SoftBank Vision Fund, the $98.6bn fund formed by telecommunications firm SoftBank, led a $400m series C round for US-based molecular production technology developer Zymergen yesterday
Investment banking firm Goldman Sachs, investment manager Hanwha Asset Management and venture capital firms DCVC, DFJ, Innovation Endeavors, True Ventures and Two Sigma Ventures also invested.
Zymergen utilises bioengineering, machine learning and automation technology to create specialty chemicals or products for use in industries such as pharmaceuticals, agriculture or advanced chemicals and materials, that eschew the use of petroleum.
The series C proceeds will be used to double the capacity of Zymergen’s technology platform as it looks to improve the pace and reliability of the process and begin supplying its own products on a commercial basis.
Deep Nishar, senior managing partner at SoftBank Investment Advisers, which runs Vision Fund, said: “The secular trend of synthetic biology, enabled by the genomics revolution and computational biology, is creating new opportunities across multiple industrial sectors.
“We believe the company’s differentiated combination of AI and genomics creates a platform that makes it economically viable to engineer biology and build better, novel and sustainable products. We are excited to support the Zymergen team in unlocking this potential to advance industries past their dependency on conventional hydrocarbon processing.”
The round increased Zymergen’s funding to $574m since it was founded to 2013. SoftBank led its last round, a $130m series B in late 2016 that reportedly valued the company at $430m.
DCVC, DFJ, Innovation Endeavors, True Ventures and Two Sigma also took part in the series B round, as did AME Cloud Ventures, Obvious Ventures, Iconiq Capital, Prelude Ventures and Tao Capital Partners. The company’s earlier investors include company builder HVF.
