A broad range of tailor-made enzymes for the pharmaceutical and food industries puts the Leipzig-based company's development on a solid foundation. That they can grow successfully with this strategy has also been proven by c-LEcta in 2021: With average revenue growth of 56% from 2018 to 2020 and further growth expected to reach around EUR 20 million in 2021, even during the Covid-19 pandemic, the business performance illustrates the strength and resilience of this strategy.
“We are very proud of our performance in recent years. Our products provide good growth momentum and also great resilience due to the diverse application fields and this has supported us over the last two years. To continue to drive this growth in the long term, we have continued to build our team again this year and now employ 108 people. Moving forward, we plan to continue to invest in additional staff and equipment,” commented Thomas Pfaadt, CFO of c-LEcta GmbH.
c-LEcta managed to launch its new product NuCLEANase in October 2021.
NuCLEANase is an enzyme that is used to remove unwanted DNA residues, in the food industry, for example. It also enables efficient elimination of stubborn biofilms in domestic, industrial, or medical environments. The high demand from customers already at its launch confirms the high market potential for this product.
“NuCLEANase is an incredibly versatile product that holds great potential. However, the development also demonstrates the versatility of our ENESYZ technology platform, which allows enzyme developments based on different production systems for a wide range of applications. ENESYZ is constantly being further developed. For example, this year we were able to integrate an additional expression host, Bacillus, into our enzyme engineering platform,” explained Dr. Marc Struhalla, founder and CEO of c-LEcta.
The company also made significant progress in the area of machine learning and artificial intelligence in 2021. “We were recently able to achieve some very promising results in this innovative area. The topic is a very important building block for future product developments and we are extremely motivated to rapidly expand our expertise in this area,” Dr Struhalla added.
Many new customers were once again acquired over the course of 2021. There was strong demand for the products from the DENARASE family, which also address the gene and cell therapy market. A total of more than 500 deliveries were sent out to more than 200 customers from nearly 30 countries. The largest sales market was the USA. The ELISA kit launched in 2020 was also a particular success, with very significant growth in demand in 2021.
c-LEcta’s most important markets, the food and pharmaceutical industries, are subject to strict regulations worldwide. Two enzyme dossiers were submitted by c-LEcta in May 2021. These enzyme dossiers for the food industry complement the company’s offering to its customers, who thus no longer have to worry separately about approvals for the use of the enzymes. With the filing of a master file with the FDA, c-LEcta supports its customers in terms of regulatory compliance and demonstrates the quality of its manufacturing processes and products.
In October, c-LEcta secured itself its own building complex with more than 10,000 m2 of space in the new biotechnology campus that is to be built at the “Alte Messe” site in Leipzig starting in the second quarter of 2022. “We want to and will indeed continue to grow. Great new facilities are being built at Alte Messe, which will allow us to set up state-of-the-art office and laboratory areas for our growing team. This will provide us with the space to continue our growth,” Dr Struhalla concluded.
c-LEcta is a leading biotechnology company located in Leipzig, Germany. The company has established itself as a leading player in the realisation of high-value biotechnology products for regulated markets, either as in-house development or in close cooperation with the industry. c-LEcta innovation capability delivers cost-efficient and sustainable production processes, creating growth opportunities across existing and new markets.