Ginkgo Bioworks, a US-based microbe engineering services provider that counts genomics technology producer Illumina as an investor, agreed to a reverse merger with special purpose acquisition company Soaring Eagle Acquisition Corp today.

The deal values the combined business at $17.5bn and includes a $775m private investment in public equity (PIPE) financing co-led by Baillie Gifford, Putnam Investments and Morgan Stanley Investment Management’s Counterpoint Global vehicle.

The PIPE consortium includes accounts advised by Ark Investment Management as well as ArrowMark Partners, Bain Capital Public Equity, Berkshire Partners, Franklin Advisers, Cascade Investment, Casdin Capital, General Atlantic, Senator Investment Group, Viking Global Investors and funds and accounts advised by T Rowe Price.

Soaring Eagle raised $1.73bn through its own initial public offering in February this year, and the merged company will take its listing on the Nasdaq Capital Market.

Founded in 2009, Ginkgo has created cellular programming technology used to grow organisms for industrial applications such as nutritional products, consumer goods and fragrances.

The company has also spun off a series of companies including Joyn Bio and Motif FoodWorks, and initiated a $350m investment fund called Ferment Consortium in late 2019 to launch additional subsidiaries.

Ginkgo had raised more than $789m in equity financing as of a $70m round featuring Illumina, General Atlantic and Viking Global Investors in June 2020. Its earlier investors include Felicis Ventures, OS Fund, Data Collective, iGlobe Partners, Vast Ventures, Senator Investment Group, Cascade Investment, Baillie Gifford, Allen and Company and Bill Gates.

Jason Kelly, Ginkgo’s co-founder and chief executive, said: “Ginkgo’s platform makes it easier to program this code, and we are making this platform available to organisations working to solve our most pressing problems.

“From mRNA vaccines reaching people’s arms to combating climate change, the opportunity to work with programmed cells has never been more apparent. We are thrilled to partner with [deal co-sponsor Arie Belldegrun] as well as the team at Soaring Eagle to bring this vision to life.”

The original version of this article appeared on our sister site, Global University Venturing.

Ginkgo Bioworks, a US-based microbe engineering services spinout of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, agreed to a reverse merger with special purpose acquisition company Soaring Eagle Acquisition Corp today, according to a regulatory filing.
The deal values Ginkgo at $15bn and includes a $775m private investment in public equity (Pipe) co-led by Baillie Gifford, Putnam Investments and Morgan Stanley Investment Management’s Counterpoint Global.
The Pipe financing also includes Ark Investment Management, Bain Capital’s public equity arm, Cascade Investment, T Rowe Price Associates and serial entrepreneur Arie Belldegrun.
Belldegrun and Harry Sloan, former chairman of entertainment group Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, will join Ginkgo’s board as part of the agreement.
Soaring Eagle had raised $1.73bn through its own initial public offering three months ago, putting the reverse merger deal’s total value at $17.5bn.
Founded in 2009, Ginkgo has created cell programming technology to grow organisms for industrial applications such as nutritional products, consumer goods and fragrances. It has spun out a series of companies itself, including Joyn Bio and Motif FoodWorks.
In 2019, it initiated a $350m investment fund called Ferment Consortium to launch additional subsidiaries.
Ginkgo had raised more than $789m in equity financing as of a $70m investment from genomics technology producer Illumina, General Atlantic and Viking Global Investors in June 2020.
Its earlier backers included Felicis Ventures, OS Fund, Data Collective, iGlobe Partners, Vast Ventures, Senator Investment Group, Cascade Investment, Baillie Gifford, Allen and Company and Bill Gates.