{ "docId": "019dd923-622c-750b-8b9a-1a3bea94baf9", "docSlug": "c358888161f0", "documentTitle": "Ginkgo Bioworks (DNA)", "authorId": "58_Scorpion_Capital", "authorName": "Scorpion Capital", "documentKindSlug": "activist-deck", "documentKindLabel": "Activist deck", "sourceTypeSlug": "short_seller", "sourceTypeLabel": "Short seller", "presentationDate": "2021-10-06 00:00:00", "orientation": "landscape", "aspectRatio": 1.2941177, "pageNumber": 134, "pageCount": 175, "prevPage": 133, "nextPage": 135, "slideType": "expose_contradiction", "function": "expose_contradiction", "density": "overcrowded", "nDataPoints": 0, "notes": "Uses expert testimony to expose a gap between public marketing and operational reality.", "elementsJson": [ "paragraph", "quote_block", "footnote" ], "metadataConfidence": 0.95, "imagePath": null, "slideHref": "/slides/019dd923-622c-750b-8b9a-1a3bea94baf9/134", "deckHref": "/decks/019dd923-622c-750b-8b9a-1a3bea94baf9", "deckJsonHref": "/decks/019dd923-622c-750b-8b9a-1a3bea94baf9.json", "deckAnchorHref": "/decks/019dd923-622c-750b-8b9a-1a3bea94baf9#slide-134", "components": [ { "bbox": null, "kind": "callout", "text": "Ginkgo’s 700+ page prospectus barely mentions the word “yeast,” concealing that the core of its platform is commodity yeast optimization, a widespread method for 50+ years.", "attrs": null, "subkind": null, "toolName": "Visual emphasis", "toolSlug": "visual-emphasis", "confidence": null, "componentId": "019dd953-2b62-723f-b690-99b6e01706ec", "frameworkName": null, "frameworkSlug": null }, { "bbox": { "h": 0.25, "w": 0.9, "x": 0.05, "y": 0.35 }, "kind": "paragraph", "text": "Ginkgo’s “bread and butter” is tweaking yeast to spit out different compounds. Q: “Is this the crux of every project is there’s a strain of yeast that they want to do something in particular, and they try to basically refine that strain to make it do that?” A: “That’s the bread and butter. I worked on 6 or 7 projects, maybe 10 if you count some of the ones I worked on briefly. In my time, I worked with various flavors of e. Coli, yeast, a weird organism that wasn’t even domesticated. I know a lot of people there that worked with fungi. They’d like to be strain agnostic, meaning that they can work with whatever. In practicality, that’s quite difficult. They still do not have a good way of if you bring in some grain of bacteria out of your backyard; transferring tools from one strain to another is not straightforward.” - Former strain engineer", "attrs": null, "subkind": "paragraph", "toolName": null, "toolSlug": null, "confidence": null, "componentId": "68a46ee8-1dd6-4dc3-99ac-b0b34dc24c5c", "frameworkName": null, "frameworkSlug": null }, { "bbox": { "h": 0.1, "w": 0.9, "x": 0.05, "y": 0.62 }, "kind": "paragraph", "text": "Typical strain engineering involves trial and error in manipulating yeast in different combination. “They took all of the money that they’ve raised, and they put it into the equipment to be able to do parallel processing of yeast cells. It’s not always yeast, but yeast is their organism of choice.” - Former Ginkgo executive", "attrs": null, "subkind": "paragraph", "toolName": null, "toolSlug": null, "confidence": null, "componentId": "853d5a28-a42e-46a7-b391-9946e4f3b7e8", "frameworkName": null, "frameworkSlug": null }, { "bbox": { "h": 0.1, "w": 0.9, "x": 0.05, "y": 0.75 }, "kind": "paragraph", "text": "Yeast is the organism of choice for the entire industry. “Yeast is typically the organism of choice because it’s well-understood, it’s fairly easy to manipulate and work with, and you can do post-translational modifications. It’s a very robust organism, and the entire industry, I would say, yeast is the organism of choice.” -Former