BOSTON, Aug. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Ginkgo
Bioworks, Inc. ("Ginkgo"), which is building the leading horizontal
platform for cell programming, today announced a new cell program
in partnership with Huue, a biotech startup that's pioneering
sustainable bio-based dyes for the fashion industry and beyond.
Ginkgo, which recently announced a business combination with
Soaring Eagle Acquisition Corp. (Nasdaq: SRNG), serves customers
across industries seeking to develop new and better products using
biology. Huue will leverage Ginkgo's platform to optimize microbe
strains to accelerate production of its sustainable indigo dye,
pioneering new models for product-focused startups to collaborate
with Ginkgo.
Indigo is the dye responsible for giving denim its iconic blue.
However, manufacturing the dye that powers the billion pairs of
jeans produced annually is responsible for over 1.4 million metric
tons of CO2 and utilizes toxic chemicals including benzene,
formaldehyde, and sodamide.
Using its proprietary biosynthetic dye-making process, Huue
produces indigo that's just as effective as conventional solutions
— without the environmental impact and harmful chemicals. By
leveraging Ginkgo's microbial engineering platform and its
strain optimization capabilities, Huue expects to accelerate the
production of its dyes for its first partners in 2021 and 2022.
"We are thrilled to welcome Huue onto our platform to enable
them to bring sustainable practices to historically toxic
manufacturing processes," said Jason
Kelly, CEO at Ginkgo Bioworks. "We believe that synthetic
biology has incredible power to help virtually any industry
reimagine how they approach product innovation, and we are honored
to be able to support innovators like Huue to grow their apps."
"We're excited to work with a sustainability-minded company like
Ginkgo Bioworks to bring the world's first sustainable and scalable
indigo to the denim industry," said Michelle Zhu, CEO and co-founder at Huue. "The
planet can't wait any longer for sustainable solutions, and it's
through partnerships like this one that we're accelerating the
production of our bio-based dyes for the industries that need them
the most."
Organizations, government agencies, and companies across
numerous industries use Ginkgo's cell programming platform to find
more effective, environmentally friendly ways to create products
including food ingredients, fragrances, cosmetics, medicines, and
more. By enabling the design of organisms that can produce valuable
biological products, Ginkgo helps accelerate the development of
innovative, bio-based solutions to the world's most pressing
environmental challenges.
About Huue
Huue uses biotechnology to create the
world's most sustainable dyes for the industries that are shaping
the future of Earth. Based on UC Berkeley-invented bioengineering
research, Huue is supported by world class investors and
institutions including IndieBio, Fashion for Good, and Melinda Gates' and Microsoft's Female Founders
Competition. Learn more at https://www.huue.bio/.
About Ginkgo Bioworks
Ginkgo is building a platform to enable customers to program
cells as easily as we can program computers. The company's platform
is enabling biotechnology applications across diverse markets, from
food and agriculture to industrial chemicals to pharmaceuticals.
Ginkgo has also actively supported a number of COVID-19 response
efforts, including K-12 pooled testing, vaccine manufacturing
optimization and therapeutics discovery. In May 2021, Ginkgo announced a business combination
with Soaring Eagle Acquisition Corp. (Nasdaq: SRNG), which, if
completed, will result in Ginkgo, through a parent entity, Ginkgo
Bioworks Holdings, Inc., becoming a public company. The transaction
is expected to close in the third quarter of 2021, subject to
regulatory and shareholder approvals, and other customary closing
conditions. For more information, visit www.ginkgobioworks.com.
MEDIA CONTACT:
press@ginkgobioworks.com
INVESTOR CONTACTS:
investors@ginkgobioworks.com
investors@eagleequityptnrs.com
ADDITIONAL LEGAL INFORMATION
Forward-Looking Statements Legend
This document contains certain forward-looking statements within
the meaning of the federal securities laws with respect to the
proposed transaction between Ginkgo and Soaring Eagle, including
statements regarding the benefits of the transaction, the
anticipated timing of the transaction, the services offered by
Ginkgo and the markets in which it operates, and Ginkgo's projected
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"opportunity," "plan," "may," "should," "will," "would," "will be,"
"will continue," "will likely result," and similar expressions.
