Evoralis

About Evoralis

Evoralis is a biotechnology company founded in 2021 as a spin-out from the University of Cambridge Hollfelder Lab. The founders, postdoctoral researchers Josephin Holstein (CTO), Mariana Rangel Pereira (CSO), and Tomasz Kaminski, shared a vision to apply their research in directed evolution to tackle the environmental challenge of plastic waste. They were later joined by Daniel Kaute, who serves as the company's CEO, bringing commercialization and business experience to the team.

The company specializes in discovering and developing plastic-depolymerizing enzymes to facilitate a circular economy for plastics, with an initial focus on the textile industry. Evoralis addresses the critical issue of recycling mixed and blended fibers, which are notoriously difficult to process with current methods. Its technology aims to offer a viable recycling solution for over 80% of textiles, including those made of polyester (PET), nylon (PA), and polyurethane (PUR).

The core of Evoralis's technology is a proprietary, patent-pending ultrahigh-throughput microfluidic screening platform. This platform can test millions of enzyme variants per day directly on real plastic particles, accelerating the enzyme discovery and optimization process by up to 1,000 times compared to traditional methods. This allows the company to develop robust biocatalysts that can selectively break down complex polymers into their constituent building blocks, or monomers. These monomers can then be recovered and re-polymerized to create virgin-quality materials, enabling a closed-loop recycling process.

Evoralis operates with a capital-light business model, focusing on enzyme sales and licensing its bioprocess know-how to partners. The company serves an international client base that includes fashion retailers, the automotive industry, packaging companies, plastic recyclers, and waste management firms. It has already attracted the interest of major fashion retailers for developing enzymes to recycle challenging materials like nylon and polyurethane.

In September 2024, Evoralis announced it had secured £2.5 million in a Seed funding round led by LIFTT S.p.A., with co-investment from Cambridge Enterprise Ventures, Parkwalk Advisors, Backbone Ventures, Circular Plastics Accelerator, and Archipelago Ventures, among others. This funding is intended to scale operations, expand research capabilities, and further develop its enzyme technology.