Ginkgo does not make products for itself but uses genetic engineering to make bacteria for its customers to use in industrial processes.
On Dec. 15, Zymerge’s board looked at various strategic initiatives, including a potential carve-out of the company’s automation business, either with a financing and separation or as a sale. By the end of the month, Zymergen’s board considered three options: sell the company, carve out the automation business, possibly in combination with other Zymergen businesses, or continue to operate as a standalone company through a private investment in public equity, or PIPE, transaction or an at-the-market, or ATM, equity offering.
It was those same costs, and the ballooning size of Zymergen's workforce, that co-founders of the now-nine-year-old company believed was necessary to meet what they forecast to be unparalleled demand for environmentally friendly, biological solutions that would supersede the use of fossil fuels in many products.
With a PIPE offering, the company approached 10 financial parties, but all of them cited Zymergen’s cash burn as one of the reasons not to participate.