SA国际传媒

Boston-based biotech unicorn it has raised a $290 million . The financing takes the 10-year-old company鈥檚 valuation to over $4 billion, according to . It also brings its total funding to $719 million, according to its SA国际传媒 .

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All existing major investors and other new investors including 鈥渇unds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates Inc.鈥� particpated in the round. The company first became a unicorn when it raised a $275 million at a valuation of $1 billion in 2017. Backers include , , and , among others.

The financing makes Ginkgo Bioworks the most valuable venture-backed company in Boston, according to the It also pushes its founders鈥� stakes 鈥渢o some $250 million each,鈥� according to Forbes.

In its own words, Ginkgo Bioworks uses synthetic biology 鈥渢o grow products instead of manufacturing them.鈥� The company says its technology platform is putting biotechnology into consumer goods markets with the goal of helping fragrance, cosmetic, nutrition, and food companies 鈥渢o make better products.鈥�

鈥淐ells are programmable similar to computers because they run on digital code in the form of DNA,” said , CEO and co-founder of Ginkgo Bioworks, in a written statement. “Today’s fundraise will allow us to expand our technology and continue our drive to bring biology into every physical goods industry – materials, clothing, electronics, food, pharmaceuticals, and more. They are all biotech industries but just don’t know it yet.”

A few days ago PitchBook that a large funding deal was in the works.

And in aearlier this week Y Combinator noted that Gingko Bioworks represented 鈥渢he first bio company YC funded, back in summer 2014.鈥�

Now Ginkgo is working to establish itself as a to build their biotech businesses. Through two new partnerships with Y Combinator and Petri, 鈥渟tartups can access Ginkgo’s platform and mentorship in exchange for equity,鈥� according to Gingko.

In its blog, Y Combinator noted that Ginkgo鈥檚 core business is programming cells for large companies such as Bayer and Roche. It wrote: 鈥淏ut these are multi-million dollar deals that are out of the reach of startups. Ginkgo鈥檚 new deal will make it possible for startups to access the same platform.鈥�

Over the past two years, the company has partnered with a number of companies, including striking a $122 million deal to produce cultured cannabinoids with and an up to $160 million agreement with to discover novel antibiotics. It also invested $80 million in 鈥渢o accelerate the development of living medicines.鈥� And last year, Ginkgo launched its second spinout company, Motif Foodworks, with $117 million in funding, to address the need for better alternative proteins (which we covered here).

For more about Boston’s venture scene in general, check out Natasha Mascarenhas’听roundup from last week.

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