Zymergen Acquires Metagenomics Company Radiant Genomics

Molecular Technology Company Amasses One of the World’s Largest Libraries of Genetic Diversity

January 08, 2018 12:00 PM Eastern Standard Time

EMERYVILLE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Zymergen, a molecular technology company integrating machine learning and manufacturing technologies to engineer biology, today announced the acquisition of Radiant Genomics, a leader in functional metagenomics research. The addition brings Radiant Genomics’ leading-edge metagenomic technologies and accompanying genetic libraries to Zymergen’s core platform, accelerating Zymergen’s ability to identify and commercialize novel molecules used in a range of industries - including agriculture, healthcare, chemicals and materials, and more.Today, products made via biology are derived primarily from organisms that can be grown easily in a lab setting, leaving the vast majority of nature’s immense genetic diversity untapped. Estimates suggest that less than one percent of natural diversity has been easily accessible to scientists, and yet even this small percentage has provided billions of dollars of value. Radiant Genomics has developed a robust industrial platform for natural product and gene discovery that allows scientists to rapidly identify, produce, and test products encoded in the genomes of millions of organisms not easily grown in the lab, circumventing cultivation barriers.With more than two terabases of physical and digital DNA data, Radiant’s libraries comprise one of the largest fully-assembled and instantly-accessible catalogues of genetic diversity in the world. Integrating this catalogue and discovery technologies with Zymergen’s core platform will set the standard for bringing together biology, engineering, machine learning, and manufacturing.“Radiant Genomics was launched with the same vision that drove us to start Zymergen – that the next great wave of innovation will come from biology,” said Joshua Hoffman, Zymergen CEO. “The molecules biology produces on its own could provide solutions to some of the toughest challenges across industries. Radiant has built an unparalleled platform and set of libraries to search genetic diversity that will allow us to search for these molecules of interest, extending our ability to produce useful molecules for materials that can transform the world around us.”“We’re thrilled to bring our technology to Zymergen, a company with the uniquely proven ability to go rapidly from lab to full scale commercial production across a range of industries,” said Dr. Jeffrey Kim, CEO and Chief Scientific Officer of Radiant Genomics. “Merging our technologies will broaden the range of potential products we can access from biology, greatly accelerate the pace of engineering them, and advance our ability to bring them to market at industrial scale."With the deal, Radiant Genomics’ entire team including founders Jeffrey Kim and Oliver Liu, will join Zymergen. Since its founding only four years ago, Zymergen has grown to more than 400 employees. The company recently opened its second offices in Seattle.To learn more about Zymergen, visit www.zymergen.com.About ZymergenZymergen is a molecular technology company ushering in a new age of manufacturing and industrial innovation. Leveraging the power of machine learning, automation, and bioengineering, Zymergen takes a radically different approach to improving the performance of materials and to discovering new molecular products that touch every industry – from agriculture to chemicals and materials, pharmaceuticals, and more. The technology is in use today, creating value for Fortune 500 companies and major corporations across the globe.For more information visit www.zymergen.com.

Contacts

ZymergenAnna OsterlindPress@Zymergen.com