Deep Tech Talk: An Interview with Cambrium GmbH

Our Deep Tech Star 2024 in the category “Artificial Intelligence” is Cambrium GmbH! Congratulations to them! Cambrium is a pioneer in the development of sustainable material building blocks using their AI-powered protein design technology. Their innovative materials, such as NovaColl™, are intended to replace conventional materials derived from oil and animal products and make everyday products more environmentally friendly.

As one of 15 finalists, Cambrium’s innovation impressed our jury and was honoured with the Deep Tech Award on 11 July 2024. In advance to the award ceremony, we conducted an interview with the team to give you exciting insights into Cambrium’s work!

Congratulations you are one of the finalists of the 9th Deep Tech Award! What does the Deep Tech Award mean to you and what was the motivation behind your application?
We are a proud member of the Berlin start-up scene and strongly believe that deep tech is a way to solve the challenges of our world. We believe that the Berlin Deep Tech Initiative is a great way to meet like-minded people. We hope that we can inspire others to take the plunge and put great recent technological innovations into practice by creating products that make the world a better place. On the other hand, we hope to be inspired by the other participants.

Berlin is said to be one of the few German hubs for technological innovation. How do you experience the local tech infrastructure and how is it influenced by the Deep Tech Award?
We feel very well equipped in Berlin on several levels. The atmosphere towards start-ups is supportive. One example is Berlin Partner, a team of knowledgeable and approachable people who help make contacts or identify new opportunities.There are many local financing options (e.g. via IBB) that are relatively unbureaucratic. We also benefit greatly from the exchange with other AI-focussed companies, such as those brought together by Merantix. Our biotechnology team benefits greatly from the exchange in the BioCube in Berlin-Buch.

Let’s shift the perspective and talk about you a little more. You applied with your product NovaColl™ and your AI-driven protein design technology,. Please give us a little glimpse into your founding story and your key motivation to build this product.
The materials industry is an unsustainable industry that causes 23% of greenhouse gas emissions and contributes to pollution and destruction of ecosystems. We were guided by the idea of using AI to develop proteins. Proteins are the building blocks of nature, but they were developed for the needs of nature. We believe that AI is now mature enough to design proteins. These proteins will produce advanced materials that are both sustainable and perform better than our current materials, which are derived from animals and petrochemicals. The first material we have chosen is the most abundant protein found in nature: collagen. Collagen naturally gives our skin firmness and elasticity. We wanted to prove the power of protein design by developing a micromolecular collagen for skin care. We are very proud that science-based studies show that it can both reduce the breakdown of our body’s own collagen and stimulate our body to produce more natural collagen. After 28 days of using a skin cream with NovaColl as the main ingredient, test subjects showed a reduction in wrinkle volume of up to 31%.

Why do you think Cambrium GmbH made the finalists list and why is it Deep Tech?
We are very proud to be on the list of finalists. We are also proud of our achievements over the past year. It was a big step to go from a deep tech start-up with an idea to a start-up with an actual product. We strongly believe in the combination of several deep tech areas: AI and biotechnology in our case, and in using them to promote sustainability. Perhaps the jury members felt the same way.

What is the key technological innovation within NovaColl™ and your AI-driven protein design technology, and why does it advance the state of the art?
The most important technological innovation is our AI-driven protein design platform, the Protein Atlas. Proteins have been around since the first living beings evolved on Earth. They are the key building blocks that make up our cells. They have evolved to have the material properties required for the most powerful materials in biology, be it strength, elasticity, flexibility or whatever. With the immense power of AI, we are now starting to achieve what it took evolution thousands of years to do: create proteins that give materials optimal properties. This time, however, we are programming building blocks for our material world. NovaColl is the first product based on our platform. It is a micromolecular, skin-identical collagen. NovaColl shows that we can actually develop proteins with very high performance. Science-based studies show that NovaColl protects the collagen in our skin from degradation (which occurs naturally as we age). It even stimulates our body to produce extra collagen to give our skin firmness and elasticity. Subjects who applied a skin cream with NovaColl as the main ingredient for 28 days saw a 31% reduction in wrinkle volume.

