2024 was a year of giant leaps for us at Cocoon Bioscience. It was a turning point for the company for many reasons; our team nearly doubled in size, we scaled our first enzyme product, and we successfully inaugurated our first-of-its-kind commercial manufacturing facility.  

To have achieved all of this in just two years since the company was founded – starting as five people in a co-working space – blows me away. I am incredibly proud of what our team has achieved together, so I want to highlight their good work here. 

Production, scale and culture

The launch of our industrial-scale, commercial manufacturing facility was easily the biggest moment for Cocoon Bioscience in 2024. We were honored that 150 people joined us for the two-day inauguration event in Bilbao, Spain, including the La Diputada General of Vizcaya, Elixabete Etxanobe. 

The completion of this facility also coincided with us successfully scaling our first enzyme product. A product which is undeniably superior in terms of quality and performance, at a much more affordable price.  

Now, we have capacity to produce over three kilograms of specialty enzymes and growth factors in a facility designed to meet the stringent requirements for supplying GMP products. In the future, we have the capability to expand to over 30 kilograms as we scale with our partners. 

This is all supported by a growing team, now 38 strong, that operates every aspect of our facility from R&D to manufacturing to commercial, and everything in between.

An unwavering mission

Despite all these wonderful achievements, there were of course many challenges along the way. We had speed bumps to contend with in some of our development projects, tight deadlines to meet, and an inevitable anxiety that the launch of our facility was not going to be possible as planned. What if construction was delayed, or we didn’t finish building our custom automation solutions in time? 

But the world-class team that makes up this company overcame every obstacle.  

Our focus on our mission – to launch transformative products made possible by a transformative expression platform – drove us further than we could have hoped. Not only did we achieve everything we set out to, but we did it on time, to budget and even improved our processes along the way. 

What I’ve learned from 2024 is the importance of this. We have a unique, powerful platform that can conceivably be significantly better at producing hundreds to thousands of proteins and enzymes. However, resources are finite, and there are many ‘shiny objects’ we could chase. 

By focusing on our goals and improving our product development pipeline this year, we have set ourselves up to deliver the right set of impactful products.  

Visions for 2025

2024 was a year of building; 2025 is a year of execution.  

We’ll soon be launching our first wave of enzymes that address critical needs in pharmaceuticals and life sciences with superior performance, quality, sustainability, and affordability. 

Development in the biotech industry is rife, with more products being launched and entering trials, particularly with mRNA-based medicines. The need for recombinant proteins is only rising. Plus, more leaders are calling for sustainable materials with which to fuel their developments. We are positioning ourselves to be at the vanguard of the next generation of providers supplying this demand.  

Initial estimates show our enzymes are more sustainable to produce than those manufactured via traditional fermentation. We plan to conduct a full life cycle assessment to compare this in detail and ensure we are supporting our partners’ sustainability goals. 

As we enter 2025, off the back of a fantastic year of growth, we are ready to make life-changing protein solutions accessible to the markets that need them. 

I need to thank every partner, investor and member of the Cocoon Bioscience team for making this happen.  

Because of your dedication, this is just the start of something great. 

Josh Robinson, CEO