Presentation at J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference Highlights Growth of Platform for AI, Data

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Ginkgo Bioworks announced that it expects to meet previously revealed program and revenue guidance ranges for 2023 based on preliminary unaudited estimates presented at the 42nd Annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference. The presentation at the conference for the cell programming and biosecurity firm included an overview of Ginkgo's platform services for large scale data generation and artificial intelligence (AI) for biopharma R&D.

"I'm very pleased with the robust revenue and program growth we have seen in 2023, particularly in the biopharma sector – growing the portion of our cell engineering revenue that is attributable to biopharma customers by more than 50% over the past year," Ginkgo co-founder and CEO Jason Kelly said in a press release. "Our strong balance sheet, with nearly $950 million of cash and cash equivalents, positions us well to take advantage of strategic opportunities while the market faces continued pressure. This, combined with the meaningful improvements we have seen in operational efficiency, gives us a long runway as we plan to increase new programs while reducing operating expenses. I'm proud of our team's accomplishments in 2023 and am excited to drive continued strong growth in our biopharma vertical in 2024."

In the presentation at the conference, Ginkgo projected total revenue of $250–$260 million for 2023. Preliminary revenue for cell engineering is anticipate to fall within the company’s previously disclosed guidance range of $145–$150 million for 2023; biosecurity revenue is projected to fall within the previously disclosed guidance of approximately $110 million for 2023; and new cell programs are projected to fall within Ginkgo’s previously disclosed guidance range of up to 85 new programs added to the platform last year.

The company highlighted a number of new programs in 2023 that were signed or advanced with major pharma companies, including Pfizer, Merck, Novo Nordisk, and Boehringer Ingelheim. For these deals, Ginkgo is eligible to receive, in aggregate, more than $1.2 billion in upfront research payments, research fees, and development and commercial milestones. These include the successful completion of the pilot phase of a program with Novo Nordisk and the completion of a gene therapy collaboration with Biogen.

Ginkgo also noted a series of foundation and application-specific models in partnership with Google Cloud that uses Ginkgo's proprietary metagenomics and assay-labeled training data along with data from public repositories.

“Ginkgo's ability to bring together automated data generation at scale with AI models targeted towards customer program areas is expected to be the foundation for additional pharmaceutical partnerships in 2024,” the company stated in the release.

Ginkgo said it will report fourth quarter and full year 2023 financial numbers in February, along with its outlook for full year 2024.

Ginkgo said it ended last year with approximately $950 million in cash and cash equivalents, which places it, “in a strong financial position to pursue its strategic objectives while driving towards profitability.”

Reference

Ginkgo Bioworks Provides Business Updates at J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference. Ginkgo Bioworks. News release. January 10, 2024. Accessed January 15, 2024. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ginkgo-bioworks-provides-business-updates-at-jp-morgan-healthcare-conference-302031259.html