Cascade Biocatalysts

Cascade Biocatalysts, Inc. (also operating as Cascade Bio) is a Denver-based industrial biotechnology company developing cell-free biocatalysts. Its core product is a proprietary, patent-pending enzyme immobilization technology marketed as Body Armor for Enzymes, in which enzymes are stabilized on silica beads that can be dropped into a customer's existing process. The company states the approach extends enzyme lifetime, widens the operating window with respect to temperature, solvent and pH, allows reuse, and increases output, with claims of 100x improved performance and enzymes that previously lost activity within hours retaining it for months.

The company sells immobilized lipases, immobilized carbonic anhydrase and customized resins developed for a customer's own enzyme, and offers samples for evaluation. Target sectors include chemicals, food and food ingredients, flavors and fragrances, waste management/wastewater treatment, pharmaceuticals, and carbon dioxide capture. Its stated vision is to transform chemical manufacturing by combining cascades of enzymes to make molecules biologically, displacing energy-intensive, petrochemical-based routes; the company frames this against the roughly three gigatons of greenhouse gas emissions it attributes to the chemicals industry.

The underlying immobilization technology was invented by co-founder James Weltz as a graduate student at CU Boulder in the laboratories of Daniel K. Schwartz and Joel Kaar in Chemical and Biological Engineering, and is part of the CU Boulder Venture Partners startup portfolio.

Founding story

Co-founder James Weltz invented the enzyme immobilization technology during his PhD work on enzyme immobilization at CU Boulder, in the labs of Daniel K. Schwartz and Joel Kaar, after finding existing immobilization solutions inconsistent. Alex Rosay, previously a product manager at Zymergen where he observed large sums directed at precision fermentation without success, concluded that cell-free and enzyme processes were the future but were too costly, and partnered with Weltz; Rosay serves as CEO and Weltz as Chief Scientific Officer.

Business model

Cascade supplies immobilized enzyme products and custom immobilization resins to industrial manufacturers, including off-the-shelf immobilized lipases and carbonic anhydrase as well as resins customized to a customer's own enzyme, distributed as silica beads intended to drop into existing processes. Engagement typically begins with a sample request or lab-scale collaboration; the company reported paying customers at lab scale in 2023 and more than 20 paying customers by 2025.

Sale of immobilized biocatalysts and custom immobilization work to industrial partners, supplemented by non-dilutive government funding (a US National Science Foundation CFIRE award and an SBIR Phase II award).

Traction

As of the 2023 pre-seed announcement, Cascade had worked on 15 enzymes with a stated 100% success rate at improving stability under industrial conditions and had multiple paying lab-scale customers, with initial projects in carbon dioxide capture, fragrance manufacturing and wastewater treatment. By the 2025 funding announcement, it reported work on over 30 enzymes and more than 20 paying customers, including large chemical, flavor and fragrance, food ingredient and pharmaceutical companies. The company has also reported a first 10 kg production run of its Body Armor for Enzymes material as it scales from grams to kilograms.

Latest developments

In 2025 Cascade announced $6 million in combined funding — a $2.8 million seed round led by Endurance28 with Stray Dog Capital, 1Flourish, Range Ventures, 10VC and Amplify, plus $3.2 million in non-dilutive funding from the NSF CFIRE initiative and an SBIR Phase II award — to expand delivery of its biocatalysts to industrial partners. It also reported its first 10 kg production run and a third-party case study in which its resins outperformed competing products.