware of the transformative potential of enzymes and are driven to harness their power, knowing their impact can create new paradigms for society. Therefore, EvoEnzyme’s vision is to be a global benchmark in the design of custom enzymes, establishing enzymatic biotechnology as a key solution to current challenges in the healthcare, pharmaceutical, chemical, and environmental sectors.
Mission Statement
EvoEnzyme’s mission is to deliver innovative solutions through our enzymes, which possess unique properties of specificity, stability, and activity. These enzymes could replace inefficient, costly, and environmentally harmful conventional chemical methods. Furthermore, they unlock new possibilities for groundbreaking developments by enabling novel synthesis pathways for products that are challenging or impossible to produce efficiently. This aids industries such as pharmaceuticals in drug discovery.
Goals and Aspirations
Goal 1: Technological and Resource Expansion
A primary objective for the company is to continue expanding our resources and technologies, with a special focus on cutting-edge computational methods. By integrating computational and AI-assisted techniques into our laboratory evolution processes, we aim to remain at the forefront of enzyme engineering.
Goal 2: Exploring New Applications
We are driven to explore new application fields, including the textile and cosmetic industries. The versatility of our technology allows us to design novel enzymes for a wide array of applications.
Goal 3: Uncompromised Quality and Growth
EvoEnzyme aspires to consistently provide a superior product and service. We are committed to pursuing growth without ever compromising on the quality and excellence that define our brand. Our customer relationships are a top priority, and we ensure continuous communication and feedback to find the best solutions for our clients.
Your Founding Story 🙂 Why Is Now the Time for Your Company to Exist and Prosper?
EvoEnzyme was born as a spin-off from the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), emerging from more than two decades of cutting-edge research in the laboratory of our co-founder and scientific advisor, Miguel Alcalde. Miguel trained in directed enzyme evolution during his postdoctoral work at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) under Professor Frances Arnold—awarded the 2018 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for pioneering this transformative technology.
When he returned to Spain in 2003, Miguel built his own research group with a clear ambition: to see his scientific discoveries evolve into real-world solutions capable of driving greener, more efficient industrial processes. That vision became tangible with the creation of EvoEnzyme, founded together with students from his laboratory (Javier Viña, current Grant Manager of the company) along with an expert in business development, marketing, and management, María Urbano (EvoEnzyme´s CEO). Her expertise provided the strategic foundation needed to bring deep science to the market and guide the company’s growth.
Today, EvoEnzyme exists at the perfect moment: industries around the world are urgently shifting toward sustainability, demanding cleaner technologies, renewable processes, and high-performance biocatalysts. With Directed Evolution at our core, we are uniquely positioned to deliver the enzymes that will power the next generation of sustainable industrial innovation.
Why is now the time for EvoEnzyme to exist and prosper?
The time for EvoEnzyme is now because global demand for sustainability is at a critical inflection point. Industries are under immense pressure to shift from polluting processes, driven by consumer choice and regulatory needs.
EvoEnzyme provides the solution: custom-designed enzymes enabling cleaner, more efficient industrial manufacturing, significantly reducing carbon footprints. We’re not just creating enzymes, we’re engineering a more sustainable future.
EvoEnzyme’s Products/Services
At EvoEnzyme, we combine cutting-edge experimental and computational technologies to create customized biocatalysts that drive greener, more efficient, and more sustainable processes across the pharmaceutical, healthcare, and chemical industries. Our offerings are designed to solve complex industrial challenges by providing high-performance enzymes and scalable bioprocesses.
· Tailor-Made Research Projects
We design and develop novel or improved enzymes fully adapted to the specific needs of each client’s project. Through Directed Evolution and advanced enzyme-engineering tools, we deliver biocatalysts that enhance efficiency, selectivity, and sustainability in industrial workflows.
· Unique Repertoire of Evolved Enzymes
We offer a diverse portfolio of proprietary evolved enzymes, including: UPOs (Unspecific Peroxygenases), Laccases, Cutinases, Versatile Peroxidases and Aryl Alcohol Oxidases.
These enzymes provide powerful solutions for oxidation, degradation, polymer modification, and a wide array of biotransformations critical to modern industry.
What’s Most Exciting About Your Traction to Date?
The most thrilling part is our real-world impact. Through our patented directed evolution technology, we have secured contracts for complex tasks like the enzymatic degradation of plastics and are key partners in European projects driving the circular economy.
A key milestone is our leadership in the European project WOUNDSENS, where we are engineering enzymes to create a new generation of smart wound dressings for continuous monitoring. This initiative exemplifies our goal: to apply our advanced technology to solve significant health challenges and improve patient quality of life through innovative, real-world solutions.
It’s incredibly exciting to see our pioneering work validated through numerous prestigious awards and recognitions. Among these, being named a Top 100 Startup by APTE and winning the HealthStart prize.
Please Share a Bit About Your Financials. Do You Have Any Investment or Revenue Data You’d Like to Publish?
Our financial strategy is built on a robust dual business model, focusing on commercializing our enzymes and developing R&D products and services.
EvoEnzyme has a proven direct sales capacity, delivering our advanced enzymes and kits to diverse industrial clients across Europe, Asia, and the US. So far, EvoEnzyme has been more focused on the health and drug development sectors, serving major pharmaceutical companies USA, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, and France. We also have a strong presence in the chemical and environmental industries, collaborating with partners like Repsol on plastic degradation projects.
To boost our research, we have also secured 14 competitive public funding grants, including 7 at the European level, which complements our sales revenue.
About EvoEnzyme’s Community
We invite you to connect with the EvoEnzyme team and follow our journey. Stay updated on our latest projects, breakthroughs, and company news through our official channels.
· Website: https://evoenzyme.com/
· Twitter: https://twitter.com/evoenzyme
· LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/evoenzyme/
· YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@evoenzyme6950
For direct inquiries, you can reach out to us via email at [email protected] or through the contact form on our website.
The Future of EvoEnzyme
EvoEnzyme’s future is dedicated to pioneering solutions for major environmental and societal challenges through cutting-edge biotechnology.
A key element of our future strategy is global expansion. Currently, we engage with clients in Europe, USA, China, and India, but we are eager to broaden our international customer base.
We are seeking to forge collaborations with distribution partners to extend the global reach of our innovative enzyme-based solutions. Furthermore, for product development, we aim to collaborate with partners who possess expertise in upscaling production.
Also, we would like to integrate into key sectors such as textile, and cosmetics by incorporating our enzymes into their manufacturing processes and develop innovative solutions.
A priority is our active participation in R&D projects, as we are committed to improving the environment and advancing societal health and well-being. We will continue to pioneer healthcare solutions, such as the enzymatic biosensors within our WoundSens smart bandage. We believe that integrating these advanced biosensing technologies with artificial intelligence (AI) will unlock countless possibilities, driving significant advancements in telemedicine and personalized medicine, and EvoEnzyme aims to be at the forefront of this change.
