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Investments and Equity Method Investments
6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2023
Equity Method Investments and Joint Ventures [Abstract]  
Investments and Equity Method Investments

4. Investments and Equity Method Investments

The Company partners with other investors to form business ventures, including Motif FoodWorks, Inc. (“Motif”), Allonnia, LLC (“Allonnia”), Arcaea, LLC (“Arcaea”), Verb Biotics, LLC (“Verb”), BiomEdit, LLC (“BiomEdit”) and Ayana Bio, LLC (“Ayana”) (collectively “Platform Ventures”). The Company also partners with existing entities, including Genomatica, Inc. (“Genomatica”) and Synlogic, Inc. (“Synlogic”) (collectively, “Legacy Structured Partnerships”) with complementary assets for high potential synthetic biology applications. The Company holds equity interests in these Platform Ventures and Structured Partnerships. The Company also holds equity interests in other public and private companies as a result of entering into collaboration and license revenue arrangements with these entities.

The Company accounts for its investments in Platform Ventures under the equity method. The Company's marketable equity securities consist of Synlogic common stock, Synlogic warrants and the shares of common stock of other publicly traded companies. Marketable equity securities are measured at fair value with changes in fair value recorded in other income (expense) in the condensed

consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive loss. The Company’s non-marketable equity securities consist of preferred stock of Genomatica and preferred and common stock of other privately held companies without readily determinable fair values. Non-marketable equity securities are initially recorded using the measurement alternative at cost and subsequently adjusted for any impairment and observable price changes in orderly transactions for the identical or a similar security of the same issuer. During the three months ended June 30, 2022, the Company recorded a $10.1 million impairment charge, included as a component of loss on investments in the condensed consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive loss, due to a decline in the fair value of the Company's investment in Genomatica preferred stock. There were no impairments recorded or adjustments from observable price changes related to non-marketable equity securities during the three or six months ended June 30, 2023.

The Company also holds investments in early-stage synthetic biology product companies via SAFEs. The Company enters into SAFE agreements in conjunction with a revenue contract with a customer under which the Company grants the customer a prepaid Cell Engineering services credit equal to the principal amount of the SAFE (the “Purchase Amount”), which may be used and drawn down as payment for the Company’s research and development services. The SAFEs will automatically convert into shares of preferred stock equal to the Purchase Amount divided by the discount price, which is calculated as the price per share sold in a qualified equity financing multiplied by a discount rate. The SAFEs also provide the Company with the right to future equity of the entity in a liquidation scenario or the cash-out amount in liquidation and dissolution scenarios or at the election of the SAFE issuer prior to an agreed outside date. The Company initially records SAFEs at fair value (see Note 3) and adjusts the carrying amount of the instrument at each reporting period for any impairment, plus or minus changes resulting from observable price changes in orderly transactions for an identical or similar instrument of the same issuer. During the six months ended June 30, 2023, the Company recorded a $1.8 million impairment charge related to SAFEs, included as a component of loss on investments in the condensed consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive loss. There was no impairment recorded during the three or six months ended June 30, 2022 and no adjustments from observable price changes during any of the periods presented.

Investments and equity method investments consisted of the following (in thousands):

 

As of June 30,

 

 

As of December 31,

 

 

2023

 

 

2022

 

Investments:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Genomatica, Inc. preferred stock

 

$

44,885

 

 

$

44,885

 

Synlogic, Inc. common stock

 

 

2,727

 

 

 

4,819

 

Synlogic, Inc. warrants

 

 

1,095

 

 

 

1,937

 

Marketable equity securities

 

 

17,149

 

 

 

20,895

 

Non-marketable equity securities

 

 

29,259

 

 

 

17,544

 

SAFEs

 

 

24,829

 

 

 

22,108

 

Total

 

$

119,944

 

 

$

112,188

 

Equity method investments (1):

 

 

 

 

 

 

BiomEdit, LLC

 

$

 

 

$

369

 

Other

 

 

1,120

 

 

 

1,174

 

Total

 

$

1,120

 

 

$

1,543

 

(1) Equity method investments in Platform Ventures with a carrying value of zero as of June 30, 2023 and December 31, 2022 were excluded from the table.

Losses on investments and equity method investments consisted of the following (in thousands):

 

Three Months Ended June 30,

 

 

Six Months Ended June 30,

 

 

2023

 

 

2022

 

 

2023

 

 

2022

 

Loss on investments:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Synlogic, Inc. common stock

 

$

(1,281

)

 

$

(7,926

)

 

$

(2,092

)

 

$

(8,053

)

Synlogic, Inc. warrants

 

 

(514

)

 

 

(3,185

)

 

 

(841

)

 

 

(3,236

)

Genomatica, Inc.

 

 

 

 

 

(10,115

)

 

 

 

 

 

(10,115

)

Marketable equity securities

 

 

(326

)

 

 

(17,447

)

 

 

(3,747

)

 

 

(16,819

)

SAFEs

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(1,811

)

 

 

 

Total

 

$

(2,121

)

 

$

(38,673

)

 

$

(8,491

)

 

$

(38,223

)

Loss on equity method investments:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Joyn Bio, LLC

 

$

 

 

$

(5,424

)

 

$

 

 

$

(10,411

)

Verb Biotics, LLC

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(15,900

)

BiomEdit, LLC

 

 

 

 

 

(4,552

)

 

 

(1,462

)

 

 

(4,552

)

Other

 

 

(67

)

 

 

(190

)

 

 

(54

)

 

 

(190

)

Total

 

$

(67

)

 

$

(10,166

)

 

$

(1,516

)

 

$

(31,053

)