Evo Foods and Ginkgo Bioworks Announce Partnership to Develop Animal-Free Egg Products

Evo Foods will leverage Ginkgo's cell engineering capabilities to explore recombinant production methods for egg proteins

PALO ALTO, Calif. and BOSTON, May 11, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Evo Foods, a consumer packaged goods company creating the next generation of plant-based substitutes for animal products, and Ginkgo Bioworks (NYSE: DNA), the leading horizontal platform for cell programming, today announced a partnership to develop a method for producing animal-free egg proteins for use in Evo's products.

Facing increasing consumer demand for animal-free food alternatives, companies throughout the food industry are searching for optimal animal protein replacements that can seamlessly supplement consumer tastes. Current egg substitutes have limitations in their ability to replicate the texture, taste, cooking properties and nutritional profile of eggs. Evo started in 2020 with the mission to end animal agriculture by creating superior substitutes for animal-derived products by leveraging India's crop biodiversity, starting with the launch of several animal-free egg substitute products. The company recently showcased its products in the U.S. for the first time in San Francisco on April 27, 2022. By collaborating with Ginkgo, Evo intends to create next generation egg substitutes with vastly improved properties.

"As consumers and food brands alike call for more sustainable food options, we are excited to collaborate with Ginkgo to pioneer a new class of animal-free ingredients," said Kartik Dixit, CEO, Evo Foods. "Evo is committed to playing a part in feeding our ever-growing world, and this partnership will support us as we develop next-generation products in this market."

"Ginkgo is always looking for new ways to help developers solve massive societal challenges through the use of biology, and partnering with Evo Foods to create more sustainable food ingredients is the perfect opportunity," said Jason Kelly, CEO and cofounder, Ginkgo Bioworks. "We're excited to help Evo make delicious food ingredients sustainably."

Evo Foods is using Ginkgo's Cell Development Kits (CDKs) for this work. CDKs are designed to cut the cost of launching a cell program and speed up development timelines to build engineered proteins or microbes. The service is also designed to enable customers to prototype their idea in modules, with each module potentially providing data that can inform the customer's project and business strategy. To learn more about Ginkgo CDKs, please visit www.ginkgobioworks.com/grow.

About Evo Foods
Evo Foods is a consumer packaged goods (CPG) company operating in the United States and India that merges Indian crop biodiversity and cutting-edge science and technology to create the next-generation of plant-based substitutes for animal products starting with eggs. For more information, visit www.evofoods.in.

About Ginkgo Bioworks
Ginkgo is building a platform to enable customers to program cells as easily as we can program computers. The company's platform is enabling biotechnology applications across diverse markets, from food and agriculture to industrial chemicals to pharmaceuticals. Ginkgo has also actively supported a number of COVID-19 response efforts, including K-12 pooled testing, vaccine manufacturing optimization and therapeutics discovery. For more information, visit www.ginkgobioworks.com.

Forward-Looking Statements of Ginkgo Bioworks 
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws, including statements regarding the potential success and objectives of the partnership, Ginkgo's Cell Development Kits and Ginkgo's cell programming platform. These forward-looking statements generally are identified by the words "believe," "can," "project," "potential," "expect," "anticipate," "estimate," "intend," "strategy," "future," "opportunity," "plan," "may," "should," "will," "would," "will be," "will continue," "will likely result," and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements are predictions, projections and other statements about future events that are based on current expectations and assumptions and, as a result, are subject to risks and uncertainties. Many factors could cause actual future events to differ materially from the forward-looking statements in this press release, including but not limited to: (i) the effect of Ginkgo's business combination with Soaring Eagle Acquisition Corp. ("Soaring Eagle") on Ginkgo's business relationships, performance, and business generally, (ii) risks that the business combination disrupts current plans of Ginkgo and potential difficulties in Ginkgo's employee retention, (iii) the outcome of any legal proceedings that may be instituted against Ginkgo related to its business combination with Soaring Eagle, (iv) volatility in the price of Ginkgo's securities now that it is a public company due to a variety of factors, including changes in the competitive and highly regulated industries in which Ginkgo operates and plans to operate, variations in performance across competitors, changes in laws and regulations affecting Ginkgo's business and changes in the combined capital structure, (v) the ability to implement business plans, forecasts, and other expectations after the completion of the business combination, and identify and realize additional opportunities, (vi) the risk of downturns in demand for products using synthetic biology, (vii) the unpredictability of the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic and the demand for COVID-19 testing and the commercial viability of our COVID-19 testing business, and (viii) changes to the biosecurity industry, including due to advancements in technology, emerging competition and evolution in industry demands, standards and regulations. The foregoing list of factors is not exhaustive. You should carefully consider the foregoing factors and the other risks and uncertainties described in the "Risk Factors" section of Ginkgo's annual report on Form 10-K filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") on March 29, 2022 and other documents filed by Ginkgo from time to time with the SEC. These filings identify and address other important risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events and results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made. Readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements, and Ginkgo assumes no obligation and does not intend to update or revise these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. Ginkgo does not give any assurance that it will achieve its expectations.

SOURCE Evo Foods USA Inc