Forward-looking statements are predictions, projections and other
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differ materially from the forward-looking statements in this
document, including but not limited to: (i) the risk that the
transaction may not be completed in a timely manner or at all,
which may adversely affect the price of Soaring Eagle's securities,
(ii) the risk that the transaction may not be completed by Soaring
Eagle's business combination deadline and the potential failure to
obtain an extension of the business combination deadline if sought
by Soaring Eagle, (iii) the failure to satisfy the conditions to
the consummation of the transaction, including the adoption of the
agreement and plan of merger by the shareholders of Soaring Eagle
and Ginkgo, the satisfaction of the minimum trust account amount
following redemptions by Soaring Eagle's public shareholders and
the receipt of certain governmental and regulatory approvals, (iv)
the lack of a third party valuation in determining whether or not
to pursue the proposed transaction, (v) the occurrence of any
event, change or other circumstance that could give rise to the
termination of the agreement and plan of merger, (vi) the effect of
the announcement or pendency of the transaction on Ginkgo business
relationships, performance, and business generally, (vii) risks
that the proposed transaction disrupts current plans of Ginkgo and
potential difficulties in Ginkgo employee retention as a result of
the proposed transaction, (viii) the outcome of any legal
proceedings that may be instituted against Ginkgo or against
Soaring Eagle related to the agreement and plan of merger or the
proposed transaction, (ix) the ability to maintain the listing of
Soaring Eagle's securities on Nasdaq, (x) volatility in the price
of Soaring Eagle's securities due to a variety of factors,
including changes in the competitive and highly regulated
industries in which Ginkgo plans to operate, variations in
performance across competitors, changes in laws and regulations
affecting Ginkgo's business and changes in the combined capital
structure, (xi) the ability to implement business plans, forecasts,
and other expectations after the completion of the proposed
transaction, and identify and realize additional opportunities, and
(xii) the risk of downturns in demand for products using synthetic
biology. The foregoing list of factors is not exhaustive. You
should carefully consider the foregoing factors and the other risks
and uncertainties described in the "Risk Factors'' section of
Soaring Eagle's proxy statement/prospectus relating to the
transaction, and in Soaring Eagle's other filings with the SEC.
Soaring Eagle and Ginkgo caution that the foregoing list of factors
is not exclusive. Soaring Eagle and Ginkgo caution readers not to
place undue reliance upon any forward-looking statements, which
speak only as of the date made. Neither Soaring Eagle nor Ginkgo
undertake or accept any obligation or undertaking to release
publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements
to reflect any change in its expectations or any change in events,
conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is
based.
Additional Information and Where to Find It
This document relates to a proposed transaction between Ginkgo
and SRNG. This document does not constitute an offer to sell or
exchange, or the solicitation of an offer to buy or exchange, any
securities, nor shall there be any sale of securities in any
jurisdiction in which such offer, sale or exchange would be
unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the
securities laws of any such jurisdiction. In connection with the
proposed transaction, SRNG filed a Proxy Statement on August 13, 2021 (the "Proxy Statement"). The
Proxy Statement has been sent to all SRNG shareholders as of the
Record Date. SRNG also will file other documents regarding the
proposed transaction with the SEC. Before making any voting
decision, investors and security holders of SRNG and Ginkgo are
urged to read the registration statement, the proxy
statement/prospectus and all other relevant documents filed or that
will be filed with the SEC in connection with the proposed
transaction as they become available because they will contain
important information about the proposed transaction.
Investors and security holders may obtain free copies of the
proxy statement/prospectus and all other relevant documents filed
or that will be filed with the SEC by SRNG through the website
maintained by the SEC at www.sec.gov. In addition, the
documents filed by SRNG may be obtained free of charge by written
request to SRNG at 955 Fifth Avenue, New
York, NY, 10075, Attention: Eli
Baker, Chief Financial Officer, (310) 209-7280.
Participants in Solicitation
Soaring Eagle's and Ginkgo and their respective directors and
officers may be deemed to be participants in the solicitation of
proxies from Soaring Eagle's shareholders in connection with the
proposed transaction. Information about Soaring Eagle's directors
and executive officers and their ownership of Soaring Eagle's
securities is set forth in Soaring Eagle's filings with the SEC. To
the extent that holdings of Soaring Eagle's securities have changed
since the amounts printed in Soaring Eagle's proxy statement, such
changes have been or will be reflected on Statements of Change in
Ownership on Form 4 filed with the SEC. Additional information
regarding the interests of those persons and other persons who may
be deemed participants in the proposed transaction may be obtained
by reading the proxy statement/prospectus regarding the proposed
transaction when it becomes available. You may obtain free copies
of these documents as described in the preceding paragraph.
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SOURCE Ginkgo Bioworks