“It’s Silicon Valley investing in the next big thing, and the next exciting thing, and paying it forward to the next generation of entrepreneurs.”
That’s how John Cumbers recently described the field of synthetic biology, reported Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News. Cumbers has the credentials to back up the claim. He’s the founder of SynBioBeta, a community of engineers, investors and other synbio stakeholders.
Investors certainly think Cumbers is on the mark. In the first quarter of the year, they put about $4.6 billion in synthetic bio companies. That more than four times the amount invested during the same period a year earlier.
Synthetic biology is a field of science that involves redesigning organisms to give them new abilities, according to the National Institutes of Health. The science can be applied to solve issues in medicine, manufacturing and agriculture.
The NIH says synthetic biology differs from gene editing in that in the former, scientists typically stitch together long stretches of DNA and insert them into an organism's genome. These synthesized pieces of DNA could be genes that are found in other organisms or they could be novel. In genome editing, scientists typically use tools to make smaller changes to the organism's own DNA. Genome editing tools can also be used to delete or add small stretches of DNA in the genome.
Life sciences companies drove the investment gains in the first three months of the year. Scoring the biggest cash infusions were private companies like ElevateBio, with a $525 million Series C round, and Insitro, which raised $400 million in Series C capital. The two made GEN’s first-ever A-List for synthetic biology in the private company category. They were joined by Apeel Sciences, National Resilience and Impossible Foods.
Leading the list of public companies was Amyris Inc. (AMRS, Financial) with first-quarter revenue of $173 million in 2020 and nearly $177 million in first-quarter 2021. The Emeryville, California-based company said it expects full-year sales to be about $400 million this year. Amyris provides clean health and beauty products and is a supplier of natural ingredients in the U.S. and internationally. The company traded for nearly $500 in January 2011, but is currently at about $15.45; it has been as low as $1.89 in the past year.
Precigen Inc. (PGEN, Financial) earned second place with revenue of $103 million in 2020. First-quarter sales were about $25 million. Precigen’s wholly-owned subsidiary Precigen ActoBio in early June reported encouraging results from the test of its microbe-based therapy in diabetes. The company is also conducting trials of its treatments for infectious diseases and cancer. Precigen shares have tumbled dramatically since August 2015, when it traded near $60; it’s currently at about $6.
Twist Bioscience Corp. (TWST, Financial) shareholders have fared somewhat better. The stock of the third synthetic bio on the list is just over $126, still well off both its 52-week high of $214 and low of just over $46. Sales of $90 million in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2020 and about $59 million between October 2020 and March 2021 vaulted the company into the third spot on the top five. Twist, whose disruptive platform produces synthetic DNA by “writing” it on a silicon chip, has linked up with Illumina Inc. (ILMN, Financial), Microsoft Corp. (MSFT, Financial) and Western Digital Corp. (WDC, Financial) in a data storage alliance with 11 company partners in the tech business.
Coming in fourth on the list was Ginkgo Bioworks, which merged with the SPAC Soaring Eagle Acquisition Corp. (SRNG, Financial) in May. Fifth was Codexis Inc. (CDXS, Financial). The Redwood City, California-based company discovers, develops and sells biocatalysts. It had revenues of $69 million in 2020 and $18 million in the first quarter of the year.
