Engineered microbes turn CO2 into chemicals

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AI-driven enzyme design makes green chemistry scalable and low cost

Spotted: The global chemical industry is one of the largest industries worldwide, with an annual revenue of approximately $4.7 trillion. It’s also responsible for over 900 million metric tonnes of CO2 emissions every year, and there’s an urgent need for more sustainable production methods. Enter Anthrogen, a startup using advanced biotechnology and artificial intelligence to tackle two critical barriers to green chemistry: high costs and limited scalability.

At the heart of Anthrogen’s solution are photosynthetic microbes engineered to transform atmospheric CO2 into valuable chemicals using sunlight. Unlike conventional methods reliant on fossil fuels or energy-intensive processes, Anthrogen’s approach combines natural photosynthesis with AI-optimised enzymes, enabling faster, more efficient chemical reactions. The microbes’ metabolic pathways have been turbocharged, enhancing their production rates while keeping energy inputs low.

What sets this innovation apart is its reliance on cutting-edge AI models to design custom enzymes – catalysts that drive chemical reactions with unprecedented speed and specificity. “We can power our cell-free system with enzymes that are not found anywhere else in nature, and we think this is the reason we can win – any manufacturing company comes down to reaction cost and yields,” Co-founder and CEO Ankit Singhal explained to Springwise. This unique enzyme design process unlocks an entirely new level of efficiency, solving a challenge long considered insurmountable: the stable and dilute nature of CO2 as a feedstock.

Though still in the R&D phase, Anthrogen has already attracted significant backing, raising $4 million in a funding round co-led by Regen Ventures and BoxGroup, with participation from Y Combinator and prominent angel investors. “We are training huge AI models (…) Potential applications are endless – pretty much any carbon-based molecule could, in theory, be made on our platform,” adds Singhal. Anthrogen’s work could offer a blueprint for carbon-negative production across numerous sectors.

As the company scales, its mission remains clear: making green chemistry both accessible and affordable. With a growing portfolio of breakthroughs, Anthrogen could play a pivotal role in transforming global supply chains and making accessible carbon-negative chemicals a reality.

Written By: Oscar Williams