US-based microbe engineering services provider Ginkgo Bioworks has received $70m in funding from genomics technology producer Illumina, growth equity firm General Atlantic and hedge fund manager Viking Global Investors.
Spun out of Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2009, Ginkgo has developed cell programming technology that is capable of growing organisms for industrial applications such as nutritional products, consumer goods and fragrances.
Gingko has itself established a series of spinoffs including microbiome technology producer Joyn Bio and alternative protein developer Motif FoodWorks. It formed a $350m investment vehicle, Ferment Consortium, in October 2019 to form additional subsidiaries.
The company will use the latest cash injection to build the infrastructure required for large-scale testing of Covid-19. It will exploit its existing automation capabilities and partner Illumina, which is providing access to its whole genome sequencing and environmental monitoring technologies.
Illumina and Ginkgo expect to be able to run tens of thousands of tests simultaneously on equipment no larger than a washing machine, in theory facilitating the safe reopening of schools and business through test and trace schemes.
Ginkgo has now raised more than $789m in equity financing to date, beginning with $120,000 of seed funding from unnamed backers in 2014.
Felicis Ventures, OS Fund, Data Collective, iGlobe Partners and Vast Ventures provided $9m in series A funding in March 2015, before Viking Global led a $45m series B round four months later with contributions from OS Fund, Felicis Ventures and Y Combinator.
Y Combinator’s Continuity Fund and Viking Global also took part in a $100m series C round in 2016, investing alongside Senator Investment Group, Cascade Investment, Baillie Gifford and Allen and Company.
Gingko became a unicorn in 2017 when Y Combinator’s Continuity Fund, Cascade Investment, General Atlantic and private investor Bill Gates supplied $275m in series D funding. Its existing investors all subsequently returned for a $290m series E round in September 2019.
