Ginkgo Bioworks announced today that it agreed to acquire fungal platform technology developer Dutch DNA ahead of going public.
Last week, the Boston-based cell programming platform developer announced that it was combining with Soaring Eagle Acquisition Corp. to go public. The SPAC values Ginkgo at $15 billion and is expected to provide up to $2.5 billion in primary proceeds, while institutional investors committed $775 million in an oversubscribed private investment in public equity, according to a news release.
In its first acquisition since announcing it would go public, Ginkgo bought Utrecth, The Netherlands-based Dutch DNA and its proprietary platform for developing fungal strains and fermentation processes for producing proteins and organic acids.
Under the agreement, Ginkgo acquires 100% of Dutch DNA’s shares through a combination of cash and equity. Additionally, certain Dutch DNA stakeholders will receive earn-out payments upon the achievement of one or more technical and commercialization milestones, according to the Ginkgo’s latest news release.
Ginkgo plans to integrate Dutch DNA’s team, assets and operations into its broader platform for cell programming and initiate international expansion of its operations. The company expects to close the acquisition in July.
Dutch DNA’s expertise and assets related to the large-scale production of proteins offer valuable tools for Ginkgo’s platform, which contains a “codebase” of biological knowledge, strains and processes for cell programming that effectively helps the development of complex cell programs by drawing on previously characterized DNA code and organisms that have been optimized for production.
The Netherlands-based company’s expertise comes in filamentous fungi, a class of microbes that can be developed into highly efficient producers of proteins and enzymes.
“Where software platforms lean on a codebase of software development kits (SDKs), you can think of cell programming platforms using cell development kits (CDKs) to enable new applications. Dutch DNA has the most exciting fungal “CDK” we have seen, and their work with filamentous fungi is truly differentiating,” Ginkgo CEO Jason Kelly said in the release. “We believe their expertise in developing and engineering these strains, combined with Ginkgo’s automated and high-throughput Foundry, will help us provide best-in-class production hosts to our customers developing protein and enzyme products unlike anything currently available on the market.
“This technology could have applications across a wide range of industries, including more efficient and sustainable production of plant-based foods, low-energy laundry detergents, pharmaceutical manufacturing and more. We are thrilled to welcome Dutch DNA and its talented team, and excited about what we can accomplish together.”
