Ginkgo Bioworks and Invaio Sciences Enter Collaboration to Develop Manufacturing Technology for Peptide-based Agricultural Products
Rhea-AI Summary
Ginkgo Bioworks (NYSE: DNA) and Invaio Sciences announced a collaboration on Feb 18, 2026 to develop microbial manufacturing technology for peptide-based agricultural products.
The program will optimize Ginkgo's engineered strains, fermentation processes, and autonomous lab protocols to enable commercial-scale peptide production that meets growers' cost and usability needs.
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Market Reality Check
Peers on Argus
DNA fell 3.12% while close peers were mixed: ANAB +1.12%, MGTX +1.07%, KROS -0.78%, SEPN showed stronger gains in both sector list (+9.78%) and momentum scan (+3.60%). VIR was down 2.27%. Moves do not show a clear sector-wide direction.
Historical Context
| Date | Event | Sentiment | Move | Catalyst |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 05 | AI lab performance | Positive | +0.6% | AI-driven autonomous lab cut protein synthesis costs versus prior benchmark. |
| Jan 13 | Conference participation | Positive | +0.6% | CEO presentation at major J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference. |
| Dec 22 | Cancer screening partnership | Positive | +8.5% | Partnership on ARPA-H funded POSEIDON early cancer detection program. |
| Dec 17 | Ag manufacturing collaboration | Positive | -0.2% | Collaboration optimizing fermentation for soil amendment manufacturing. |
| Dec 09 | Drug safety tools | Positive | +1.7% | Partnership to build computational platform for predicting drug safety. |
Recent collaboration and partnership announcements have generally coincided with modest positive price reactions, with one agricultural manufacturing deal showing a small negative divergence.
Over the past six months, Ginkgo reported several partnership- and platform-focused updates. An AI-driven autonomous lab announcement on Feb 5, 2026 and participation in the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference on Jan 13, 2026 both saw small positive moves. Earlier, collaborations in oncology (POSEIDON program, Dec 22, 2025) and drug safety (PREDICTS, Dec 9, 2025) also aligned with positive reactions. A prior agricultural manufacturing collaboration with Agricen on Dec 17, 2025 saw a slight negative move despite constructive operational news.
Regulatory & Risk Context
The company has an active Form S-3 shelf filed on 2025-08-07, with a reported usage event via a 424B5 prospectus supplement on 2025-09-04. The shelf is currently marked as not effective in this dataset, and usage_count is 1, indicating at least one takedown under the registration.
Market Pulse Summary
This announcement highlights a new collaboration to optimize microbial strains and fermentation for peptide-based crop protection, extending Ginkgo’s role in agricultural applications. It follows recent partnerships in AI-enabled lab automation and oncology and drug-safety programs over the past six months. Investors may focus on how this deal converts into commercial-scale manufacturing milestones, the pace of partner adoption, and any future disclosures around contract economics or additional financing activity such as shelf usage.
Key Terms
peptide-based crop protection medical
microbial strains medical
industrial-scale fermentation technical
catalyst automation software technical
AI-generated analysis. Not financial advice.
- Collaboration aims to develop a commercialization-ready microorganism to manufacture next-generation peptide crop solutions at grower-friendly costs
Growers are seeking inputs that protect agricultural crops from pests that are increasingly resistant to conventional chemistry. In response, Invaio's platform discovers and develops peptide-based crop protection solutions that complement or offer potent alternatives to conventional chemistry while meeting growers' standards for efficacy, affordability, and ease of use.
As a part of the commercialization of its peptide-based products, Invaio will leverage Ginkgo's platform and best-in-class microbial strains for protein production. Ginkgo's strains have been engineered to provide advanced starting points for protein and peptide-based products through industrial-scale fermentation. In this collaboration, Ginkgo will further optimize its strains and fermentation processes to deliver on Invaio's production goals.
"Ginkgo's technology offers us a clear path to manufacturing our peptides at scale," said Amy O'Shea, CEO of Invaio Sciences. "We are excited to partner with Ginkgo to develop much-needed next generation crop protection solutions for persistent pests and diseases."
This collaboration demonstrates Invaio's commitment to developing scalable and cost effective peptide-based crop protection solutions that fits into and complements growers' existing practices. It highlights the value of Ginkgo's technologies in helping biotechnology companies efficiently optimize different stages of product development, including scale-up and manufacturing. As part of this program, Ginkgo will perform key protocols using its autonomous lab infrastructure, including Reconfigurable Automation Carts (RACs) and Catalyst automation software.
