German Biotech Firm Builds First Plant in Hungary

The Hungarian subsidiary of German biotech company Verbio, XiMo is set to build its first industrial-scale facility in the country, leveraging its co-founder’s Nobel Prize-winning research in sustainable chemistry, the Hungarian Investment Promotion Agency (HIPA) reports..

The EUR 27.7 million investment launched in Gödöllő – 30 kilometers from the capital Budapest – will further strengthen Hungary’s capabilities in the field of green chemistry.

Supported by HIPA, production at the 4,500 square meter facility is set to begin in the summer of 2026. The project is based on the findings of the research team including Richard R. Schrock, co-founder of the company, and is expected to create more than forty high value-added jobs.

MIT professor Richard R. Schrock is co-winner of the 2005 Nobel Prize for his contributions to the development of olefin metathesis. As an organic reaction involving the rearrangement of carbon–carbon double bonds, olefin metathesis has proven revolutionary in the environmentally friendly synthesis of organic molecules. This enables the substitution of fossil raw materials with sustainable materials in a wide range of chemical industry manufacturing processes.

Budapest-based XiMo, founded in 2011, developed the technologies needed to leverage the results of the Nobel Prize-winning basic research at industrial scale. At the Gödöllő facility, various types of catalysts will be manufactured. Catalysts are substances that facilitate chemical reactions.

Since 2018, XiMo has been part of Verbio. A significant portion of the products of the Gödöllő facility will be used in Bitterfeld, Germany, at Verbio’s new plant, which is also scheduled for completion in 2026. This facility will be the world’s first so-called ethenolysis plant, where bio-based chemicals will be produced for the manufacturing of detergents and specialty plastics, among others.