Participated · Series A · Oct 2021

Arcaea develops cell-grown cosmetic ingredients using Ginkgo Bioworks’ platform to program cells to produce functional materials such as keratin and sun-protection components. The company plans to grow keratin in bioreactors without animal sourcing, enabling local production and shorter supply chains that reduce emissions. Arcaea aims to create entirely new, engineered ingredients by reprogramming proteins to deliver specific effects (for example, altering hair structure to curl or straighten). Founder and CEO Yasmina Aganovich previously founded Mother Dirt in 2015 and left in 2019 to become an entrepreneur-in-residence at Ginkgo, where she established Arcaea. The startup intends to supply its ingredients to cosmetic brands and also plans to release its own product line. Management says it will take several years to bring new products to market, is investing heavily in R&D now, and expects lab-grown ingredients ultimately to be priced comparably to existing market alternatives. Financially, Arcaea has secured $78 million from major beauty players including Chanel, perfumery company Givaudan, and Viking Global Investors.

Led · Series A · Sep 2021

Ayana Bio uses Ginkgo Bioworks’ cell programming platform to produce high-purity plant and fungal bioactive ingredients for complementary medicines, nutraceuticals, and traditional medicines. The company aims to replace unsustainable harvesting and reduce variability in natural-source ingredients by manufacturing standardized, clean, and reliable bioactives via fermentation. Ayana plans to collaborate with consumer packaged goods brands, supplement makers, specialized nutrition firms, OTC companies, and traditional medicines stakeholders to commercialize these ingredients in convenient forms. The approach targets markets spanning nutrition to herbal medicines, which the article states together represent over $400 billion. Ayana positioned biotechnology as a solution for content standardization, product safety, and sustainable ingredient supply. The company launched with a Series A and is part of Ginkgo’s Platform Ventures portfolio alongside companies like Joyn Bio and Motif FoodWorks.

Participated · Series A · Oct 2020

Allonnia develops selective separation solutions that enable industrial customers to eliminate pollutants and upgrade mineral resources. Its portfolio includes SAFF®, which targets PFAS treatment, and Allonnia D-Solve, a recyclable biosolution that dissolves gangue minerals to deliver cleaner, higher-value concentrates. The company is positioning D-Solve as a key tool for miners striving to improve critical-mineral recovery while reducing environmental impact. Led by CEO Nicole Richards, Allonnia plans to pilot D-Solve at its first mine site and scale commercial deployments. The firm describes its capabilities as “bio-ingenuity,” combining biology and engineering to solve complex environmental challenges. Following the latest financing, Allonnia’s total capital raised exceeds $100 million, giving it resources to accelerate go-to-market efforts and expand its technology stack.

Participated · Series D · Dec 2017

Ginkgo Bioworks Inc. is developing live cell therapeutics and cell-based technologies. The company received a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The funding supports development of a novel cell-based technology to improve delivery of protein therapeutics. The work is aimed at improving delivery for patients in low- and middle-income countries. The project targets infectious diseases including HIV and malaria. Ginkgo Bioworks uses a cell programming platform and large-scale automation hardware and software to design and grow biological products across diverse markets, including food, fragrance and pharmaceuticals. The company is deploying resources to build an epidemic monitoring and diagnostic testing facility in its Boston Seaport labs. Ginkgo plans to develop processes that use Illumina’s next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology for large-scale COVID-19 testing, whole genome sequencing and environmental monitoring. It has made its current NGS capacity available at no cost to public health departments across the U.S. Ginkgo says it aims to have NGS-based testing capacity to help reopen schools and businesses and is currently in an early build phase. Jason Kelly is the CEO and co-founder. Ginkgo Bioworks develops a platform for programming cells to grow products rather than manufacture them, targeting consumer goods markets including fragrance, cosmetics, nutrition and food. Led by CEO and co-founder Jason Kelly, the company partners with large industry players to scale applications of its platform. Recent strategic agreements include a $122M deal with Cronos for cultured cannabinoids, a partnership with Roche worth up to $160M to discover antibiotics, and an $80M investment in Synlogic to advance living medicines. Ginkgo has also spun out companies to commercialize applications of its technology, including Motif Foodworks (launched with $117M) and Joyn Bio in 2017. The company intends to use the new funds to further expand the reach of its cell-programming platform. Following this round, total funding for Ginkgo reached $719M. Ginkgo Bioworks develops engineered microbes and serves as an organism-design backbone for customers in consumer goods, agriculture and pharmaceuticals. Its products and work have included yeasts for flavors and fragrances, probiotics developed with DARPA, and bacteria aimed at reducing reliance on chemical fertilizers. The company is building out a Bioworks3 production facility and says the new capital will let it branch into more markets. Last year it entered a $100 million joint venture with Bayer to develop nitrogen‑fixing bacteria for agriculture. Ginkgo has raised significant venture capital since graduating Y Combinator and is exploring an eventual public listing. The company was founded in 2009 and operates out of Boston. Its stated strategy is to design and ship microbes while partners commercialize downstream products. Ginkgo Bioworks is a Boston-based biotech startup that engineers microbes to produce scents, flavors and other products for the flavor, fragrance and food industries. It also works with DARPA on probiotic programs and is exploring expansion into commodity chemicals, industrial enzymes, and human health markets. The company purchased 600 million base pairs of synthetic DNA—the firm says it is the largest synthetic DNA purchase ever—to accelerate testing and product development. Ginkgo will source that DNA from Twist Bioscience and Gen9, with Twist pledging to deliver at least 400 million base pairs by the end of 2017. The startup is finishing a 70,000-square-foot automated facility called Bioworks2 to test designer DNA prototypes and scale new products. Following this round, Ginkgo has raised $154 million in total funding and faces competition from companies such as Zymergen.