"At Ginkgo, we understand the urgency for next-generation agricultural solutions that can support growers, consumers and the planet," Jill Bradshaw, General Manager of Ginkgo's Microbial Solutions business unit says. "We are excited to work alongside our partners at Invaio to deliver a manufacturing strain and process that allows them to continue to focus on the discovery of next-generation biological solutions important to crop protection."
Ginkgo's platform supports partners at various stages of scale-up and manufacturing: from production strain licensing and engineering to bioprocess development and scale-up.
To learn more, visit Invaio.com or www.ginkgo.bio/
About Ginkgo Bioworks:
Ginkgo Bioworks builds the tools that make biology easier to engineer for everyone. The company offers autonomous laboratories that replace manual laboratory work with robotics in the lab, greatly improving the productivity of scientists. Ginkgo's in-house autonomous lab is also available as a "cloud lab" through our Datapoints and Solutions contract research services. For more information, visit ginkgobioworks.com and ginkgobiosecurity.com, read our blog, or follow us on social media channels such as X (@Ginkgo and @Ginkgo_Biosec), Instagram (@GinkgoBioworks), Threads (@GinkgoBioworks), or LinkedIn.
About Invaio Sciences:
Invaio Sciences, a Flagship Pioneering company, is a bioplatform company accelerating the leap to nature-positive agriculture. Building on advances in human health and leveraging proprietary GenAI tools, Invaio is uniquely positioned to design and develop peptide solutions for crop health with performance on par to conventional crop protection chemistries, enabling farmers to both improve yields and use more natural solutions. By leading in nature-positive technologies, Invaio is addressing consumer demands and unlocking radical benefits for farmers and the environment, leaving every acre better today and for generations to come. For more information, please visit www.invaio.com or follow Invaio on LinkedIn.
INVAIO SCIENCES CONTACT:
media@invaio.com
GINKGO BIOWORKS INVESTOR CONTACT:
investors@ginkgobioworks.com
GINKGO BIOWORKS MEDIA CONTACT:
press@ginkgobioworks.com
Forward-Looking Statements of Ginkgo Bioworks
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws, including statements regarding the capabilities and potential success of the partnership and Ginkgo's cell programming platform. These forward-looking statements generally are identified by the words "believe," "can," "project," "potential," "expect," "anticipate," "estimate," "intend," "strategy," "future," "opportunity," "plan," "may," "should," "will," "would," "will be," "will continue," "will likely result," and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements are predictions, projections and other statements about future events that are based on current expectations and assumptions and, as a result, are subject to risks and uncertainties. Many factors could cause actual future events to differ materially from the forward-looking statements in this press release, including but not limited to: (i) our ability to realize near-term and long-term cost savings associated with our site consolidation plans, including the ability to terminate leases or find sub-lease tenants for unused facilities, (ii) volatility in the price of Ginkgo's securities due to a variety of factors, including changes in the competitive and highly regulated industries in which Ginkgo operates and plans to operate, variations in performance across competitors, and changes in laws and regulations affecting Ginkgo's business, (iii) the ability to implement business plans, forecasts, and other expectations, and to identify and realize additional business opportunities, including with respect to our solutions and tools offerings, (iv) the risk of downturns in demand for products using synthetic biology, (v) the uncertainty regarding the demand for passive monitoring programs and biosecurity services, (vi) changes to the biosecurity industry, including due to advancements in technology, emerging competition and evolution in industry demands, standards and regulations, (vii) the outcome of any pending or potential legal proceedings against Ginkgo, (viii) our ability to realize the expected benefits from and the success of our Foundry platform programs and Codebase assets, (ix) our ability to successfully develop engineered cells, bioprocesses, data packages or other deliverables, (x) the product development, production or manufacturing success of our customers, (xi) our exposure to the volatility and liquidity risks inherent in holding equity interests in other operating companies and other non-cash consideration we may receive for our services, (xii) the potential negative impact on our business of our restructuring or the failure to realize the anticipated savings associated therewith and (xiii) the uncertainty regarding government budgetary priorities and funding allocated to government agencies. The foregoing list of factors is not exhaustive. You should carefully consider the foregoing factors and the other risks and uncertainties described in the "Risk Factors" section of Ginkgo's annual report on Form 10-K filed with the
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SOURCE Ginkgo Bioworks
FAQ
What did Ginkgo (DNA) and Invaio announce on February 18, 2026?
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