What was the biggest obstacle in your developing process? How did you overcome it?
Hurdles are part of life, especially as a young company. From negotiations with customers or partners that slowed down or ended unexpectedly, to too much work for our team, to unexpected results from the lab – we overcame many hurdles.We believe that decisions should be made based on data as a rule, but also when we encounter hurdles. We assess the situation, make a hypothesis and test it. We try to look at the situation from different angles, be agile and act quickly to overcome hurdles. We have managed to see hurdles, at least in part, as opportunities to strengthen our product and our company and better align them with our mission and the needs of our customers. Furthermore, by overcoming obstacles together, we have become stronger as a team.

Can you describe the unique innovation that your AI technology brings to different industries? Please give us examples. And how do you think it will impact both your markets and society in general over the next five years?
The materials industry covers many sectors, from cosmetics to fashion, furniture, construction and many more. In the past, protein materials were used in some applications in the materials industry, but their properties were not optimised for these use cases. Instead, petrochemistry has created a whole range of materials that were previously unthinkable. We believe that the materials industry is ready for real innovation driven by sustainability and performance. Our AI technology, combined with advances in biotechnology (e.g. precision fermentation), will open up the possibility of programming proteins for material properties. This is certainly an ambitious goal, but we envision a world where programmed protein materials form the basis of everything we eat, wear and build. This would mean that the impact of our AI protein design technology on everyday life would be similar to the impact of petrochemicals on all the plastics that surround us today. We recognise that this will take time, but we are determined to make it a reality. Together with our customers, we are developing various products for end users based on NovaColl. We are also developing various new products for other sectors, such as fashion and footwear. We expect to be able to start replacing animal- and petroleum-based products in these sectors and thus gradually reach more and more consumers. We are also currently negotiating various partnerships that will accelerate our reach and impact.

How do your products integrate with existing systems, and what collaborative efforts have you engaged in to enhance its functionality and reach?
We decided early on to focus on the B2B sector because we believe that this is how we can achieve the greatest possible impact. Our products can be seen as building blocks that enable our customers to make their products more sustainable.We really endeavour to develop “drop-in” products so that our customers can easily integrate them into their products.This is how we can make the biggest and quickest impact. NovaColl, for example, will be used as an active ingredient in numerous products that will be launched in the coming months. We have entered into partnerships with several companies in the cosmetics sector. Unfortunately, apart from QMS Medicosmetics, we can’t name all the other great partners in personal care and other markets where we are developing new products.

What are the next steps for Cambrium GmbH, and how do you plan to stay ahead in the rapidly evolving AI landscape?
We are constantly working on improving our platform for protein design and expression. Recently, we developed our protein atlas, which scans the protein fitness landscape and navigates our generative AI to the best candidates. We are also working intensively on new ML models, for example to increase the amount of proteins a cell factory can produce. Another way to stay ahead is to collect high-quality data, for example from our own lab, to ensure that we can train our ML models with the best possible data to make them even more powerful. In addition to developing our technology, we are constantly working to increase our impact by creating novel products and enabling our customers to reach more and more consumers with our sustainable products.

What do you wish for in our technological or digital future?
We would like to see AI realise its full potential and be used to make the world a better place. Because what we really want most is a more sustainable future where technological advances are used to create sustainable products.

What advice would you like to pass to young entrepreneurs and tech innovators who want to reach their goals and maybe also want to take part in the Deep Tech Award 2025? Since out of 100 applicants you made it into the finalists, we figure you have some real pro-tips here.
At Cambrium, we want to make materials that make a difference. We have learnt to focus on the things that really matter: building a dynamic and interdisciplinary team. Staying curious, learning quickly and being flexible. Understanding customer needs early on and being courageous to act quickly.

Thank you so much for all your fascinating insights!