Meet Melazyme! They’re a US-based precision fermentation startup for functional biomolecules. Think melanin for sunscreens and a natural sweet protein that could replace sugar.

• They just raised a $2M seed to scale their platform.

Investor check. Thailand’s SeaX Ventures led the round with participation from Stellaris Venture Partners and Plug and Play Ventures.

Founder check. Melazyme was founded in 2025 by Perumal Gandhi (co-founder, Perfect Day) and Bonney Oommen (former chief product and strategy officer, Perfect Day).

• Perfect Day is the precision fermentation pioneer behind animal-free dairy proteins.

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🍨 What's the scoop?

Instead of brewing beer or kombucha, Melazyme uses engineered microbes to produce high-value biomolecules, specifically:

• 🌞 Melanin, with tunable properties for UV protection, pigmentation, and even hair dye (no ammonia needed!). First stop: the cosmetics aisle.
• 🍯 Brazzein, a heat-stable natural sweet protein from a West African fruit, 500-2,000x sweeter than sugar.

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🌱 Cleaner, greener

Many everyday ingredients (sunscreens, dyes, sweeteners, industrial materials) rely on petrochemicals, rare natural extracts, or energy-intensive chemical processes.

• Melazyme's bet: engineered microbes can produce them more sustainably, and with better functional properties.
• SeaX Ventures sees the same opening, calling precision fermentation a $20B market today that could hit $200B by 2040.

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💥 What's next?

The fresh capital will go toward platform development, scaling production, and early commercial deployments across cosmetics, industrial materials, and environmental remediation.