Arsenale Bioyards Wants to Slash Biomanufacturing Costs by 90%—Investors Just Bet $10M on It

Arsenale Bioyards, a neo-industrial startup redefining the future of scalable biomanufacturing, has raised $10 million in seed funding. The round was co-led by Planet A and byFounders, with participation from CDP Ventures, Acequia Capital, Plug N Play, Grey Silo Ventures, and industrial family offices.

The funding will accelerate Arsenale’s mission to transform the $200 billion biomanufacturing market, making large-scale biological production cost-effective and sustainable. By integrating AI-driven software with modular industrial bioreactors, the company aims to optimize fermentation processes and dramatically speed up the transition from lab-scale experiments to full-scale industrial production.

Neo-Industrial Biomanufacturing: A New Approach to Scaling Biology

Arsenale Bioyards is pioneering a "neo-industrial" approach—co-designing with nature to create a circular and efficient manufacturing system. The company’s precision fermentation technology leverages microorganisms like yeast and bacteria to produce proteins and other bio-based materials. While widely used in pharmaceuticals, its application in industries like food and cosmetics has been hindered by high costs.

Arsenale’s end-to-end AI-driven platform aims to overcome this challenge, cutting production costs and time-to-market by up to 90%. Central to this transformation are Bioyards, modular bio-reactor networks that scale out rather than up, breaking from the traditional approach of building ever-larger fermenters.

"At Planet A, we saw Arsenale’s potential early on—this is a fundamental rethink of how biomanufacturing scales," said Christoph Gras, Co-Founder & General Partner at Planet A Ventures. "By making production cost-competitive and standardized, Arsenale turns biomanufacturing into an investable asset class while enabling industries to move away from animal- and petrochemical-derived products at scale."

AI-Driven Biomanufacturing: Smarter, Faster, More Efficient

Arsenale Bioyards is rethinking the way biomanufacturing operates, shifting from traditional trial-and-error experimentation to a data-driven, AI-powered model. The company collects and analyzes real-time bioprocess data, using AI to guide experiment design and predict large-scale performance.

By designing its own bioreactors, Arsenale ensures seamless integration with machine learning models, allowing for:

• Faster optimization of fermentation conditions

• Automation of scaling processes

• Significant reduction in both operational (OPEX) and capital (CAPEX) expenses

"Arsenale is not just imagining the bioeconomy of the future—we are building it today," said Massimo Portincaso, CEO and Co-Founder of Arsenale Bioyards. "This funding reinforces our ability to drive measurable change and build a generative, biology-driven industrial paradigm."

Scaling Up: From Pilot Facility to Industry-Wide Adoption

Arsenale Bioyards is already demonstrating its capabilities with a fully operational pilot site in Pordenone, equipped with:

• 1,000L of precision fermentation capacity

• Two advanced 500L bioreactors

• A suite of modular precision fermentation units with industry-first real-time sensing capabilities

This infrastructure positions Arsenale for rapid commercialization in sectors like food, cosmetics, and biomaterials, where sustainable, bio-based alternatives are in high demand.

A World-Class Team Driving Innovation

Arsenale’s leadership team brings together deep expertise in biotech, AI, and industrial-scale manufacturing:

• Massimo Portincaso (CEO & Co-Founder): Former BCG partner and biotech entrepreneur, previously co-founded and exited Officinae Bio.

• Gordana Djordjevic (CSO): Former scientific leader at Perfect Day, Zymergen, Synthetic Genomics, BP, and BASF, with 25+ years of experience scaling industrial fermentation.

• Niels Lynge Agerbæk (CTO): Former VP at Zymergen, GM at Xellia Pharmaceuticals US, and Director at Novo Nordisk, leading Arsenale’s technical implementation.

• Matteo Zanotto (CIO): PhD in AI and deep learning, spearheading Arsenale’s machine learning and algorithmic innovations.

• Arnaud Legris (COO): Engineer and former BCG consultant, ensuring smooth operational execution.

With this funding, Arsenale Bioyards is poised to redefine the future of biomanufacturing—making sustainable, bio-based production a reality at industrial scale.