Company Profile
Arzeda Corp
Company Overview
Arzeda is solving some of today’s hardest and most meaningful problems – from food and nutrition to sustainable materials and homecare – by designing proteins that have the limitless potential to change everyone’s daily life. Our team has developed a proven technology platform that merges computational protein design, machine learning, and synthetic biology tools to produce proteins, enzymes, and bio-based processes more efficiently than Mother Nature.
A deep tech, mission-driven company, we are passionate about our mission to design novel proteins and products that enhance our lives and protect our planet. At Arzeda, we value a strong desire to learn, innovate and be continuously challenged.
We are seeking a detail-oriented Scientist to join our highly collaborative Protein Testing Team. You will play a
critical role in the continued development of our enzyme engineering platform at Arzeda to rapidly screen and
optimize enzyme functions by developing high-throughput, automation-ready assay workflows that accelerate enzyme screening, characterization, and experimental iteration.
Arzeda is located in Seattle, Washington. Nestled among the historic and artistic neighborhoods of Ballard, Fremont and Queen Anne, you'll find the right balance of activities and relaxation. Whether you're indulging your inner foodie at one of many unique restaurants, drinking a craft beverage after a day at the beach, or enjoying a picturesque walk through the Sunday Market, you'll be proud to call Seattle your home.
Company History
Arzeda is a Seattle-based synthetic biology and AI-driven protein design company founded in 2008 by Alexandre Zanghellini, David Baker, Daniela Grabs-Röthlisberger, and Eric Althoff. The company emerged from research associated with the University of Washington Institute for Protein Design and early computational enzyme design work built around the Rosetta protein modeling framework.
From its inception, Arzeda focused on a core idea that was ambitious for the late 2000s: designing entirely new proteins and enzymes computationally rather than relying solely on natural evolution or conventional directed-evolution screening. The company positioned itself at the intersection of computational biology, synthetic biology, machine learning, and industrial biotechnology. Its early work centered on engineering enzymes and metabolic pathways capable of producing industrial chemicals, specialty materials, food ingredients, and biologics more sustainably and cost-effectively than petrochemical or traditional manufacturing routes.
During the 2010s, Arzeda expanded from a research-heavy startup into a commercial platform company. It secured SBIR funding and established partnerships with industrial and Fortune 500 companies to apply computational protein design to real manufacturing problems. Early efforts included renewable chemical production, novel metabolic pathway engineering, and enzyme systems for materials and specialty chemicals.
A major milestone came in 2017 when the company raised a $12 million Series A financing round led by OS Fund. Around this period, Arzeda publicly described its mission as “rewriting the software of life” through custom-designed proteins. The funding helped scale its automated design-build-test-learn infrastructure and industrialize its protein engineering workflow.
By 2018, Arzeda had built an increasingly automated synthetic biology platform integrating DNA synthesis, robotics, cloud software, and high-throughput screening. Partnerships with companies including Twist Bioscience, TeselaGen, and Labcyte enabled Arzeda to accelerate DNA assembly and protein testing throughput by more than an order of magnitude.
Over time, the company evolved beyond pure computational design into what it now calls its “Intelligent Protein Design Technology™,” combining:
* physics-based protein modeling,
* proprietary experimental datasets,
* AI and machine learning,
* automated laboratory validation,
* and commercial-scale product development.
Arzeda’s commercial focus also broadened substantially. The company has worked across:
* food and sweeteners,
* industrial enzymes,
* home and personal care,
* advanced materials,
* sustainable chemicals,
* and biopharmaceutical applications.
One of its most visible commercial programs has been development of high-purity stevia sweetener systems such as ViaLeaf™ Reb M, where Arzeda combines designed enzymes and bioprocessing to improve taste, purity, and scalability of next-generation sugar-reduction ingredients. The company has also partnered with organizations such as Unilever, MANE, Gore, and AAK to apply AI-designed proteins to detergents, flavor systems, materials science, and sustainable manufacturing.
Scientifically, Arzeda has remained closely associated with the broader protein design ecosystem originating from the University of Washington and the work of David Baker. The company also participated in the founding of OpenFold, an open-source initiative focused on AI tools for protein structure prediction and design.
In recent years, Arzeda has increasingly emphasized AI-native protein engineering, agentic design-build-test-learn workflows, and industrial-scale commercialization rather than simply discovery-stage enzyme engineering. The company now positions itself not merely as a design platform, but as a vertically integrated “protein product company” capable of taking designed proteins from computational concept through manufacturing and deployment.
More recently, Arzeda has also expanded into national security and advanced manufacturing applications. In 2025, the company announced DARPA-supported work focused on AI-driven protein engineering for defense and strategic applications.
Notable Clients
Unilever, Mane
Notable Accomplishments / Recognition
Arzeda helped launch OpenFold, a consortium committed to open-source, open-data, open-weight AI tools for protein structure prediction and design. We believe the field moves faster when foundational models and benchmarks are shared while our partner-specific IP remains protected inside each program. OpenFold is one expression of that balance: public infrastructure, private advantage where it matters. Learn more at openfold.io.
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