Funding profile · Synthetic biology

Ginkgo Bioworks

Ginkgo took $1.51 billion net out of a 2021 SPAC and has spent most of it. Every number below comes from a filing.

$1.51BNet proceeds from the Sep 2021 SPAC merger, incl. $760.0M PIPE
$6.15BAccumulated deficit at Dec 31, 2025
$302MCash and marketable securities at Jun 30, 2026
$631MMarket value on Sep 16, 2026

Data as of September 22, 2026. Company-reported figures are labeled.

Rounds at a glance

When Round Amount Investors Source
Jul 2015 Equity offering, Reg D $50.0M sold, amended to $51.6M 68, then 70 Form D
2017 to 2019 Private rounds Not disclosed Valued about $1B in 2017, $4.86B in 2019, per PitchBook Independent
Sep 2019 to Jul 2021 Series E preferred $291.7M to related persons alone, at $150.19 a share Named holders and directors 10-K
May 2021 SPAC announced $17.5B deal, incl. a $15B valuation; PIPE announced at $775M Soaring Eagle; Baillie Gifford, Putnam, Counterpoint Global, Ark, Bain, Cascade CNBC
Sep 2021 Merger closed $1,509.6M net, incl. $760.0M PIPE; $108.1M costs Public and PIPE 10-K
Sep 2025 to Jun 2026 At the market $34.6M net from 3.7M shares of a $100M program Allen & Company, agent 10-Q
Apr 2026 Biosecurity divestiture No cash; about 20% of the buyer Tower Biosecurity, Inc. 8-K

What the filings show

Ginkgo Bioworks, Inc. · Form D · filed Jul 23, 2015

First sale
Jul 8, 2015
Offered
$50,036,545 equity
Sold
$50,036,545 · $0 remaining
Investors
68 · average about $735,832
Exemption
Rule 506(b)
Related persons
Jason Kelly and Reshma Shetty (directors, executive officers); Bartholomew Canton (executive officer); Peter Boynton (director)
Filing
SEC EDGAR, CIK 0001648827

Ginkgo Bioworks, Inc. · Form D/A · filed Sep 2, 2015

First sale
Jul 8, 2015, unchanged
Offered
$51,631,250 equity
Sold
$51,631,250 · $0 remaining
Investors
70 · average about $737,589
Exemption
Rule 506(b)
Related persons
Same four
Filing
CIK 0001648827

Reading the filings

  1. The 2015 round was papered as it filled.Both notices report offered and sold as the same figure: $50,036,545 to 68 investors, then $51,631,250 to 70 six weeks later. The amendment adds $1,594,705 and two names, about $797,000 each. Average check across the closed round: $737,589.
  2. Announced and filed PIPE differ by $15 million.CNBC reported a $775 million private placement on May 11, 2021. The fiscal 2021 10-K reports $760.0 million received from the PIPE at closing. No filing found explains the gap.
  3. Getting public cost 7 percent of the cash.Transaction costs were $108.1 million against $1,509.6 million of net proceeds. The PIPE supplied 50.3 percent of what arrived.
  4. Nine tenths of the headline losses were non cash.Stock based compensation was $1,606.0 million in 2021 and $1,930.6 million in 2022: $3,536.6 million of the $3,934.9 million combined net loss, or 90 percent. Losses since are smaller, $547.0 million in 2024 and $312.8 million in 2025.
  5. Related party revenue peaked before the listing.The audited statements report $42.5 million of it inside $59.2 million of 2020 foundry revenue, 72 percent of that line, then $47.2 million (2021), $38.8 million (2022), $22.2 million (2023), $53.0 million (2024) and $8.8 million (2025). The short seller who built a fraud allegation on this in October 2021 was reading a published number.
  6. The runway is measurable in quarters.Cash and restricted cash fell from $1,592.9 million at the end of 2021 to $212.4 million at the end of 2025. With marketable securities: $423 million at year end, $302 million at June 30, 2026, against guided 2026 burn of $125 million to $150 million.

Commercial signals

Signal Detail Source type
Listing NYSE notice May 7, 2024 after a sub $1 thirty day average; one for forty reverse split Aug 19, 2024. Public record
Concentration In 2025 one Cell Engineering customer was 15% of revenue, one Biosecurity customer 12%. Public record
Cost base Annualised run rate cost cut of $190 million as of Q4 2024, target $250 million by end Q3 2025. Headcount 1,292 at end 2022, 485 at end 2025. Company-stated
Government demand A $47 million, 97 instrument lab for Pacific Northwest National Laboratory; NSF funded cloud lab builds named for Caltech, Northwestern and Maryland. Company-stated
Pharma demand Novo Nordisk bought a Ginkgo autonomous lab for a Waltham R&D site, Sep 15, 2026. Terms undisclosed. Independent
Sell side Three analysts, average rating Sell, target $7.00, Sep 16, 2026. Market data

What to watch

  • Whether the at the market program is drawn harder. About $65 million of the $100 million is unused.
  • How much of the $20 million Q2 2026 continuing operations line is autonomous lab hardware.
  • How Ginkgo marks its roughly 20 percent stake in Tower Biosecurity.
  • Whether the derivative settlement reforms change related party disclosure.

The Ginkgo Bioworks story on Healthcare DiscoveryHealthcare Discovery

Related companies

  • Culture Biosciences: Also in Industrial Bio. A cloud lab that ran other companies’ fermentation for them, now selling the bioreactor itself through Cytiva
  • CB Therapeutics: Also in Industrial Bio. A Carlsbad company that brews cannabinoids, psilocybin and other plant and fungal molecules in engineered yeast
  • Synvivia: Also in Industrial Bio. A UC Berkeley spinout that built molecular on and off switches so engineered microbes die unless they are fed a specific chemical
  • 20n: Also in Industrial Bio. A Y Combinator biotech whose software invented a fermentation route to the active ingredient in Tylenol, then published its whole stack as open source in March 2017 and

Sources

  1. Public recordForm D and Form D/A, Ginkgo Bioworks, Inc., CIK 0001648827SEC · Jul 23 and Sep 2, 2015
  2. Public recordForm 10-K, fiscal 2021SEC · Mar 29, 2022
  3. Public recordForm 10-K, fiscal 2025SEC · Feb 26, 2026
  4. Public recordForm 10-Q, quarter ended June 30, 2026SEC · Aug 6, 2026
  5. Public recordForm 8-K, completion of the Biosecurity divestitureSEC · Apr 7, 2026
  6. Public recordFourth quarter results, Exhibit 99.1, 2024 and 2025SEC · Feb 2025 and 2026
  7. Public recordSEC XBRL company factsSEC · accessed Sep 22, 2026
  8. IndependentBill Gates-backed Ginkgo Bioworks going public via $15 billion SPACCNBC · May 11, 2021
  9. IndependentIs Ginkgo’s synthetic-biology story worth $15 billion?MIT Technology Review · Aug 24, 2021
  10. IndependentGinkgo Receives Continued Listing Standard Notice From NYSEStock Titan · May 13, 2024
  11. IndependentNovo Nordisk Buys Ginkgo Autonomous LabSecurities.io · Sep 15, 2026
  12. Market dataGinkgo Bioworks Holdings (DNA) stock overviewStockAnalysis.com · Sep 16, 2026

Compiled from SEC filings and published reports as of September 22, 2026. Form D notices report offerings under Regulation D; amounts reflect the filing date. Healthcare Venture Capital Fund holds no position in Ginkgo Bioworks. This page is not an offer to sell or a recommendation to buy any security.