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Apr 11, 2021 23 tweets 18 min read Read on X
DISCUSSION THREAD

Topic: $SRNGU/ $SRNG and potential Ginkgo Bioworks SPAC deal. Specifically, $20B valuation mentioned by Bloomberg

Will walk through some mkt data on chart below

Comments encouraged

#SynBio
$ZY
$AMRS $CDXS $ABCL $SYBX $PGEN
$BLI $TWST $TXG
$WUXAY $CRL $PPD
^Will preface this w list of most interesting things in $SRNGU/ $SRNG S-1

1). HUGE cash trust: $1.5B

2). Mostly entertainment experts (they SPAC'd DraftKings), but sector agnostic

3). Criteria: "High growth +FCF potential"

2). One bio link: $ALLO $KRON @Vida_Ventures @bt_prop
Let's also establish

i). Ginkgo is IP creation biz (a #synbio $TXN/ $INTC/ $AMD) housed in automated CRO (see $PPD $WUXAY $CRL) "on steroids." That gets paid in cash+ stock/royalties

ii). Biology inherently hard to scale, but part of revenue magic of Ginkgo is code reuseability
^There's a type of Biotwitter poster (or pro investor) that specializes in clin trial analysis & turns nose at co's that break old bio financial mold. Struggle to understand software too

Ginkgo's reuseable code base could enable:

10 deals per yr x $100M = $1B rev

$SRNGU/ $SRNG
^ Ginkgo has a dedicated "Deal Team" and seems to always running out of physical lab space, so it is now building an annex across the street from the already massive Drydock building

Big difference from 2013, when Ginkgo was proving its tech with SBIR and Scottish govt grants
Turning back to chart from OP

Ginkgo core #synbio rev
•2018: $40M (Forbes)
•2019: $80M (Forbes)
•2020: unknown (COVID shutdown; focus on Concentric test dev, but did include $MRNA vax capping enzyme project)
•2021: $120M+ ( @buysidebio)

$SRNGU/ $SRNG
forbes.com/sites/amyfeldm…
^Before $MRNA/ $BNTX vaccines found effective vs most current COVID variants (and on path to FDA pediatric approval), Ginkgo was planning to #NGS pool test every U.S. school for huge cost savings

Capacity remains, but may be used less

$SRNGU/ $SRNG
$ILMN
^ @GillianTan @crystaltse @kristenvbrown: found it interesting to compare size of cash trust for $SRNGU/ $SRNG to other healthcare/biotech/medtech SPACs.

Like nothing seen yet

$1.5B is huge

Stopped tracking them in December, but closest one was $500M

^Before #mRNA vax developments, had sized Concentric revenue like so:

($6 test) x (56M K12 students) x (25 weeks) x (5% penetration) = $420M

Now probably less. Maybe $100M still (variant surveill)?

Note: $FLGT had *HUGE* yr with #NGS COVID tests in 2020 ($250M+)

$SRNGU/ $SRNG
Lastly in this box, at $13M in 2020, $ZY has fraction of Ginkgo rev

And it has locked itself into biz model where it sells end products (rather than creating IP for Fortune500 via JVs like Ginkgo)

Perceptive debt/ "going concern" issue too
$SRNGU/ $SRNG

^ cc @AnnaMarieWagner really enjoyed the podcast when it came out in February

Had to transcribe the part about reuseability for the BioTwitter crowd. Makes total sense!
CONTINUED FROM YESTERDAY

Here are "#SynBio 1.0" co's

Added Novozymes ( $NVZMY), which is a more mature biz (laundry enzymes) than Ginkgo, but would have a similar valuation ($17B) if Ginkgo got a $20B

$NVZMY has ~$2.2B in rev and ~$450M in net income
^ Ginkgo's human capital and extreme focus on #DNAsynthesis and Abstraction + Standards (concepts from computer science/electrical engineering imported by Knight/Collins/Endy) set it apart from $NVZMY

Ginkgo is more nimble and can jump into completely new projects in new markets
^A roughly equivalent $NVZMY vs Ginkgo valuation can be made if you assign a generous terminal value to Ginkgo in DCF. That's what it boils down to

Will be interesting to build a Ginkgo model & compare it to $AMRS/ $CDXS too (close direct comps) ( $AMRS is a Ginkgo partner too)
^ $ABCL is a Canadian #synbio co that was able to IPO during pandemic due to its #COVID antibody partnership with $LLY (bamlanivimab)

