Codex DNA Stock – A Desktop DNA Factory

We’re often asked why we write about companies that aren’t publicly traded. That’s because in the world of emerging technologies, the most exciting stuff is still in the process of emerging. When a company gets traction – what we define as meaningful revenue growth – they often decide to have an initial public offering (IPO). Revenues are an indication that a product or service has achieved “product-market fit.” In other words, whatever great thing they’ve built has people willing to pay for it, presumably at a price that’s economically viable in the long run.

Today, we’re going to write about a company we’ve talked about in the past that’s recently filed for an IPO. The story starts seven years ago with a startup called Synthetic Genomics.

The Story of Codex DNA

Once upon a time, there was an exciting startup called Synthetic Genomics. One of the company’s co-founders was Craig Venter, a man who created the first instance of synthetic life. Back in 2014, our piece titled Synthetic Life Created by Synthetic Genomics talked about how the company planned to do the old “algae makes fuel” thing which was the Holy Grail for many the shuttered synthetic biology startup:

In 2009, ExxonMobil announced that it would pay Synthetic Genomics up to $300 million to develop algae-based fuels, however, in May 2013 a re