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  "documentTitle": "Ginkgo Bioworks (DNA)",
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  "notes": "The slide uses a combination of primary source excerpts and critical commentary to frame the Ferment Fund as a 'slush fund' rather than a legitimate investment vehicle.",
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      "text": "An ex-employee characterized it as a “slush fund,” a sentiment we heard across other interviews.",
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      "text": "Agreements in Connection with Platform Ventures Initial investments in new companies launched by Ginkgo in connection with the agreement were approximately $12.9 million from Cascade Investment L.L.C., $19.5 million from entities affiliated with General Atlantic (GK), L.P., and $57.8 million from entities affiliated with Viking Global Opportunities Illiquid Investments Sub-Master LP.",
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      "text": "The “Fund” appears to have various identities, such as the “Ferment Consortium” or simply “company formation studio.” The SPAC prospectus indicates $90MM invested, of which $58MM was entities affiliated with Viking.",
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      "text": "BOSTON, Oct. 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Today at Ginkgo Bioworks' second annual Ferment meeting, the organism company unveiled the Ferment Consortium, a private investment vehicle for funding Ginkgo spinout companies...",
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      "text": "A key mechanism by which Ginkgo's largest investors appear to prop up its related-party “customers” is the Ferment Fund, which doesn't even appear to be registered as a fund or file like one.",
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      "text": "Ginkgo announced it in 2019 as a $350MM vehicle for Viking, General Atlantic, and Cascade to finance its “spinout companies.” An ex-employee characterized it as a “slush fund,” a sentiment we heard across other interviews.",
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      "kind": "quote",
      "text": "“The whole Ferment Consortium, this $300 million slush fund to start child companies of Ginkgo, I would say for sure Ginkgo controls all of those almost certainly...\"",
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      "kind": "quote",
      "text": "“The whole Ferment Consortium, this $300 million slush fund to start child companies of Ginkgo, I would say for sure Ginkgo controls all of those almost certainly...Ferment is basically Viking plus a few other investors. It's a way for Ginkgo to - in an ideal world, people will just pay Ginkgo a fair market rate for their services. Ginkgo can't get enough business to support their valuation just inside their boundary. So, they have this slush fund, that they can basically use to invest in companies, to start companies, and in some cases, it's a small company that has raised very little capital.” — Former director-level employee",
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      "text": "Source: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ginkgo-bioworks-announces-the-ferment-consortium-a-350-million-investment-vehicle-to-disrupt-established-markets-with-new-synthetic-biology-companies-300936381.html; Soaring Eagle Acquisition Corp prospectus 8/13/2021, https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0001830214/000119312521246097/d177007d424b3.htm; https://twitter.com/Ginkgo/status/1435924316164665346?s=20",
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