Industrial biotechnology companies use biological systems and processes to manufacture sustainable products, chemicals, materials and fuels. The sector aims to reduce reliance on fossil resources while improving production efficiency and environmental outcomes.
This category includes companies working on:
Browse 134 UK industrial biotechnology companies below.
Fermentation-derived aquatic parasite control and microalgal delivery technology
Sundew is a blue biotechnology company developing fermentation-derived products to control aquatic parasites and other ecosystem challenges. Its Biokos extract, produced from a naturally occurring marine microorganism, targets protozoan fish parasites including Ich and Cryptocaryon. Sundew is also developing…
AI-driven enzyme discovery for sustainable industrial ingredients
Scindo is a UK biotechnology company developing an AI-powered enzyme discovery and engineering platform to produce bio-based alternatives to petroleum-derived industrial ingredients. The company combines machine learning with proprietary experimentally validated reaction datasets to discover and optimise enzymes…
Microbiome platform optimising hydroponic crop performance
Concert Bio is an agricultural biotechnology company developing microbial products to optimise crop performance in hydroponic greenhouses. Its platform combines the world's largest hydroponic microbiome database with machine learning to identify beneficial microbes tailored for soilless growing systems. The company's…
Biobased seed coatings and soil additives for sustainable growing
SilviBio is a company developing biobased, biodegradable seed coating and soil additive technologies to help growers improve productivity and environmental sustainability. Its treatments enable more efficient use of water and fertiliser while boosting seed germination and seedling establishment. SilviBio also produces…
Proprietary gene editing tools and strain development services
Forge Genetics is a contract research organisation developing and applying a proprietary gene-editing platform as an alternative to CRISPR-based approaches. The company provides strain development, specialised fermentation including gas fermentation, and metabolite analytics services for pharmaceutical and industrial…
Generative AI and quantum chemistry platform for de novo enzyme design
Xyme is a biotechnology company developing a generative AI and quantum chemistry platform for designing novel enzymes from first principles. Its approach combines computational prediction with experimental validation to create enzymes that catalyse chemical reactions not found in nature. Applications span therapeutic…
Programmable biological manufacturing of sustainable designer chemicals
Lypo is an Edinburgh-based biotechnology company developing a platform for the programmable manufacture of high-performance chemicals from sustainable and waste-derived feedstocks. The company's designer molecules are being explored across multiple application areas, including cosmetics, polymers, cancer treatment and…
Bacteria-based platform for carbon-negative water treatment
Lux Biotech is an industrial biotechnology company developing bacteria-based products for water treatment and pollution remediation. Using organic waste effluents as bacterial feedstock, the company produces microbial solutions that replace chemicals in sewage and water treatment processes. The approach is…
Oxford University spinout producing cultivated beef and pork
Ivy Farm Technologies is a company developing cultivated meat using a non-GMO cell culture process originally developed at the University of Oxford. Its Oxford pilot plant operates a 600-litre bioreactor with capacity to produce 2.8 tonnes of cultivated meat annually, with products including beef burgers, sausages and…
Functional plant proteins from agricultural co-products
Bland Company is a food biotechnology business developing functional plant proteins from underused agricultural co-products. Its process isolates proteins from plant feedstocks and modifies their properties using protein chemistry, with a focus on solubility, emulsification, foaming and moisture retention. The…
Precision fermentation platform producing animal-free dairy proteins
Better Dairy is a biotechnology company using precision fermentation to produce animal-free dairy proteins including casein and osteopontin. By engineering yeast to express mammalian milk proteins, the company produces bioidentical ingredients that enable food manufacturers to make dairy products without livestock.…
Seaweed-derived biodegradable materials for sustainable packaging
Notpla is an industrial biotechnology company developing biodegradable packaging materials from seaweed and other plant-derived polymers. Its technology uses natural biopolymers to create edible liquid capsules, flexible films, protective coatings and moulded materials designed to replace conventional plastic…
AI-guided plant biosynthesis platform for novel therapeutic compounds
HotHouse Therapeutics is a drug discovery platform company that engineers plants as sustainable biofactories for pharmaceutical compound production. Using AI to design and optimise biosynthetic pathways, it produces both natural and new-to-nature molecules via transient and stable plant expression systems capable of…
Cultivated chicken meat produced from egg cells for pet food
Meatly is a cellular agriculture company producing cultivated chicken meat for the pet food industry. Using cells taken from a chicken egg, the company grows real chicken protein in bioreactors using a proprietary protein-free culture medium, without slaughter, GMOs, or antibiotics. In 2024 Meatly became the first…
Microbial gas fermentation for carbon recycling and renewable fuels
LanzaTech is an industrial biotechnology company developing microbial gas-fermentation technology to convert waste carbon into ethanol and other chemicals. Its platform uses specialised acetogenic bacteria to process industrial off-gases and gasified waste, with applications in fuels, materials and chemical…
Molecular farming platform producing specialty proteins from crop leaves
Kyomei is a biotechnology company developing a molecular farming platform that genetically engineers crop plants to produce high-value specialty proteins in their leaves. The company extracts these proteins from agricultural leaf waste that would otherwise be discarded at harvest. Kyomei's ingredients target food…
Engineered gas fermentation converting industrial CO₂ into ethanol
Phase Biolabs is a Nottingham industrial biotechnology company using engineered microorganisms to convert waste carbon dioxide and hydrogen into ethanol. Its gas-fermentation platform is designed to attach to existing industrial facilities, turning emissions into chemicals and potential electrofuel feedstocks without…
Synthetic biology platform for sustainable biological textile dyeing
Colorifix is a UK biotechnology company applying synthetic biology to develop a biological dyeing process for the textile industry. The company engineers microorganisms to produce, deposit and fix pigments directly onto fabric, eliminating the need for toxic chemicals and reducing water and energy consumption compared…
Locally-adapted mycorrhizal fungi products for tree planting success
Rhizocore Technologies is a Scottish biotechnology company that produces locally-adapted mycorrhizal fungi products supporting tree planting and woodland restoration. Applied alongside saplings, its fungal products introduce ectomycorrhizal fungi that improve nutrient and water uptake, increasing survival rates and…
Plant-based expression platform for recombinant protein production
Bright Biotech is a UK CDMO developing and applying a proprietary plant-based expression system for the production of recombinant proteins. Its platform uses chloroplast engineering in tobacco plants to express high yields of target proteins, offering an animal-free and scalable alternative to conventional cell-based…