Zymergen is an American

biotechnology Biotechnology is the integration of natural sciences and engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms, cells, parts thereof and molecular analogues for products and services. The term ''biotechnology'' was first used b ...

company based in

Emeryville, California Emeryville is a city located in northwest Alameda County, California, in the United States. It lies in a corridor between the cities of Berkeley and Oakland, with a border on the shore of San Francisco Bay. The resident population was 12,905 as o ...

. The company applies

genomics Genomics is an interdisciplinary field of biology focusing on the structure, function, evolution, mapping, and editing of genomes. A genome is an organism's complete set of DNA, including all of its genes as well as its hierarchical, three-dim ...

and

machine learning Machine learning (ML) is a field of inquiry devoted to understanding and building methods that 'learn', that is, methods that leverage data to improve performance on some set of tasks. It is seen as a part of artificial intelligence. Machine ...

to research and design chemical producing

genetically modified organisms A genetically modified organism (GMO) is any organism whose genetic material has been altered using genetic engineering techniques. The exact definition of a genetically modified organism and what constitutes genetic engineering varies, with ...

. Shortly after going public in 2021, it was reported that the company was facing difficulties in manufacturing products and struggling to make revenue. In July 2022,

Ginkgo Bioworks Ginkgo Bioworks is an American biotech company founded in 2008 by five scientists from MIT, headed by Jason Kelly. The company specializes in using genetic engineering to produce bacteria with industrial applications. Ginkgo Bioworks is an analyt ...

agreed to acquire Zymergen for $300 million.

History

Zymergen was founded in 2013. The company uses machine learning and artificial intelligence to study and modify microbes which produce chemicals. Many of the chemical compounds produced by these organisms are used in manufacturing consumer goods or pharmaceuticals. The company raised $2 million in 2013, $44 million in 2015, $130 million from

SoftBank is a Japanese multinational conglomerate holding company headquartered in Minato, Tokyo which focuses on investment management. The Group primarily invests in companies operating in technology, energy, and financial sectors. It also runs the ...

's Vision Fund in 2016, $400 million in 2018, and $300 million in 2020. The company reportedly included

DARPA The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is a research and development agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the development of emerging technologies for use by the military. Originally known as the Adv ...

and

Fortune 500 The ''Fortune'' 500 is an annual list compiled and published by ''Fortune'' magazine that ranks 500 of the largest United States corporations by total revenue for their respective fiscal years. The list includes publicly held companies, along ...

companies among its customers by 2016. In 2018, Zymergen acquired fellow biotechnology firm Radiant Genomics. The company released its first product, Hyaline, in December 2020. Hyaline, a bio-manufactured optical polymer film, was marketed for use with consumer electronics such as flexible smartphones and tablets. In April 2021, the company went public with a $500 million

IPO An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...

. The IPO was led by

JPMorgan Chase JPMorgan Chase & Co. is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered in New York City and incorporated in Delaware. As of 2022, JPMorgan Chase is the largest bank in the United States, the ...

and

Goldman Sachs Goldman Sachs () is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is headquartered at 200 West Street in Lower Manhattan, with regional headquarters in London, Warsaw, Bangalore, H ...

. Regulatory filings with the

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street Crash of 1929. The primary purpose of the SEC is to enforce the law against market ...

in July revealed that the company had made only $13 million in revenue during 2020, and had lost over $262 million. The filings also revealed that the company was struggling to produce Hyaline, and that two of its companies had complained did not mesh with their manufacturing process. When these operational problems became public it resulted in a sharp reduction in

market capitalization Market capitalization, sometimes referred to as market cap, is the total value of a publicly traded company's outstanding common shares owned by stockholders. Market capitalization is equal to the market price per common share multiplied by t ...

and shareholder lawsuits were filed shortly after. Co-founder Josh Hoffman's resignation as CEO in August 2021 caused Zymergen's stock to plunge. He was replaced by acting CEO Jay Flatley, who is also currently Zymergen's chairman and

Illumina, Inc. Illumina, Inc. is an American biotechnology company, headquartered in San Diego, California. Incorporated on April 1, 1998, Illumina develops, manufactures, and markets integrated systems for the analysis of genetic variation and biological funct ...

's former CEO. After Zymergen's stock prices crashed, investor

Cathie Wood Catherine Duddy Wood (born November 26, 1955) is an American investor and the founder, CEO and CIO of Ark Invest, an investment management firm. Early life and education Wood was born in Los Angeles, the eldest child of immigrants from Irela ...

began buying up its shares, which raised prices again. In the wake of these financial issues, the company began restructuring to cut costs, including renegotiating loans, laying off hundreds of employees, and restructuring lease expenses for office space. Company founder Jed Dean also departed from the company. In November 2021, Zymergen announced that it had abandoned the production of Hyaline, and would be focusing on drug and vaccine development. The company's highly publicized difficulties in bringing its projected products to market and has drawn comparisons to other biotechnology companies such as

Amyris ''Amyris'' is a genus of flowering plants in the citrus family, Rutaceae. The generic name is derived from the Greek language, Greek word αμ ('), which means "intensely scented" and refers to the strong odor of the resin. Members of the genus ...

and

Theranos Theranos Inc. () was an American privately held corporation that was touted as a breakthrough health technology company. Founded in 2003 by then 19-year-old Elizabeth Holmes, Theranos raised more than US$700 million from venture capitalists and ...

. In July 2022,

agreed to acquire Zymergen for $300 million in an all-stock deal.

References

External links

* {{Official, https://www.zymergen.com/ 2013 establishments in California 2022 mergers and acquisitions Biotechnology companies of the United States Companies based in California Companies formerly listed on the Nasdaq

History

See also

References

External links