Ginkgo Bioworks

Last updated
Ginkgo Bioworks Holdings, Inc.
Company type Public company
Industry Biotechnology
Founded2008;16 years ago (2008) in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
FoundersTom Knight, Jason Kelly, Reshma Shetty, Barry Canton, Austin Che [1]
Headquarters
Boston, Massachusetts
,
U.S.
Key people
Shyam Sankar (Chair Board of Directors), Jason Kelly (CEO)
RevenueIncrease2.svg US$478 million (2022)
Decrease2.svgUS$−2.2 billion (2022)
Decrease2.svgUS$−2.1 billion (2022)
Total assets Increase2.svgUS$2.54 billion (2022)
Total equity Increase2.svgUS$1.74 billion (2022)
Number of employees
1,292 (December 2022)
Website ginkgobioworks.com
Footnotes /references
[2]

Ginkgo Bioworks is an American biotech company founded in 2008 by five scientists from MIT, [3] headed by Jason Kelly. The company specializes in using genetic engineering to produce bacteria with industrial applications for other biotech companies, saving other companies the cost of reproducing the initial stages of design in synthetic biology. [4] [5] [6] [7] The self-proclaimed "Organism Company" was one of the world's largest privately held biotech companies, [8] valued at $4.2 billion in 2019. [9] It raised $290 million in September and $350 million in October of that year. [8] Ginkgo Bioworks went public on the New York Stock Exchange via a SPAC merger on September 17, 2021. [10]

Contents

History

In 2014, Ginkgo was the first biotechnology company to join the Y Combinator start-up accelerator program. [1]

On 16 December 2020, it was reported that Ginkgo Bioworks would acquire the primary assets of Novogy's Microbial Engineering Platform. [11] 2020 also saw the company acquire property worth $25 million from Marcus Partners for the construction of a new 219,000 square foot laboratory building, after razing existing structures, located in the Raymond L Flynn Marine Park. [3] As of 2021, the company also occupied 200,000 square feet of the Innovation and Design Building (aka IDB) in the Park. [3] Ginkgo also occupied facilities in Cambridge, where most MIT-spin outs resided at the time. [3]

Growth of Ginkgo up to 2021 had been driven by "robust venture capital funding" and entry into the COVID-19 testing market. [3] This included $45 million from Viking Global in 2015. [1]

On 11 May 2021, Ginkgo Bioworks announced plans of going public through a merger with SPAC Soaring Eagle at a $17.5 billion valuation. [12]

On 14 May 2021, Ginkgo announced its new ticker for the NYSE will be "DNA". The ticker was previously used by Genentech, who stopped using the ticker after they were acquired by Roche. [13] [ self-published source ] Trading began on September 17, 2021. [10] The investment management firm Baillie Gifford became the largest shareholder (15%) with the purchase of 167.75 million shares on 31 March 2022. [14]

On 14 March 2022, it was reported that Ginkgo Bioworks signed a Definitive Agreement to Acquire FGen AG, a leading bioengineering company and its proprietary ultra-high-throughput screening platform. [15] [ self-published source ]

On 6 June 2022, it was reported that Ginkgo Bioworks has acquired assets from Bitome, an Integrated Metabolite Monitoring Platform. [16] [ self-published source ]

On 25 July 2022, Ginkgo Bioworks agreed to acquire Zymergen for $300 million in an all-stock deal. [17]

On 27 July 2022, it was reported that Ginkgo Bioworks would acquire Bayer's Biologics Research & Development site, located in West Sacramento. Ginkgo will enter into a new multi-year platform collaboration with Bayer. The deal includes the integration of the R&D platform assets from Joyn Bio, a joint-venture between Leaps by Bayer investments and Ginkgo Bioworks. [18]

On 4 October 2022, it was reported that Ginkgo Bioworks would acquire France-based adaptive laboratory evolution instruments developer Altar and California-based Circularis to strengthen capabilities in cell and gene therapy. [19] [ self-published source ] [20] [21] [ self-published source ]

In October 2022, Bloomberg News reported that Ginkgo Bioworks partnered with Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity to create a software tool to help detect when biological organisms have been genetically engineered. The tool known as ENDAR (short for Engineered Nucleotide Detection and Ranking) could be used to provide an early warning of bioweapons and other man-made biological threats. [22]

Fraud allegations

On 6 October 2021, a market research firm published a report accusing Ginkgo of embellishing its revenue in a complex scheme highly dependent on related-party transactions. [23] The report prompted an inquiry into Ginkgo by the United States Department of Justice. [24] In November 2021, Ginkgo was sued in a shareholder lawsuit alleging it misrepresented its revenue sources in statements regarding its merger with a Special-purpose acquisition company. [25] As of 2021, the company could not name a single significant product that is manufactured and sold using its organisms. [26]

In March 2023, the former Attorney General of Louisiana launched an investigation into the officers and directors of Ginkgo. [27]

