Ginkgo Bioworks Announces Acquisition of AgBiome's Platform Assets

BOSTON, April 11, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Ginkgo Bioworks (NYSE: DNA), which is building the leading platform for cell programming and biosecurity, announced the acquisition of AgBiome's platform assets, including over 115,000 fully sequenced and isolated strains, over 500 million unique gene sequences, and relevant functional data and metadata, as well as AgBiome's development pipeline. These assets will be integrated into Ginkgo Ag Biologicals Services, established with the acquisition of a Bayer agricultural biologicals R&D facility in 2022, and will expand Ginkgo's proprietary unified metagenomics database. Combined, this creates one of the deepest and most advanced ag biological discovery and development platforms as well as a rich resource for the development of AI models for biological R&D. 

Since its founding in 2012, AgBiome has worked to generate an extensive collection of biological products and technologies - from agricultural products, to bioactive ingredients, to gene editing tools - through its Genesis Discovery Platform. AgBiome has successfully commercialized multiple biological products, including the Howler and Theia product lines, which are not included in the acquisition. AgBiome has developed a massive microbial strain library from over 8,000 geographically diverse environmental samples. These isolates have been fully sequenced, producing a rich library with over 500 million unique gene sequences. Also included in the acquisition is a robust product concept pipeline including a dozen product candidates with greenhouse or field validation - these validated assets create a rich foundation for future partnered programs, as well as a diverse resource of metagenomic data for genomic mining and AI model training.

Michael Miille, Ginkgo Fellow: "We are so excited to bring AgBiome's incredible strain and metagenomic collection into Ginkgo. This is a world class asset that will significantly expand our capabilities and can directly benefit Ginkgo's customers in the ag biologicals space. In addition to the platform assets and capabilities, the product concepts pipeline that has been validated by AgBiome to date provides an exciting opportunity to give customers a head-start in their product development efforts." 

Laura Potter, AgBiome CSO: "These assets represent a massive, ground-breaking investment into exploring and characterizing microbial diversity for human benefit, and we can't think of a better home for them than the Ginkgo platform."

Leverage Ginkgo's R&D services and validated assets to get a headstart in ag biologicals. Visit our website at https://www.ginkgobioworks.com/offerings/ag-biologicals-discovery-development. 

About Ginkgo Bioworks

Ginkgo Bioworks is the leading horizontal platform for cell programming, providing flexible, end-to-end services that solve challenges for organizations across diverse markets, from food and agriculture to pharmaceuticals to industrial and specialty chemicals. Ginkgo Biosecurity is building and deploying the next-generation infrastructure and technologies that global leaders need to predict, detect, and respond to a wide variety of biological threats. For more information, visit ginkgobioworks.com and ginkgobiosecurity.com, read our blog, or follow us on social media channels such as X (@Ginkgo and @Ginkgo_Biosec), Instagram (@GinkgoBioworks), Threads (@GinkgoBioworks), or LinkedIn.

Ginkgo Bioworks Investor Contact:
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Ginkgo Bioworks Media Contact:
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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 capabilities and potential success of the acquisition 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) volatility in the price of Ginkgo's securities 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, and changes in laws and regulations affecting Ginkgo's business, (ii) the ability to implement business plans, forecasts, and other expectations, and to identify and realize additional business opportunities, (iii) the risk of downturns in demand for products using synthetic biology, (iv) the uncertainty regarding the demand for passive monitoring programs and biosecurity services, (v) changes to the biosecurity industry, including due to advancements in technology, emerging competition and evolution in industry demands, standards and regulations, (vi) the outcome of any pending or potential legal proceedings against Ginkgo, (vii) our ability to realize the expected benefits from and the success of our Foundry platform programs, (viii) our ability to successfully develop engineered cells, bioprocesses, data packages or other deliverables, and (ix) the product development or commercialization success of our customers. 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 February 29, 2024 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 Ginkgo Bioworks