James, excellent update and hopefully about happen. Deal announcements/etc. should light this one up and start the improvement in valuation that this company deserves. Keep up the good work you're going in this one. Rodney
James, thanks for all your work on $EXOZ! I find the technology quite fascinating, as a non-scientist. I asked Claude if there were any competitors working on cell-free synbio, and it pointed me to Debut Bioscience: https://www.debutbiotech.com/
They are privately held, and focused on an end-to-end manufacturing solution for the beauty industry, but the tech may have some parallels. It was spun out of Greg Weiss's lab at UC Irvine - is that where Tyler did his PhD? - and has funding from L'Oréal. Seems like a case of VC capital making people narrow their platform potential down a great deal... But I'm curious if you also came across them in your research, and have any sense of how the technology may overlap?
Thanks Peter! Hope my reports helped break down the complexities.
So ‘Cell-free’ enzymatic systems aren’t new, they’ve been used for decades. For example laundry detergents use a single enzymatic step to break down proteins, fats, etc in our clothes. Some companies can string 5 biocatalysis steps together however beyond that most platforms start failing.
Debut is slightly different in that substrates flow from one enzyme bioreactor to another. Each bioreactor is fine tuned to that enzymes optimal pH, temperature, solvent and synthesis time. So this means you need a dedicated bioreactor for every step, which adds complexity and scale-up costs compared to eXoZymes single bioreactor solution. Interestingly, in 2020 Debut was claiming its platform could produce APIs however its since shifted focus to the less complex cosmetics and natural-ingridents markets. There is also little detail on how extensively Debut engineers its enzymes to enhance stability, activity, selectivity etc. which improves production purity, yields and titers. This is precisely where eXoZymes excels, with its AI-driven enzyme optimisations and why they achieved 99% purity at 96% yield on the production of NCT.
What sets eXoZymes apart is the company's capability to link 30+ sequences together (when necessary) all within a single bioreactor. They have developed proprietary support frameworks (cofactor recycling, reagent replenishment, enzyme stabilisation etc) that ensure enzymes stay active outside cells over more steps. It took Tyler and Paul over a decade to develop, and now eXoZymes holds the core patents as well as trade-secret creating a challenging barrier of entry for competitors.
Because of these longer sequences and enzyme engineering capabilities, eXoZymes can synthesise more complex molecules enabling the production of APIs and nutraceuticals. In principle, the platform can make any known or even new-to-nature compound, but commercially the company is initially focusing on extremely high value targets like NCT.
Other companies claiming to use 'cell-free' enzymes:
- Cascade Bio: Wraps enzymes in custom engineered 'body armor' to improve their stability in bioreactor conditions (pH, temperature, solvent etc)
- FabricNano: Sticks enzymes onto DNA 'wafers' so that each enzyme stays exactly where it needs to be in the biocatalysis process. This keeps them stable and reusable for multiple reaction runs.
Really, everytime I say enzymes in the context of eXoZymes, I should be using the word Exozymes and instead of platform, I should use the work Exozyme System
Thank you so much for this detailed and convincing reply! Slack Capital is clearly a long way from bring replaced by AI:-) If I can overcome my Discord-phobia, I'll join you in the chat there!
Hahaha thanks mate! Honestly having a blast devouring all things EXOZ, so I enjoy sharing!
For sure! We're slowly building up the crowd there and I've been posting additional extensive notes so well worth joining. If not, always welcome to shoot me a message
James, excellent update and hopefully about happen. Deal announcements/etc. should light this one up and start the improvement in valuation that this company deserves. Keep up the good work you're going in this one. Rodney
Thanks Rodney! Looking forward to the Q3 Investor Call this Thursday.
Are you on the eXoZymes Discord group?
James, thanks for all your work on $EXOZ! I find the technology quite fascinating, as a non-scientist. I asked Claude if there were any competitors working on cell-free synbio, and it pointed me to Debut Bioscience: https://www.debutbiotech.com/
They are privately held, and focused on an end-to-end manufacturing solution for the beauty industry, but the tech may have some parallels. It was spun out of Greg Weiss's lab at UC Irvine - is that where Tyler did his PhD? - and has funding from L'Oréal. Seems like a case of VC capital making people narrow their platform potential down a great deal... But I'm curious if you also came across them in your research, and have any sense of how the technology may overlap?
I also created a eXoZymes investor discord so feel free to join!
https://discord.gg/4rW3n6eSfC
Thanks Peter! Hope my reports helped break down the complexities.
So ‘Cell-free’ enzymatic systems aren’t new, they’ve been used for decades. For example laundry detergents use a single enzymatic step to break down proteins, fats, etc in our clothes. Some companies can string 5 biocatalysis steps together however beyond that most platforms start failing.
Debut is slightly different in that substrates flow from one enzyme bioreactor to another. Each bioreactor is fine tuned to that enzymes optimal pH, temperature, solvent and synthesis time. So this means you need a dedicated bioreactor for every step, which adds complexity and scale-up costs compared to eXoZymes single bioreactor solution. Interestingly, in 2020 Debut was claiming its platform could produce APIs however its since shifted focus to the less complex cosmetics and natural-ingridents markets. There is also little detail on how extensively Debut engineers its enzymes to enhance stability, activity, selectivity etc. which improves production purity, yields and titers. This is precisely where eXoZymes excels, with its AI-driven enzyme optimisations and why they achieved 99% purity at 96% yield on the production of NCT.
What sets eXoZymes apart is the company's capability to link 30+ sequences together (when necessary) all within a single bioreactor. They have developed proprietary support frameworks (cofactor recycling, reagent replenishment, enzyme stabilisation etc) that ensure enzymes stay active outside cells over more steps. It took Tyler and Paul over a decade to develop, and now eXoZymes holds the core patents as well as trade-secret creating a challenging barrier of entry for competitors.
Because of these longer sequences and enzyme engineering capabilities, eXoZymes can synthesise more complex molecules enabling the production of APIs and nutraceuticals. In principle, the platform can make any known or even new-to-nature compound, but commercially the company is initially focusing on extremely high value targets like NCT.
Other companies claiming to use 'cell-free' enzymes:
- Cascade Bio: Wraps enzymes in custom engineered 'body armor' to improve their stability in bioreactor conditions (pH, temperature, solvent etc)
- FabricNano: Sticks enzymes onto DNA 'wafers' so that each enzyme stays exactly where it needs to be in the biocatalysis process. This keeps them stable and reusable for multiple reaction runs.
So really, the above illustrates just how loosely the term “cell-free” is being used today. That’s why eXoZymes published a GEN Biotechnology cover story to help define the exact cell-free biomanufacturing space the companies operates in: https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/genbio.2025.0008?utm_campaign=11873920-GEN%20Biotech%20Cover%20Story%202025&utm_source=GLOBENEWSWIRE&utm_medium=PR
Really, everytime I say enzymes in the context of eXoZymes, I should be using the word Exozymes and instead of platform, I should use the work Exozyme System
Thank you so much for this detailed and convincing reply! Slack Capital is clearly a long way from bring replaced by AI:-) If I can overcome my Discord-phobia, I'll join you in the chat there!
Hahaha thanks mate! Honestly having a blast devouring all things EXOZ, so I enjoy sharing!
For sure! We're slowly building up the crowd there and I've been posting additional extensive notes so well worth joining. If not, always welcome to shoot me a message