Evocatal moves to new HQ near Cologne
The new base in the city of Monheim, between Cologne and Dusseldorf, has twice the laboratory and production space of evocatal's former headquarters in Dusseldorf.
The new site houses new 100L industrial fermenters to support the manufacture of biocatalysts in process-relevant quantities.
Evocatal told us that: "It’s a typical 150 L pilot-scale batch fermenter with 100 L working volume. The fermenter will be run in a multipurpose mode, both run pilot process for scale up as well as some in-house productions for own products.
"With our new multipurpose equipment (20 l volume) evocatal will be able to produce chemicals up to multi-kg scale
Fundraising
The relocation to the new HQ was funded with the proceeds of a EUR3.5m ($4.7m) series B fund raising round evocatal completed in June.
The firm attracted investment from existing backers Roland Oetker, High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF), Sirius Seedfonds Düsseldorf (SSFD) and business angel Prof. Riesner and new investors Nrw.Bank.
Cologne-based fine chemicals giant Lanxess also backed evocatal's fundraising round building on the relationship the firms established in 2012 when they teamed up to develop biotechnological methods for the synthesis of precursors for the rubber production.
Evocatal told us that: "The fresh funding is being used to implement the Company’s growth strategy including the relocation and expansion of facilities. Thus evocatal now can accomodate additional staff, and we have been and will be hiring new technical and research personnel over the year. We are looking for scientist with interdisciplinary skills in both chemistry and biotechnology.
"This month evocatal is looking for an Analytical Chemist to strengthen our quality control and quality management team."
