MIT spinout Ginkgo Bioworks will go public through a reverse merger with Soaring Eagle Acquisition Corp to list on the Nasdaq Capital Market.
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.