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 3 Kirsner, Scott (24 July 2015). "Dollars and scents". Boston Globe . pp. C4. Retrieved 23 December 2022– via Newspapers.com.
  2. ↑ Ginkgo Bioworks Holdings, Inc. 2022 Annual Report (Form 10-K). U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. 13 March 2023. pp. 31, F-4, F-5.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Logan, Tim (3 April 2021). "Ginkgo Bioworks aims to keep growing with new building in Seaport". Boston Globe . p. D1. Retrieved 23 December 2022– via Newspapers.com.
  4. ↑ Molteni, Megan (14 September 2017). "With Designer Bacteria, Crops One Day Could Fertilize Themselves". Wired . Archived from the original on 5 December 2017. Retrieved 4 December 2017.
  5. ↑ Herper, Mathew (8 June 2016). "Boston Startup Raises $100 Million To Use Synthetic Biology To Design Microbes For Industry" . Forbes . Archived from the original on 9 Jun 2016. Retrieved 4 December 2017.
  6. ↑ Adams, Susan (14 September 2017). "Bayer And Ginkgo Bioworks, A Startup, Aim To Make Crops Produce Their Own Nitrogen Fertilizer" . Forbes . Archived from the original on 5 December 2017. Retrieved 4 December 2017.
  7. ↑ Weisman, Robert (29 September 2016). "Ginkgo Bioworks opens production site for custom cells" . Boston Globe . Retrieved 4 December 2017.
  8. 1 2 Spalding, Rebecca (9 October 2019). "Ginkgo Bioworks raises $350 million fund for biotech spinouts". Reuters. Archived from the original on 7 November 2019. Retrieved 7 November 2019.
  9. ↑ Weber, Joel (6 November 2019). "Ginkgo Bioworks CEO Wants Biology to Manufacture Physical Goods" . Bloomberg News . Retrieved 7 November 2019.
  10. 1 2 de León, Riley (17 September 2021). "Ginkgo Bioworks begins trading on the NYSE after completing SPAC merger". CNBC . Archived from the original on 17 September 2021. Retrieved 17 September 2021.
  11. ↑ Price, Thomas (9 January 2021). "Startup Novogy Acquired by Ginkgo Bioworks". Archived from the original on 9 January 2021. Retrieved 21 December 2022.
  12. ↑ Nishant, Niket (11 May 2021). "Biotech firm Ginkgo to merge with Harry Sloan-led SPAC in $17.5 billion deal". Reuters. Archived from the original on 11 May 2021. Retrieved 12 May 2021.
  13. ↑ "Taking Ginkgo Public on NYSE:DNA". Ginkgo Bioworks. 14 May 2021. Archived from the original on 15 May 2021. Retrieved 15 May 2021.
  14. ↑ Pan, Eddie (7 April 2022). "Baillie Gifford Just Bought Ginkgo Bioworks (DNA) Stock. Here's Why". InvestorPlace. Archived from the original on 12 October 2022. Retrieved 21 December 2022.
  15. ↑ "Ginkgo Bioworks Signs Definitive Agreement to Acquire FGen AG, a leading bioengineering company and its proprietary ultra-high-throughput screening platform" (Press release). Ginkgo Bioworks. Archived from the original on 4 October 2022. Retrieved 4 October 2022.
  16. ↑ "Ginkgo Bioworks Acquires Bitome, an Integrated Metabolite Monitoring Platform" (Press release). Ginkgo Bioworks. 6 June 2022. Retrieved 4 October 2022.
  17. ↑ Saul, Derek (25 July 2022). "Ginkgo Buys Embattled Biotech Firm Zymergen For Paltry $300 Million" . Forbes .
  18. ↑ "Ginkgo and Bayer Sign Definitive Agreement to Build Agricultural Biologicals R&D Platform Capabilities" (Press release). Bayer. Archived from the original on 5 October 2022. Retrieved 5 October 2022– via Yahoo! Finance.
  19. ↑ "Ginkgo Bioworks Acquires Adaptive Laboratory Evolution Company Altar" (Press release). Ginkgo Bioworks. 4 October 2022. Archived from the original on 4 October 2022. Retrieved 4 October 2022– via TipRanks.
  20. ↑ LeMieux, Julianna (5 October 2022). "Two Is Better Than One: Ginkgo Bioworks Acquires Altar and Circularis". Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News . Archived from the original on 5 October 2022. Retrieved 5 October 2022.
  21. ↑ "Ginkgo Bioworks Acquires Circularis to Strengthen Capabilities in Cell and Gene Therapy" (Press release). Ginkgo Bioworks. Archived from the original on 4 October 2022. Retrieved 2022-10-04– via TipRanks.
  22. ↑ Griffin, Riley (17 October 2022). "Ginkgo Is Trying to Detect Future Man-Made Biological Threats" . Bloomberg News. Archived from the original on 18 October 2022.
  23. ↑ Doctor, Vanessa (7 October 2021). "Ginkgo Bioworks Hit After Short Seller Claims Business Model a 'Shell Game'". Biospace. Retrieved 14 March 2024.
  24. ↑ Lokuwithana, Dulan (15 November 2021). "Ginkgo Bioworks says it received inquiry from DOJ after short seller report". SeekingAlpha. Retrieved 14 March 2024.
  25. ↑ Jackson, Sierra (19 November 2021). "Biotech Ginkgo sued over revenue statements for $15 bln SPAC deal". Reuters. Retrieved 14 March 2024.
  26. ↑ Regalado, Antonio (24 August 2021). "Is Ginkgo's synthetic-biology story worth $15 billion?". MIT Technology Review. Retrieved 14 April 2024.
  27. ↑ "GINKGO BIOWORKS INVESTIGATION INITIATED by Former Louisiana Attorney General: Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC Investigates the Officers and Directors of Ginkgo Bioworks Holdings, Inc. - DNA". BusinessWire. 25 March 2023. Retrieved 14 March 2024.

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