BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Ginkgo
Bioworks, an organism design company, today announced that it has
raised $45 million in an oversubscribed Series B round. Viking Global, a
firm managing more than $30 billion in capital, led the round along with
previous investors including OS Fund, Y Combinator and Felicis Ventures.
The new funds will be used to expand into new categories such as
pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and probiotics, as well as hire additional
employees and build out Bioworks 2, the next generation of Ginkgo’s
robotic Foundry.
“We’re excited to have top investors like
Viking, OS Fund, Y Combinator and Felicis to support our efforts and
continued growth.”
“Ginkgo Bioworks was our first ever biotech investment and was part of
the Y Combinator class of 2014,” said Sam Altman, President at Y
Combinator. “Synthetic biology is one of the fastest growing areas of
tech right now and Ginkgo is leading the category. We're excited to
invest again in the company."
Ginkgo Bioworks is at the intersection of industrial design and biology,
delivering designer organisms built to specification for customers. The
company specializes in engineering microbes to produce cultured
ingredients such as flavors, fragrances, cosmetics and sweeteners. The
company’s foundry, Bioworks1, employs proprietary software and robotics
to streamline the design, construction and testing of engineered
organisms.
“This new financing allows us to further expand into real-world products
in the nutrition, health and consumer goods sectors as well as add to
our world-class team of engineers and designers,” said Jason Kelly,
Co-founder, Ginkgo Bioworks. “We’re excited to have top investors like
Viking, OS Fund, Y Combinator and Felicis to support our efforts and
continued growth.”
Ginkgo currently has more than 20 organism design contracts with
customers including Fortune 500 companies. These projects include
developing organic pesticides with an agriculture company, sweeteners
for a major beverage company and rose oils for a French fragrance
company, Robertet.
“Synthetic biology is the next frontier for manufacturing, engineering
and medicine,” said Bryan Johnson, Founder of OS Fund. “Ginkgo Bioworks
has strong momentum in meeting customer needs and is emerging as a
leader in this exciting and critical new industry.”
About Ginkgo Bioworks
Gingko Bioworks is an organism design company that is building organisms
to spec for customers across markets including food, health and consumer
goods. The company’s organism engineers work directly with customers
including Fortune 500 companies to design microbes for their specific
needs. The company was founded in 2008 by Tom Knight, a world-renowned
computer scientist, as well as MIT biological engineer school graduates
Jason Kelly, Reshma Shetty, Barry Canton and Austin Che. Ginkgo Bioworks
is based in Boston and is financially backed by Viking Global, Felicis
Ventures, OS Fund, and Y Combinator, as well as a number of angel
investors and funds.