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  "documentTitle": "Ginkgo Bioworks (DNA)",
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      "text": "The ex-executive elaborated that Ginkgo has “no real differentiating technology” on the back-end either, and little ability to scale fermentation and strain production.",
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      "text": "The ex-executive elaborated that Ginkgo has \"no real differentiating technology\" on the back-end either, and little ability to scale fermentation and strain production. As a result, Ginkgo just outsources to third-party fermentation facilities and \"hopes for the best.\" He described their woes as a reflection of the space, where companies can't make products cost-competitively: every synthetic biology \"ever started\" has tried to make vanilla and other \"marquee ingredients\" but failed, as it's cheaper to buy natural vanilla from third-world countries; \"market doesn't want what Ginkgo's able to make\"; \"problem with the business model.\"",
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      "text": "The backend of it is the fermentation and scale-up. I think that Ginkgo has no real differentiating technology when it comes to that. They just sort of test their strains and fermenters to try to scale them at the University of Pennsylvania or another kind of commercial fermentation facility in Mexico City or elsewhere, and they hope for the best. They try a bunch of strains and hope that one of them scales. That's the foundry in a nutshell.",
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      "text": "But it's really the market doesn't want what Ginkgo's able to make. I think it's as simple as that. Maybe that's because the cost of producing all of these ingredients in a global economy is just very low, and they should actually just focus on low volume, high-value products and not do these kinds of commodity-like ingredients because anyone can make those commodity ingredients. I think there's a problem with the business model and what they have focused on historically.",
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      "text": "I think it really just comes down to; you can have very sophisticated technology that makes very elaborate assembly lines inside of cells, but they are not able to compete on cost. Some of this is basic economics. You have to pay for glucose or your sugar feedstock and all of your other ingredients. Agriculture is pretty efficient when it comes down to it. I mean, some of it is heavily subsidized, too. But if you want rose oil, you can go plant roses in a third-world country and produce some for pretty darn cheap, and vanilla and some of these other ingredients. Every synthetic biology company that's ever started has tried to make vanilla and a few other marquee ingredients, but they don't have meaningful revenue, or those products were never commercialized.",
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      "text": "“The backend of it is the fermentation and scale-up. I think that Ginkgo has no real differentiating technology when it comes to that... They try a bunch of strains and hope that one of them scales. That's the foundry in a nutshell.” — Ex-Ginkgo executive; “Every synthetic biology company that's ever started has tried to make vanilla and a few other marquee ingredients, but they don't have meaningful revenue, or those products were never commercialized.” — Ex-Ginkgo executive; “But it's really the market doesn't want what Ginkgo's able to make. I think it's as simple as that... I think there's a problem with the business model and what they have focused on historically.” — Ex-Ginkgo executive",
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      "text": "Source: Scorpion Capital consultation calls with experts",
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