Novozymes

What if you could harness nature's own microscopic machinery to brew better beer, make laundry detergents more powerful, and even create fuel? This is the world of industrial enzymes, and at its heart lies a Danish company with a century-long history. The story starts in 1925, when brothers Harald and Thorvald Pedersen founded Novo Terapeutisk Laboratorium to produce insulin. But by 1941, they had already branched out, launching their first enzyme, trypsin, for use in the leather industry. This was the initial step into a much larger world. The company that would become Novozymes was officially spun out of the pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk in 2000, allowing it to focus entirely on industrial enzymes and microorganisms. Novozymes' business is built on finding and producing biological solutions—enzymes and microbes—that can improve industrial processes. Think of enzymes that help turn corn into ethanol more efficiently or microorganisms that clean wastewater. The company develops and sells these solutions to a vast array of industries, from household care and food to bioenergy and agriculture. A pivotal moment arrived in early 2024 when Novozymes completed a merger with another Danish biosolutions powerhouse, Chr. Hansen. This combination created a new entity, Novonesis, with a workforce of 10,000 and expertise across more than 30 industries. The merger formed a global leader in biosolutions with a projected annual revenue of around €3.7 billion. The new company, whose name combines the Greek words for "new" and "beginning," aims to lead a new era of biological solutions for how we produce, consume, and live.