Joyn Bio will manufacture microbial products using synthetic biology to reduce the amount of chemical fertilizer farmers need to apply, with initial products likely seed treatments focused on nitrogen fixation. The venture leverages Bayer's strain library of more than 100,000 proprietary microbial strains and full access to Ginkgo’s 20,000 sq. ft. Boston foundry, where Joyn Bio will be headquartered, while a small team will be based in West Sacramento for field and greenhouse testing. Mike Miille, previously head of strategy and business management for biologicals at Bayer Crop Science, was appointed CEO in October 2017. The company plans to build its Boston team to about 30 people, hiring synthetic and molecular biologists from within Ginkgo and Bayer. Future targets may include soybean rust and citrus greening, and products will not be exclusive to Bayer; Joyn Bio will operate like an independent startup in distribution. The venture is positioned to produce biologicals at far higher performance levels than current natural-approach microbes by applying sequencing and discovery mechanisms similar to pharma.

Total raised

$100M

Funding rounds

1

Latest round

Equity

Latest activity

Mar 2018