Ginkgo has an antibody program with @TotientBio. Also runs multiple $BLI machines, and may see more antibody therapeutics programs in future?🧐
^ $ABCL had a huge step up in valuation when it IPO'd. Specialist healthcare funds in early 2020 crossover round made something like 20x from late venture to IPO pricing (not sure the exact number, but it was big)

A $20B valuation assumes Ginkgo is worth more ~2x $ABCL's
^84% of $ABCL's $233M in rev came from bamlanivimab royalties, which got FDA EUA for COVID. Unclear if those will continue now that vaxes are being rolled out. Might be a 1-yr bolus

Ginkgo has more avenues for growth, in both regulated areas (therapeutics) & less regulated areas
Last few bits on Ginkgo. Then going to head off

$TXG is interesting "adjacent" comp also valued around $20B. Far ahead of competitors in tech, like Ginkgo (even though $TXG is a #singlecell tools/software provider). Ginkgo rev could move into parity with $TXG with quick growth
^ Also, Contract Research Organizations (CRO's) in chart are service providers. Unlike Ginkgo, they don't take equity/royalties. And Ginkgo unlocks new value through IP creation, not just running experiments to spec

This gives Ginkgo profile skewed to upside

$PPD $CRL $WUXAY
End of Ginkgo discussion

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More from @Varro_Analytics

Oct 25, 2021
🧵

Great clip from Voigt lab explaining technical barriers to creating *reliable* cell programs ("regulatory networks") with HUNDREDS of genes (like🦠found in nature)

$DNA has chipped away at some of these, though it can still only design reliable programs with ~5-10 genes

🧬
^Barriers $DNA has chipped away at:

Design:
•Codebase has many well-characterized parts
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Build:
@Gen9Bio tech for synthesizing big pieces of 🧬 ("challenging")

Test:
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Circa 2016, Voigt lab at MIT said the limit for cell programs ("regulatory networks") in academia was ~2-4 genes

Compare this with naturally-occurring cell programs that might have hundreds of genes
Read 6 tweets
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“Given all of the sensitivity about this work, it’s difficult to understand why NIH and EcoHealth have still not explained a number of irregularities with the reporting on this grant.”
- @DavidRelman, Stanford Med School

vanityfair.com/news/2021/10/n…
From Vanity Fair, of all publications:

“One distinctive segment of SARS-CoV-2’s genetic code is a furin cleavage site… That is just the feature that EcoHealth Alliance and the Wuhan Institute of Virology had proposed to engineer in the 2018 grant proposal.”
“If I applied for funding to paint Central Park purple and was denied, but then a year later we woke up to find Central Park painted purple, I’d be a prime suspect”
-Jamie Metzl, World Health Organization advisory committee on human genome editing
Read 4 tweets
Oct 11, 2021
$DNA

Discovered @alchemytoday over the weekend

He's a JHU PhD who is now a P.I. at ULisbon. Focuses on #singlecell microbiology🦠

He picked up on some *NOTABLE* details in 175 page short report released by 🦂 last week

Will curate his posts in this🧵

itqb.unl.pt/research/biolo…
On the possible psychology behind the design of the document (see formatting)

$DNA

More on the possible psychology behind the design of the document (see formatting)

$DNA

Read 20 tweets
Mar 24, 2021
S-1 thread

@Zymergen( $ZY) surprised today w $100M Initial Public Offering. JPM, GS, BOA, Cowen

Last valued $1.75B

Word counts

"biofactur-": 173
Hyaline:140
"Nature" (capital N):39
#SyntheticBiology/#SynBio:26
#MachineLearning:24
@Amyris ( $AMRS):2
@Ginkgo:0
@Intrexon (RIP):0 Image
S-1 bit.ly/31b1qhl

$13M in R&D/collab revenue in 2020

$ZY spent "5 years & $50 million" to "launch" (w/o product rev) lead product Hyaline (electronic screen film)

Early version made w chem synthesis, NOT fermentation (#synbio), but plans to ferment later (lower COGS) ImageImageImageImage
^Hyaline chem synth underscores challenge of $ZY's biz model

$ZY trying to simultaneously design/build/test organisms AND market end products

Chem synth gets products into customer hands earlier than $XON/ $AMRS, but might improve top-line focusing on design/build/test w JV's Image
Read 12 tweets

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