Imperagen, a Manchester-based startup using AI and quantum physics to engineer better enzymes faster, has raised £5 million in a seed round led by PXN Ventures, with participation from existing investors IQ Capital and Northern Gritstone.
The raise brings Imperagen's total funding to £8.5 million and will support research and development, expansion of wet lab capabilities, and growth of its go-to-market function over the next 18 months. Guy Levy-Yurista has also joined as CEO alongside the funding round.
Enzymes are used across pharmaceutical manufacturing, personal care and sustainable chemical production to reduce waste, lower energy usage and cut production costs. Traditional enzyme engineering relies on manual screening methods that are slow, expensive and produce low hit rates, while zero-shot approaches often fail in real-world conditions.
Imperagen’s platform combines quantum physics simulations, problem-specific AI models and automated robotics in a closed-loop system. Quantum physics models generate datasets of predicted enzyme mutations, which are used to train AI models calibrated to specific engineering problems. Automated robotics then test the strongest predictions in the lab, with experimental results feeding back into the AI models to improve future iterations.
The feedback loop allows the system to become more targeted with each round of testing. In one project with a Fortune 500 personal care company, Imperagen improved the productivity of two enzymes by 677x and 572x respectively across five rounds of optimisation.
Funding will also be used to scale wet lab operations, grow Imperagen’s in-house AI team and expand commercial activity across pharmaceuticals, life sciences, personal care, sustainable fine chemicals and industrial biotech.
What I see right now is that the companies that will make a radical difference in this emerging AI-driven future are all AI-native, lean on real world data, have genuine impact, and are fundamentally deep tech. Imperagen has each of those characteristics, combining them with outstanding people, phenomenal technology and the undeniable swagger you only get from Manchester. It was a no-brainer to join the team and lead this next stage in its growth.
The North West’s life sciences ecosystem is becoming stronger all the time and stands to gain from Imperagen’s local hiring and growth plans, building on the company’s connection to the University of Manchester's Manchester Institute of Biotechnology. We’re excited to be supporting Imperagen with investment from both the GMC Life Sciences Fund and our NPIF II fund, as the company looks to scale success in enzyme engineering and deliver progress within the life sciences sector, which is one of the key sectors highlighted in the UK Government’s Modern Industrial Strategy.
