Arzeda adds COO and CTO to scale protein platform commercialization

Arzeda added Alex Patist as chief operating officer and Paula Hicks as chief technology officer on June 23, putting new weight behind a protein platform that is already trying to sell, ship, and scale beyond the lab. The company said the appointments were meant to strengthen operational and technical leadership as it commercializes ViaLeaf Reb M and pushes a growing portfolio of near-commercial protein-powered products across food, nutrition, home care, and materials.

That hire mix matters because Arzeda is no longer presenting itself as a single-ingredient story. ViaLeaf Reb M sits at the center of the push: Arzeda says the stevia-based sweetener is produced in the USA and Europe, has a cleaner sweetness profile than Reb A, reaches 95% purity, and carries a price target at about two-thirds the replacement cost of sugar. Arzeda also said ViaLeaf Reb M won Non-GMO Project Verified status in October 2025, with verification covering the supply chain from stevia leaf feedstock through the biocatalytic enzyme process to the finished ingredient. In March 2026, MANE and Arzeda announced a strategic partnership to commercialize the ingredient and accelerate natural sugar reduction.

The broader scale-up signals are just as important. Arzeda said its current production capacity is above 500 metric tons per year, making ViaLeaf one of the few industrial-scale demonstrations of cell-free biomanufacturing in operation today. The company also said it had expanded ProSweet Reb M production in Europe to more than 250 metric tons per year in 2025, enough to replace roughly 75,000 tons of sugar, and that it had surpassed 10 tons of ProSweet RebM production, enough to replace 3,000 tons of sugar. Those are the kinds of numbers that separate a promising platform from a pilot program: actual output, actual capacity, and actual commercial partners.

Arzeda’s leadership bench now looks built for that transition. The company says it was founded in 2009 by David Baker, Alexandre Zanghellini, and colleagues from the University of Washington Institute for Protein Design, and its team page identifies Baker as a 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry laureate and scientific advisor. Hicks brings more than 25 years in biotechnology, including stops at Cargill, Bend Research, and Evolva. Arzeda also said it employed more than 70 team members across machine learning, protein testing, strain design, and operations, while its pipeline extends into laundry detergents, advanced materials, biologics, and diagnostics, with work tied to Unilever, W. L. Gore & Associates, AAK, and Takeda.

The real commercial test now is whether those hires translate into steadier manufacturing, more product launches, and more named partnerships beyond ViaLeaf Reb M. Arzeda already cleared several markers, including a $38 million oversubscribed funding round in September 2024 and a production milestone announced in November 2024. The next proof points will be whether its protein-design stack can keep turning scientific output into repeatable, revenue-ready ingredients across more than one category.