Our story

Pioneers in industrial enzymes
For Lignocellulosic Biomass

MetGen was founded in 2008 on the core competence of genetic engineering and synthetic biology.

Since then we have been awarded several times for excellence in this field. We have been recognized because we work hard every day for something that matters. Trophies aside, we have been on a mission:

Empowered industries to get the most out of biomass

To fulfill our purpose, we had to create a robust technology platform to serve our target markets at an industrial scale. While MetGen is deeply rooted in science it is a market-driven company that works hard to understand and meet the needs of individual customers.

This has earned us the nickname: The Friendly Enzyme Company.

According to our vision, we are driven to find renewable alternatives to oil-based products and chemicals. We believe that everything that is made from oil today, can be made of wood tomorrow.

This vision implies two things that direct our efforts. First, all side streams must be minimized or eliminated. All of the biomass must be valorized without waste. This is a sustainable and economically feasible way. Second, the biomass fractions must be valorized to as high a value as possible. For example, lignin is not for fuel, but a source of aromatic compounds with a multitude of uses in the chemical and material industry. Check out our METNIN™ technology!

We have an incredible team of almost 30 professionals to bring in the competencies from customer interface, engineering, genetics, synthetic biology, application testing, technology development, and industrial production to ensure we can deliver on our promises.

Understanding the scale of our undertaking we are willing to collaborate in the spirit of open innovation. This is well illustrated in two characteristic aspects of our company:

  1. Our production is based on MetGen’s unique process and strains. However, we have designed the production platform to be streamlined and robust, allowing us to utilize contract manufacturing partners to produce in large scale. MetGen has four carefully selected European production partners, and technology transfer to North America is on its way. Next steps are South America and Asia.
  2. MetGen has built incredible new technologies from idea to market readiness through open-innovation and collaborative projects: MetGen is one of the most successful SMEs in Europe to receive Horizon and BBI JU funding. We have 11 ambitious projects in which we have played a significant role in bringing dozens of new bio-based value-chains and products to existence. Together we can achieve much more – and working with relevant partners and potential customers through the technology readiness levels (TRL) really accelerates the commercialization and speed-to-market.

We continue to grow and provide our new solutions to the market that is quickly moving towards more sustainable bio-based future. The bio-based revolution needs only one more thing: Collaboration.

Join us!