Twist Bioscience Corp: Form 10-K for the period ended Sep 30, 2024

At Twist Bioscience Corporation, we work in service of our customers who are changing the world for the better. In fields such as health care, food/agriculture, industrial chemicals/materials, academic research and data storage, by using our products, our customers are developing ways to better lives and improve the sustainability of the planet. We believe Twist Bioscience is uniquely positioned to help accelerate their efforts and the faster our customers succeed, the better for all of us.

We have developed a disruptive DNA synthesis platform to industrialize the engineering of biology that provides DNA for a wide range of uses and markets. The core of our platform is a proprietary technology that pioneers a new method of manufacturing synthetic DNA by “writing” DNA on a silicon chip. We have miniaturized traditional chemical DNA synthesis reactions to write over 1,000,000 pieces of DNA (oligonucleotides) up to 500 bases through direct synthesis on each silicon chip, approximately the size of a large mobile phone, reducing by 99.8% the amount of chemicals we estimate would be used per gene as compared to plate-based synthesis. We have combined our silicon-based DNA writing technology with proprietary software, scalable commercial infrastructure and an e-commerce platform to create an integrated technology platform that enables us to achieve high levels of quality, precision, automation, and manufacturing throughput at a significantly lower cost and quicker than our competitors.

We have applied our unique technology to manufacture a broad range of synthetic DNA-based products, including synthetic genes, tools for next generation sequencing, or NGS, sample preparation, and antibody libraries for drug discovery and development, all designed to enable our customers to conduct research more efficiently and effectively. Leveraging our same platform, we have expanded our footprint beyond DNA synthesis to manufacture synthetic RNA as well as antibody proteins to disrupt and innovate within larger market opportunities, in addition to discovery partnerships for biologic drugs and developing completely new applications for synthetic DNA, such as digital data storage. We sell our products to a global customer base of approximately 3,562 customers across a broad range of industries.

We believe our products enable a broad range of applications that may ultimately improve health and the sustainability of the planet across multiple industries, including:

• healthcare for the identification, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of disease (antibody discovery and optimization technology);
• chemicals/materials for cost-effective and sustainable production of new and existing specialty chemicals and materials, such as spider silk, nylon, rubber, fragrances, food flavors and food additives;
• food/agriculture for more effective and sustainable crop production;
• academic research for a broad range of education and discovery applications; and
• technology for potential use as an alternative long-term data storage medium.

Background

We currently generate revenue through our synthetic biology and NGS tools product lines as well as biopharma services for antibody discovery, optimization and development. In addition, we are leveraging our platform to expand our portfolio to include other products and address additional market opportunities, including vertical market opportunities in digital data storage.

In fiscal year 2024, we served approximately 3,562 customers and reported $313.0 million in revenue, including $169.0 million in revenue from the healthcare sector, $83.5 million in revenue from the chemicals/materials sector, $58.5 million in revenue from the academic research sector and $2.1 million in revenue from the food/agriculture sector.

Our Markets

Synthetic Biology

Our synthetic biology products serve life sciences researchers across a variety of healthcare applications including drug discovery, disease detection, enzyme engineering, gene editing and basic academic research. In addition, our synthetic biology products are used for chemical and materials applications including development of synthetic spider silk, nylon, rubber, fragrances, flavors and food additives; for food and agricultural applications including improving crop traits such as adding vitamins or improving drought tolerance, and engineering bacteria to deliver nitrogen at the root of plants.

Synthetic DNA is the fundamental building block that allows researchers to engineer biology. Synthetic DNA is a foundational product enabling the entire bioeconomy, with synthetic biology alone expected to have a $2-4 trillion global impact by 2030-2040. The National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology recognized synthetic DNA as a critical choke point in many supply chains, making broad access important for many industries. Researchers at a wide range of institutions design synthetic DNA to regulate the production of proteins and other molecules to achieve a specific functional purpose. While synthetic DNA has been produced for more than 40 years, the complexities of biology and the production constraints inherent in legacy processes have historically limited the applications and market opportunities for DNA synthesis.

Next-Generation Sequencing

Our NGS tools play an integral role in the way our customers prepare their patient samples to be sequenced. NGS has transformed many markets in recent years by changing the landscape of diagnosing disease and disorders and offers a path to prevent or treat disease. Some of the markets impacted by NGS include oncology, reproductive health, food/agriculture, consumer genomics, infectious disease research and drug discovery. As NGS technology improves and the cost of sequencing declines, new emerging markets that were once considered impractical, such as population-scale sequencing, liquid biopsy (a test that detects multiple types of cancer from a single blood sample), minimal residual disease testing and single cell sequencing, have become major areas of interest and investment.