Ginkgo executive", "attrs": null, "subkind": "paragraph", "toolName": null, "toolSlug": null, "confidence": null, "componentId": "b6459103-c465-4039-a60d-9fd8d57eefbb", "frameworkName": null, "frameworkSlug": null }, { "bbox": { "h": 0.05, "w": 0.9, "x": 0.05, "y": 0.88 }, "kind": "paragraph", "text": "Zymergen also uses yeast; “industry standard”. “Zymergen are also using yeast. Yeast is an industry-standard, so that’s just not a secret.” -Former Ginkgo executive", "attrs": null, "subkind": "paragraph", "toolName": null, "toolSlug": null, "confidence": null, "componentId": "b93b9b45-f694-40c9-bdb3-4994361a0aaf", "frameworkName": null, "frameworkSlug": null }, { "bbox": null, "kind": "quote", "text": "\"That's the bread and butter. I worked on 6 or 7 projects, maybe 10 if you count some of the ones I worked on briefly. In my time, I worked with various flavors of e. Coli, yeast, a weird organism that wasn't even domesticated.\" — Former strain engineer; \"They took all of the money that they've raised, and they put it into the equipment to be able to do parallel processing of yeast cells. It's not always yeast, but yeast is their organism of choice.\" — Former Ginkgo executive; \"Yeast is typically the organism of choice because it's well-understood, it's fairly easy to manipulate and work with, and you can do post-translational modifications. It's a very robust organism, and the entire industry, I would say, yeast is the organism of choice.\" — Former Ginkgo executive; \"Zymergen are also using yeast. Yeast is an industry-standard, so that's just not a secret.\" — Former Ginkgo executive", "attrs": null, "subkind": null, "toolName": "Authority citation", "toolSlug": "authority-citation", "confidence": null, "componentId": "019dd953-2b62-723f-b690-9c6d92ecd9ac", "frameworkName": null, "frameworkSlug": null }, { "bbox": { "h": 0.02, "w": 0.3, "x": 0.05, "y": 0.96 }, "kind": "source-note", "text": "Source: Scorpion Capital consultation calls with experts", "attrs": null, "subkind": null, "toolName": null, "toolSlug": null, "confidence": null, "componentId": "60aec00c-0b9d-4853-ae50-9aeea642700b", "frameworkName": null, "frameworkSlug": null }, { "bbox": { "h": 0.25, "w": 0.9, "x": 0.05, "y": 0.08 }, "kind": "title", "text": "Yeast is Ginkgo’s organism of choice for strain engineering projects, with a bit of E. coli and other industry-standard hosts, same as Zymergen and every other glorified CRO. Ginkgo’s 700+ page prospectus barely mentions the word “yeast,” concealing that the core of its platform is commodity yeast optimization, a widespread method for 50+ years. Ex-employees and its related-party “customers” stated that the “bread and butter” of the foundry is tweaking yeast to excrete different compounds.", "attrs": null, "subkind": "headline", "toolName": null, "toolSlug": null, "confidence": null, "componentId": "38ab7169-0b68-46c6-a886-7d662988ec46", "frameworkName": null, "frameworkSlug": null } ], "metrics": [], "tools": [], "frameworks": [ { "name": "fraud-exposure", "slug": null, "matchId": "15118dc2-ee86-4175-bcc9-a39a689e02ca", "evidence": "Contrasting prospectus claims with expert testimony to reveal concealment.", "confidence": 0.9 } ], "arcBeats": [ { "to": 175, "from": 9, "beatId": "ffe290af-3a4f-4e06-8d60-dfbfc07d2e08", "arcName": "Overcoming the Monster", "arcSlug": "overcoming-monster", "beatName": "Expose Contradiction", "beatSlug": null, "evidence": "The deck presents evidence contradicting Ginkgo's claims and highlighting potential wrongdoings.", "position": 1, "confidence": 0.8, "parentBeatName": null, "parentBeatSlug": null } ], "loops": [], "imagePathAlt": null, "thumbSrc": null, "thumbSrcAlt": null, "locked": true }