If anyone will enable the world to engineer biology, it's Gingko.
Their team has built a platform for biological engineering since day 1.
This is the summary:
* platform for engineering biology (unfair advantage is they've taken this "not a product company" approach since 2009)
* investing up the ecosystem by taking upside in products they engineer for larger companies (not sure if they have an unfair advantage here besides creative financing and momentum, IPO helps with that)
* investing downstream into startups by providing their platform in exchange for equity (YCbio partnership seems like an unfair advantage here)
* mindshare of new minds (iGEM itself is a breeding ground for future synbio employees and leaders who dream of joining Ginkgo, Ginkgo founders co-created iGEM)
Pretty perfect flywheel right there, even if it risks being a spaghetti monster from a corporate structure and cashflow standpoint.
So cool to see this finally coming to light as an IPO. While I don't understand the SPAC benefits, Ginkgo's structure to be able to invest resources into synbio startups in an equity exchange sets them up really well for future cashflow even if the present is not.
I sold my Ginkgo today. I like the company but... Most of their revenue is stock in affiliated companies. I don't think they have a real business today, and the valuation is insane.
Amyris actually has a synthetic biology business. It's less flashy but it's real.
SPAC's are incredibly risky. When they IPO they basically are shell companies with no operating revenue. So their valuations are essentially fake (some get better market caps because the people who create them have "track records"). Once a startup converts into them their valuation becomes much more interesting. It's a huge gamble. A SPAC that hasn't converted yet is essentially a guessing game. If the SPAC is valued at $500M pre conversion and the market doesn't think the company is worth $500M then you can lose a lot. The opposite is also true.
Note - its much more complex than this, but this is the general idea.
And I think it's pretty random which ones have lock-ups and which ones do not. Generally speaking their lockups are more liberal than traditional IPOs, correct? So it may depend on how disciplined the company's large shareholders are.
Their team has built a platform for biological engineering since day 1.
This is the summary:
* platform for engineering biology (unfair advantage is they've taken this "not a product company" approach since 2009)
* investing up the ecosystem by taking upside in products they engineer for larger companies (not sure if they have an unfair advantage here besides creative financing and momentum, IPO helps with that)
* investing downstream into startups by providing their platform in exchange for equity (YCbio partnership seems like an unfair advantage here)
* mindshare of new minds (iGEM itself is a breeding ground for future synbio employees and leaders who dream of joining Ginkgo, Ginkgo founders co-created iGEM)
Pretty perfect flywheel right there, even if it risks being a spaghetti monster from a corporate structure and cashflow standpoint.
So cool to see this finally coming to light as an IPO. While I don't understand the SPAC benefits, Ginkgo's structure to be able to invest resources into synbio startups in an equity exchange sets them up really well for future cashflow even if the present is not.
(Disclosure Ginkgo bought lab equipment from me in the early days, and I just bought their stock today) https://www.ginkgobioworks.com/2009/09/01/pearl-biotech-open...