Historically, a significant constraint in many NGS applications has been the high cost and long turnaround time of oligonucleotide production. Highly accurate and reproducible oligonucleotide production is required to produce high quality target enrichment data. Traditionally, the lack of options for oligonucleotide production forced researchers to choose between using less precise methods or reducing the number of samples in their study. Twist’s silicon-based platform synthesizes millions of oligonucleotides simultaneously with high uniformity and accuracy. Using highly uniform oligonucleotides ensures that the amount of oversampling needed to represent a dataset is kept to a minimum, meaning researchers can screen with confidence while reducing the down-stream sequencing costs.

The ability of the Twist DNA synthesis platform to precisely manufacture target enrichment probes at large scale has dramatically increased the types of projects that can now be addressed using NGS technologies. In addition to target enrichment, we have expanded our offerings to include innovative library preparation with Twist-developed enzymes, buffers, beads, unique dual indexes (UDIs), unique molecular identifiers (UMIs), adapters and more. Our platform has unlocked new applications, improved data quality, and dramatically expanded the types of scientific questions that can be answered using NGS. In addition, the speed of our DNA synthesis platform enables customers to quickly deploy NGS technologies to applications where the time to answer is critical.

Our Platform

We developed the Twist Bioscience DNA synthesis platform to address the limitations of throughput, scalability, and cost inherent in legacy DNA synthesis methods. Our platform stems from extensive analyses and improvements to the existing gene synthesis and assembly workflows. Our core technologies combine expertise in silicon, software, fluidics, chemistry, and motion and vision control to miniaturize thousands of parallel chemical reactions on silicon and write thousands of strands of DNA in parallel.

Our Products

We have developed multiple products derived from synthetic DNA and our versatile DNA synthesis technology. Our current offering consists of two primary product lines, synthetic biology tools and NGS tools, that address different needs of our customers across a variety of applications. In addition to DNA, we now offer RNA and protein products.

Synthetic Biology Products

Synthetic genes and gene fragments

Synthetic genes are manufactured strands of DNA. Customers (biotech, pharma, industrial chemical, agricultural companies as well as academic labs) order our synthetic genes to conduct a wide range of research, including product development for therapeutics, diagnostics, chemicals/materials, food/agriculture, data storage as well as a multitude of emerging applications within academic research. Virtually all research and development of this type requires trial and error, and our customers require many variations of genes to find the DNA sequence that achieves their objectives.

We offer two primary categories of synthetic genes: clonal genes of perfect quality delivered to the customer in a vehicle called a vector; and genes that customers can place in their own vector, non-clonal genes or fragments. Within these two categories, customers can order different lengths of DNA depending on their required final gene construct. Customers can order longer genes or shorter genes and can stitch genes together to create longer or shorter constructs if desired.

Currently, we manufacture genes of up to 5,000 base pairs in length, yielding a clonally perfect piece of DNA that our customers can immediately use for their research. We offer non-clonal genes of up to 5,000 base pairs in length, which we believe addresses the vast majority of demand for non-clonal genes. We also offer larger quantities of DNA for customers who require it for their development efforts. Our error rate for gene fragments is 1:7500 nucleotides.

In November 2023, we introduced Express Genes, a product line that offers customers the same perfect-quality clonal genes at a turnaround time of 5 business days. We charge a premium for this fast turnaround time. We make all genes and gene fragments on our Express timeline.

In fiscal year 2024, we expanded our Express product portfolio to include many other products offered including Multiplexed Gene Fragments on a fast turnaround timeline. Our ability to provide this rapid turnaround for products at scale differentiates us from our competitors.

Oligonucleotide, or Oligo pools

Oligo pools, or high diversity collections of oligonucleotides, are utilized in many applications, including targeted NGS, CRISPR gene editing, mutagenesis experiments, DNA origami (the nanoscale folding of DNA to create two- and three-dimensional shapes at the nanoscale), DNA computing and data storage in DNA, among others. Our oligo pools are also used for high-throughput reporter assays that are used to study cell signaling pathways, gene regulation, and the structure of cell regulatory elements. For these applications, we provide customers with accurate and uniform synthetic oligos to precisely match their required designs.

We sell a diverse, customizable set of oligo pools, ranging from a few hundred oligos to over one million, and offer oligonucleotides of up to 500 nucleotides in length, with an error rate of 1:3000 nucleotides. In fiscal year 2024 we added an offering of cloned oligo pools to further enable researchers.

IgG proteins

Pairing the automation in our synthetic biology platform along with our expertise in antibody discovery, we introduced an immunoglobulin G (IgG) protein offering for our customers focused on the pursuit of drug discovery and development. In the process of antibody discovery, antibody fragments (Fab, small chain fragment variable (scFv) or VHH) must be reformatted to full IgGs. Leveraging our silicon-based synthesis platform, we provide customers with a high throughput IgG capability, removing this bottleneck from the antibody discovery process. We offer standard and Express turnaround times in both CHO and HEK293 cell lines.

