Manchester Spin-Out Imperagen Raises £5M to Revolutionise AI Enzyme Engineering
A University of Manchester techbio spin-out has closed a major funding round that could reshape how the world designs biological catalysts. Imperagen has secured £5 million ($6.7 million) in seed funding led by PXN Ventures, with participation from existing investors IQ Capital and Northern Gritstone.
The company was founded in 2021 by Manchester Institute of Biotechnology scientists Dr. Andrew Currin, Dr. Tim Eyes, and Dr. Andy Almond. Their goal is straightforward but ambitious: make AI enzyme engineering faster, cheaper, and far more reliable than the slow, trial-and-error methods that have long frustrated the industry.
Traditional enzyme development plagued by manual screening, high costs, and results that collapse under real industrial conditions. Imperagen’s platform directly attacks all three problems at once.
A Self-Improving Loop Built for Industry
The platform runs a continuous three-stage process. Quantum physics simulations first model millions of possible enzyme mutations. Automated robots then execute the lab experiments, and results feed straight back into the AI model, sharpening its next round of predictions. With each cycle, Imperagen’s AI enzyme engineering system becomes more precise and commercially potent.
The results are already turning heads. Work with a Fortune 500 personal care company delivered over 670x improvements in enzyme performance a figure that signals serious industrial credibility.
Guy Levy-Yurista, PhD, joins as the new CEO, bringing expertise across AI, life sciences, and enterprise technology. He told TechCrunch that even many modern AI tools fall short at industrial scale exactly the gap his company is closing.
The fresh £5 million will fund R&D expansion, new wet lab capabilities, and a go-to-market buildout over the next 18 months, bringing Imperagen’s total funding to £8.5 million.
Competitors including Biomatter, Cradle Bio, and Absci are also active in this space. But with quantum physics at its core and real-world results to show, Imperagen is staking a bold claim in the future of AI enzyme engineering and investors are clearly buying it.
