Enduro Genetics and the EIC Accelerator: Addicted to Production
Enduro Genetics, co-founded in Copenhagen in 2019 by Peter Rugbjerg and now led by CEO Christian Munch, makes Enduro Sense, a genetic plug-in that keeps engineered microbes productive during large-scale fermentation. Its EIC project said "fermentation scale-up remains a massive challenge" and that it was "ready to perform large scale demonstrations with commercial strains from industrial partners", according to CORDIS.
The European Innovation Council granted €1,815,296 towards a €2.59 million project from April 2023 to March 2025. The final report says Enduro screened "hundreds of new strain candidates", and that several industrial strains "with significantly improved production stability and titer" were validated in bioreactors. It says the results "helped secure Series A investment", while "successes at industrial scale" were "set to be reached in the coming year". In February 2025 Enduro raised a €12 million Series A from Supernova Invest, NOON Ventures and Sandwater.
Company file
- Legal entity
- Enduro Genetics ApS, CVR 40960465, Copenhagen
- Founded
- 25 November 2019
- People
- Christian Munch (CEO), Peter Rugbjerg (co-founder, CSO)
- Technology
- Enduro Sense genetic plug-in
- Investors
- Supernova Invest, NOON Ventures, Sandwater
- Staff
- 13 full-time equivalents (2024)
- EIC project
- BioScale, 1 Apr 2023 to 31 Mar 2025, closed
Where Enduro Genetics Stands Now
Enduro says it is "already working with global biotechnology leaders to transform production" and targets a biomanufacturing market it puts at €400 billion, covering enzymes, biodegradable materials, alternative proteins and pharmaceuticals. The Series A is to expand its platform and scale commercialisation. It has not named customers or announced an industrial-scale deployment on its news page.
The record
Keeping microbes productive at scale
Enduro Genetics used its EIC grant to test Enduro Sense in industrial partners' strains. Results in scale-down bioreactors helped it raise a €12 million Series A; industrial-scale results were still to come when the project ended.
- Nov 2019Company foundedCopenhagen
- Oct 2022EIC Accelerator cut-offBioScalegrant first
- Apr 2023EIC project starts€2.59M project€1.82M grant
- Apr 2023New CEOChristian Munch, ex-Novozymes and ALK
- Feb 2025Series ASupernova Invest, NOON Ventures, Sandwater€12M
- Mar 2025EIC project endsStrains validated in scale-down bioreactors
CORDIS, Enduro Genetics and its 2024 annual report.
"The results from the BioScale project cemented Enduro's commercial potential and helped secure Series A investment."
Enduro Genetics, final report to the EICThe Technology: Making Cells Depend on Their Job
In big fermenters, engineered microbes mutate and non-producing cells outgrow the productive ones, so yields drop over a production run. Enduro Sense, the company says, "addicts" cells to high production, so that only cells that keep making the product thrive. The report says it worked across different organisms and product types.
The money
EIC grant and Series A
The EIC grant against the €12 million Series A announced in February 2025. The award was grant first; the EIC Fund is not named among the Series A investors.
CORDIS; Enduro Genetics, February 2025. Values in € millions.
What the EIC Project Promised, and What CORDIS Shows
The EIC project
The EU paid 70% of a €2.6M project
BioScale ran from April 2023 to March 2025. CORDIS lists it as closed.
CORDIS project 190197288. Values in € millions.
The project promised large-scale demonstrations with commercial strains. The report documents implementation in partners' strains and validation in what it calls "scale-down bioreactor operational environments". Demonstrations at full industrial scale were not reported by the end of the project. CORDIS lists the project as closed.
- Partner strain integrationDeliveredHundreds of candidates.
- Bioreactor validationDeliveredScale-down reactors.
- Industrial-scale demonstrationPending"In the coming year".
- Follow-on investmentDelivered€12M Series A.
The Money
Enduro's 2024 annual report shows gross profit doubling to DKK 4.47 million and a loss of DKK 3.35 million, the same as in 2023. Equity jumped to DKK 99.8 million, mostly because of DKK 90.1 million of other receivables at year end, while cash was DKK 4.5 million; the report does not break these down in its summary.
The accounts
Gross profit and result, 2023 and 2024
Gross profit in Danish accounts includes revenue, other operating income and capitalised own work, minus external costs. Staff rose from 11 to 13 full-time equivalents.
Enduro Genetics ApS annual report 2024, CVR 40960465. Values in DKK millions.
What Cannot Be Checked
Questions for the EIC
Which companies use Enduro Sense, whether any industrial-scale run has succeeded, how much revenue Enduro earns and why the EIC Fund did not join the Series A are not public.
Why Europe Should Care
Europe has named industrial biotechnology a key enabling technology, and scale-up is where many bioprocesses fail. A tool that keeps yields up in large fermenters could make European biomanufacturing cheaper. The EIC paid for the step that, the company says, helped secure private investors.
What the project promised
Large-scale demonstrations of Enduro Sense with industrial partners' commercial strains.
What the record shows
Improved strains validated in bioreactors, a €12 million Series A and industrial-scale proof still to come.
The Verdict
A good bridge to private money
Enduro says the results from its EIC project helped secure its Series A. The full industrial-scale result it promised had not been published when the project closed.
Enduro Genetics and the EIC have not been asked for comment for this article. It is based entirely on public records and published statements, linked throughout.
Industry
Materials and chemicalsIndustrial biotechnology
- Focus
- Strain engineering
- Technologies
- Synthetic biology
- Keywords
- Fermentation scale-up
- Biomanufacturing
- Production strains
- Yield stability