BOSTON, Jan. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Ginkgo
Bioworks (NYSE: DNA), the leading horizontal platform for cell
programming, today announced the acquisition of Project Beacon
COVID-19 LLC (Project Beacon), a Boston-based social benefit organization
focused on helping to increase the capacity, availability,
accessibility and affordability of COVID-19 testing. Under the
terms of the deal, Ginkgo acquired Project Beacon's assets and will
assume responsibility for Project Beacon's ongoing operations,
providing COVID-19 monitoring tools to communities in Massachusetts and other areas.
"As we embark on a new wave of the pandemic and grapple with the
spread of the Omicron variant, large-scale testing will be critical
to help keep kids in schools and mitigate the spread of COVID-19,"
said Matt McKnight, Chief Commercial
Officer at Ginkgo Bioworks, who is leading Ginkgo's public health
and biosecurity efforts. "Integrating Project Beacon's capabilities
with our Concentric by Ginkgo offering will enable us to further
empower communities in Massachusetts and beyond with the tools they
need to make important public health decisions."
Throughout the pandemic, Ginkgo has supported widespread
COVID-19 monitoring through its biosecurity and public health
initiative, Concentric by Ginkgo. Today, Concentric provides
COVID-19 monitoring services for over 280,000 individuals per week
through its programs in K-12 schools, correctional facilities,
airports, and other community settings. Concentric conducted
over 3 million tests in the second half of 2021.
Concentric and Project Beacon share a common goal of making
COVID-19 testing accessible to the communities that need it the
most. With this acquisition, Concentric will integrate Project
Beacon's partner and customer relationships, digital platform, and
several key personnel into its broader efforts.
Project Beacon was launched by F-Prime Capital, GV, and the
Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard to help organizations in Massachusetts and its surrounding areas
implement affordable and accessible COVID-19 testing, with a focus
on serving public needs and promoting equitable access. Since then,
Project Beacon has partnered with the Massachusetts Executive
Office of Health and Human Services, Department of Public Health,
Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, and Executive Office
of Technology Services and Security to serve the state's residents
through its Express COVID-19 Testing Sites, K-12 testing platform,
and online service that lists COVID-19 vaccination sites
throughout Massachusetts. Project
Beacon has also supported testing efforts for dozens of other
organizations, including schools, universities, congregate care
providers, and employers. In total, Project Beacon has completed
more than 1.5 million tests for members of its community.
"The mission of Project Beacon has always been to support
Massachusetts residents by
providing low-cost, convenient testing," said Muz Mansuri, Executive Director of Project
Beacon and Venture Partner at F-Prime Capital. "We have no profit
motive, and we didn't seek capital return in this transaction. We
supported this combination with Concentric by Ginkgo because we
believe it will allow us to serve more people around the state and
nation. We are excited to continue providing these critical
services to all those we currently work with and hope to further
expand community access with the added reach of Concentric."
Concentric is building a next-generation biosecurity and public
health platform with the aim of providing pathogen biomonitoring at
scale. This acquisition is an important step towards that goal.
Concentric's lab network currently has enough contracted and
validated labs to serve tens of millions of individuals with pooled
tests every week, and Concentric stands ready to further invest to
expand its biosecurity and public health efforts.
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. For more information,
visit www.ginkgobioworks.com.
Ginkgo Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements
within the meaning of the federal securities laws, including
statements regarding the potential of Ginkgo's biosecurity
capabilities and acquisition of Project Beacon COVID-19 LLC. These
forward-looking statements generally are identified by the words
"believe," "project," "potential," "expect," "anticipate,"
"estimate," "intend," "strategy," "future," "opportunity," "plan,"
"may," "should," "will," "would," "will be," "will continue," "will
likely result," and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements
are predictions, projections and other statements about future
events that are based on current expectations and assumptions and,
as a result, are subject to risks and uncertainties. Many factors
could cause actual future events to differ materially from the
forward-looking statements in this document, including but not
limited to: (i) the effect of the business combination with Soaring
Eagle Acquisition Corp. ("Soaring Eagle") on Ginkgo's business
relationships, performance, and business generally, (ii) risks that
the business combination disrupts current plans of Ginkgo and
potential difficulties in Ginkgo's employee retention, (iii) the
outcome of any legal proceedings that may be instituted against
Ginkgo related to its business combination with Soaring Eagle, (iv)
volatility in the price of Ginkgo's securities now that it is a
public company 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, (v) the ability to
implement business plans, forecasts, and other expectations after
the completion of the business combination, and identify and
realize additional opportunities, and (vi) 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 Ginkgo's quarterly report on Form
10-Q filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the
"SEC") on November 15, 2021 and other
documents filed by Ginkgo from time to time with the SEC. These
filings identify and address other important risks and
uncertainties that could cause actual events and results to differ
materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements.
Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made.
Readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking
statements, and Ginkgo assumes no obligation and does not intend to
update or revise these forward-looking statements, whether as a
result of new information, future events, or otherwise. Ginkgo does
not give any assurance that it will achieve its expectations.
GINKGO BIOWORKS INVESTOR CONTACT:
investors@ginkgobioworks.com
GINKGO BIOWORKS MEDIA CONTACT:
press@ginkgobioworks.com
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SOURCE Ginkgo Bioworks