Enantios: The Venture Leader Biotech innovating in chiral molecule analysis

19.05.2025 11:00, Rita Longobardi

Meet Carin Lightner, Co-Founder of Enantios. The biotech startup leverages new measurement technology to accelerate drug development and discovery and enable more complete quality testing in the manufacturing stage. In June, Carin will join nine other Biotech innovators on a business development and investor roadshow in Boston.

Name: Carin Lightner
Location: Zurich, Switzerland 
Nationality: USA 
Graduated from: ETH Zürich 
Job title: CEO and Co-Founder
Number of employees: 7
Money raised: CHF 2.3M

 

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Can you tell us who your product or solution helps, and how?
At Enantios, we help pharmaceutical and biotech companies, CDMOs, and researchers better understand the structure of complex molecules—like biologics, vaccines, and chiral drugs—using our advanced chiral analysis technology. Our system allows for faster, more precise molecular characterization, which ultimately speeds up development timelines, improves quality control, reduces costly production errors, and (most importantly) keeps more potentially life-saving drugs in the development pipeline. 

What market are you addressing and what is the potential of your startup in that market?
We’re targeting the pharmaceutical and biotech analytics market, a space valued at over USD 8 billion globally and growing. Within that, the need for advanced structural analysis tools is rising rapidly, especially with the increasing complexity of biologics and precision medicines. Our goal is to become the go-to platform for chiral and structural analysis in R&D and manufacturing environments.

How and where did you come up with the idea for your startup?
The idea started during my doctorate at ETH Zürich, where I developed a new approach to make Raman Optical Activity (ROA) measurements practical outside of research labs. I realized there was enormous untapped potential to use this technique in real-world pharmaceutical settings—and no one had yet brought it to market in an accessible form.

What do you expect from the Venture Leaders roadshow, and how do you think it will help you achieve your vision?
I'm looking forward to meeting investors and partners who are excited about deep tech in life sciences. The US—especially Boston—is a key market for us, and the roadshow is a perfect opportunity to validate our approach, build strategic connections, and lay the groundwork for our upcoming investment round. It's a chance to position Enantios on the global stage.

What are your team’s key achievements to date?
We've raised over CHF 2.3M in investment funding, built and launched our first commercial product, and completed several paid studies with pharma partners. We also delivered our first instrument to an academic lab and have a growing pipeline of industry interest.

Is there a key principle or value that guides you as you build your company?
Transparency. Whether it’s in communication, design, or scientific interpretation, I believe transparency is what drives trust, results, and real impact. It’s what our customers need, and it’s how we operate internally.

What is the most important lesson you have learned as a founder?
There’s no such thing as “perfect timing.” You have to move forward with the resources you have, test, adapt, and keep going. Momentum matters more than perfection.

What is your favorite productivity hack or tool and why?
I’m a big fan of structured time-blocking. Carving out deep-focus windows helps me protect time for high-value thinking while leaving room on other days for meetings and team catch-ups. Our team has recently implemented “meeting-free days” which has been a huge success, allowing everyone to make sure there’s time for deep thinking and avoiding overscheduling of meetings. 

What was your dream job when you were a child?
I always loved building things, stories, inventions, and science experiments so my dream job was anything combining those—building Enantios with my co-founder checks those boxes!