Amyris, Ginkgo Bioworks iron out collaboration deal

Amyris, Inc. has completed a subsequent collaboration agreement with Ginkgo Bioworks which finalizes details of how the two companies will jointly develop cultured products more efficiently and cost effectively, accelerating time to market for bio-based products. The collaboration was initially announced on June 29, 2016.

Per the agreement, Ginkgo and Amyris will share in the value of new cultured ingredients brought to market across several industries including food and nutrition, flavor and fragrance, and cosmetics and personal care. These ingredients, produced via fermentation with engineered microorganisms, leverage the end-to-end biotechnology stack that Ginkgo and Amyris have developed, from high throughput automated strain development, analytics, and optimization, to process development, full-scale manufacturing, and product recovery operations.

The companies are expected to have more than 70 products under contract for delivery to leading brands across industrial, health and personal care markets. Over the next 3 years, the companies expect to move at least 20 additional products through to manufacturing and delivery to customers.

Ginkgo is currently building Bioworks2, a next-generation automated foundry where the company’s organism engineers can develop new designs at massive scale. The 25,000 square-foot automated facility (see below) is used to build and test prototypes of engineered microbes. The partnership is expected to generate over $300 million in incremental value for both over the next five years.