NGS tools

Building from our DNA synthesis platform, we have developed products to enable next-generation sequencing. Our products work on multiple sequencing platforms as we are sequencer agnostic. In particular, we are focused on addressing the demand for better sample preparation products that improve sequencing workflow, increase sequencing accuracy, and reduce downstream sequencing costs. Using our silicon-based DNA synthesis platform, we are able to synthesize exact sequences of interest. In the target enrichment process, our synthetic DNA probes bind to the sequence of interest within the sample, acting like a magnet to isolate and physically extract the targeted segment of DNA.

Our NGS products are primarily used within diagnostic tests for various indications including rare disease, SARS-CoV-2 and cancer through liquid biopsy and minimal residual disease (MRD). In addition, customers use our NGS tools for population genetics research and biomarker discovery, translational research, microbiology and applied markets research. Our customers are primarily diagnostic companies and hospitals, research institutions, agricultural biotechnology companies, and consumer genetics companies conducting diagnostic tests for a wide range of applications.

In fiscal year 2024, we added several innovative library preparation products for specific applications, leveraging our unique ability to develop proprietary enzymes for use within the workflows.

We offer a wide variety of NGS tools for our customers including library preparation kits, human exome kits, fixed and custom panels as well as Alliance panels. Alliance panels are customer-curated content sold through Twist. In addition, we offer specific workflow solutions including a methylation detection kit for cancer, rare and inherited disease study, as well as a fast hybridization solution (FastHyb), which allows researchers to go from sample to sequencer in a single day. In addition to NGS tools for DNA workflows, we offer full RNA sequencing workflows.

Synthetic controls

Leveraging our DNA synthesis platform, we offer positive synthetic controls that provide quality control measures for a wide range of applications from assay development to routine testing of samples with both next-generation sequencing (NGS) and reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assays.

Drug and Target Discovery Solutions

Precision DNA libraries

Our platform allows customers to customize every antibody sequence variation and construct a precise library systematically to target the entire region of interest. We can create single-site libraries in which we change a single amino acid (which is encoded by a group of three DNA nucleobases) within the sequence or single-site saturation libraries in which we change every amino acid within the sequence for a more comprehensive approach. We can also generate combinatorial libraries in which we introduce changes to multiple sites within the same gene in specific ratios and combinations. These libraries can be used for antibody engineering, affinity maturation, and humanization, which simplifies downstream screening and identifies more lead molecules. Our libraries are explicitly developed for a specific area of the genome or tailored to a specific disease, with antibody compounds evenly represented across all desired areas of the genome.

Biopharma Services

Modern therapeutic targets are increasing in complexity and traditional, single modality platforms are no longer sufficient on their own. Our biopharma services group offers the “discovery trifecta” – in vivo, in vitro and in silico antibody discovery all under one roof. We provide comprehensive discovery services for our partners that results in improved diversity, improved screening, ultra fast lead selection and engineering, which can mean a faster path in the race to the clinic.

Partnerships with leading companies

We believe we have several avenues available to monetize our antibody discovery program. In general, partnerships for our antibody development platform require us to provide rapid, on-demand (high affinity) antibodies based on one or more targets provided by the customer.

Customers can design and purchase libraries, and we work with partners that bring us a target, to discover antibody leads against that target. These partnerships generate revenue in up-front fees, through the license of libraries and service revenue. In addition, many of our partnerships include success-based milestones for key clinical, regulatory and commercial achievements and/or royalties on any product sales resulting from our collaboration.

To date, we have generated antibody leads to multiple biological targets and these antibody leads are in various stages of early discovery and development.

As of September 30, 2024, we had signed 365 revenue-generating partnerships. Through these partnerships, we had 955 completed programs and 89 active programs with 73 of the programs including milestones and/or royalties as of

September 30, 2024. Some of our partners include Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH, Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited, Adicet Bio, Ono Pharmaceutical Ltd., Kyowa Kirin, Invetx, Inc., Astellas Pharma Inc. and Neogene Therapeutics, Inc.

In October 2024, we entered into an agreement with XOMA Royalty under which they paid Twist $15 million cash in exchange for 50% of future milestone and royalty payments from our existing collaborations as of the date of signing. We retain all upfront, service and other revenue earned under antibody discovery and biopharma solutions agreements as well as half of future milestones and royalties.

