c-LEcta celebrates its 15th anniversary and is optimistic for the future

c-LEcta, a global biotechnology company with technology leadership in enzyme engineering and bioprocess development for regulated markets such as the food and pharmaceutical industries, looks back on 15 years of successful company history. In fiscal year 2019, the products the company has developed itself in particular have contributed to this positive business development. Especially c-LEcta’s product for the production of a plant-based sweetener with a sugar-like taste and DENARASE^® have performed better than expected. As a result, the company has tripled its sales over the last five years. c‑LEcta is actively investing in the expansion of its corporate structures and, particularly, in the expansion of its product pipeline in order to drive its growth forward and successfully exploit future market potential.

CEO Dr. Marc Struhalla founded the biotechnology company in Leipzig in 2004 on the basis of an offshoot of the university. After initially succeeding in optimizing the company’s own technology and gaining well-known customers from industry through contract work, a pilot plant has enabled the company to manufacture its own product batches for further scaling since 2010. Three years later, the company moved to the BioCube on the site of the old Leipzig Trade Fair, laying the foundation for an urgently needed expansion of laboratory and production capacities. Since 2015, the focus has consistently shifted away from contract work in research and development to the production and marketing of the company’s own products.

The growth figures show that the change to a product company is paying off today. In the current fiscal year 2019, c-LEcta has managed to more than double its order intake in the products segment compared to 2018. The total order intake in 2019 is thus in the double-digit million-euro range for the first time. This means that the order books are well filled for 2020. The company now sells its own products to over 90 customers from 25 countries around the world. This means the company serves more than twice as many customers as five years ago. In addition, in the area of research & development, c-LEcta works with renowned customers from the food and pharmaceutical industries in strategic partnerships to bring joint product developments to market maturity.

“We are very proud of what we have achieved here in Leipzig over the past 15 years. A good idea and a unique technology have turned into a medium-sized company that delivers its products to renowned customers all over the world,” Dr. Marc Struhalla explains.

c-LEcta continued to invest in the expansion of its workforce in fiscal year 2019 in order to continue exploiting market potential in the future and to push the company’s growth forward. “We started off with three employees back in 2004. This year, we officially welcomed our 75th employee,” explains Dr. Marc Struhalla. In 2019 alone, a total of 15 new employees were recruited in the areas of research and development, quality control, administration and business development. In addition, c-LEcta continues to invest in expanding its product pipeline: In the next two years, at least three new products will be ready for the market. “But our investments in the keen minds who work for our company are much more important. We expect to see another strong increase in the number of employees next year so that we can continue to drive innovation forward,” explains CFO Thomas Pfaadt. The Leipzig-based company therefore looks forward to the coming year with great anticipation: “We see ourselves very well prepared to continue growing in 2020 and to continue c-LEcta’s success story,” Struhalla emphasizes.

About c-LEcta

c-LEcta is a world-leading biotechnology company with a focus on enzyme engineering and application in regulated markets like the food and pharma industries. The company is based in Leipzig, Germany, and has established itself as a leading player in the realization of high-value biotech products, either in the form of in-house developments or in close cooperation with industry. The company currently employs more than 70 people.

c-LEcta delivers cost-efficient and sustainable production processes which open new markets and allow for better penetration of existing markets. The company is characterized by fast and efficient development of best-in-class biotech solutions and a rapid and successful market introduction and commercialization of the resulting products. This enables c-LEcta to leverage the unique potential of its core technologies. c-LEcta has a proven track record of more than ten successfully commercialized high-value industrial biotech products.

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