Our growth strategy

Our objective is to be the leading provider of synthetic DNA and DNA-based products worldwide and to leverage our platform to build a leadership position in other life sciences markets in which we have a competitive advantage. We intend to accomplish this objective by executing on the following:

• maintain and expand our position as the provider of choice for high-quality, affordable synthetic DNA, RNA and proteins to customers across multiple industries;
• become a leading supplier of NGS sample preparation products;
• conduct biopharma services for our current customers and future partners;
• continue to develop commercial solution for storing digital data in DNA; and
• expand our global presence.

Beyond these opportunities, we are working with industry partners to create new markets for our products by leveraging our platform.

Sales and marketing

We have built a versatile and scalable commercial platform that enables us to reach a diverse customer base that we estimate consists of over 100,000 synthetic DNA users, potential customers of our NGS tools products and partners who may use our services for antibody discovery. In order to address this diverse customer base, we employ a multi-channel strategy comprised of a direct sales force targeting synthetic DNA customers, a direct sales force focusing on the NGS market and an e-commerce platform that serves both commercial channels. We employ business development and sales representatives for our biopharma solutions as well. Our sales force is focused on customer acquisition, support, and management across industries, and is highly trained on both the technical aspects of our platform and how our product and services can be used in a wide range of industries. Our easy-to-use e-commerce platform allows customers to design, validate, and place on-demand orders of customized DNA online, and enables them to receive real-time customized quotes for their products and track their order status through the manufacturing and delivery process. This is a critical part of our strategy to address our large markets and diverse customer base, as well as drive commercial productivity, enhance the customer experience, and promote loyalty.

We sell our products through a worldwide commercial organization that includes direct sales personnel, commercial consultants in Europe and Asia, an e-commerce platform and distributors. As of September 30, 2024, we employed 236 employees and dedicated commercial consultants in sales, marketing and customer support.

Research and development

We are engaged in ongoing research and development efforts focused on enhancements to existing products and the development of new products. Currently, we are pursuing research and development projects with respect to the following:

• process development for highest quality oligos;
• develop proprietary enzymes to optimize SynBio and NGS products and workflows;
• silicon process and enzymatic chemistry development for our data storage initiative;
• evaluate and implement AI applications to potentially optimize services for our customers;
• expansion of our product offerings for oligo, gene, synthetic controls, NGS library preparation and target enrichment, and DNA Libraries products;
• continuous process improvements across the business to facilitate speed, efficiency and automation; and,
• develop new products including mRNA and proteins.

Research and development activities are conducted in collaboration with manufacturing activities to help expedite new products from the development phase to manufacturing and to more quickly implement new process technologies. From time to time, our research and development efforts have included participation in technology collaborations with universities and research institutions.

As of September 30, 2024, we employed 182 people in our research and development team.

Patents and other intellectual property rights

Worldwide, we own or exclusively in-license over 150 issued or allowed patents and more than 250 pending patent applications as of September 30, 2024. In addition to these owned and exclusively licensed patents and pending patent applications, we also license patents on a non-exclusive and/or territory restricted basis. Our intellectual property portfolio includes important patents and patent applications directed to DNA synthesis, next generation sequencing, antibody libraries, and DNA data storage. Our policy is to file patent applications to protect technology, inventions and add improvements that are important to our business. Individual patent terms extend for varying periods of time, depending upon the date of filing of the patent application, the date of patent issuance, and the legal term of patents in the countries in which they are obtained.

Manufacturing and facilities

The production of our products is a highly complex and precise process. We currently manufacture all of our products and multiple sub-assemblies at our manufacturing facilities in South San Francisco, California and Wilsonville, Oregon. We consider our long-lived assets to be ready for their intended use when they are first capable of producing a unit of product that is saleable at which point depreciation of the asset commences. We also outsource some of our sub-assemblies to third party manufacturers. All of our products originate from synthetic DNA obtained from nanostructured clusters fabricated on our proprietary silicon technology platform. Due to its on-demand nature, the gene synthesis business requires manufacturing operations to be in operation 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days per year. For synthetic genes, we have built a highly scalable gene production process with what we believe is industry-leading capacity to address the growing demand of scalable, high-quality, affordable synthetic genes. As of September 30, 2024, we employed 357 people in our manufacturing and operations team.

In addition to synthetic genes, we manufacture oligo pools. The pooling process has been fully automated through a mixture of custom proprietary and over-the-counter liquid handling equipment. We have the capacity to make many millions of high-quality oligos per day that can be used to make genes and gene fragments of various lengths, oligo pools of various sizes, DNA libraries and NGS tools products. We intend to increase our shipments to leverage our production capacity through our e-commerce platform, and express offerings, which we believe will expand both our market opportunity and our customer base.

The manufacturing process for our NGS tools is highly flexible given the efficiency of our production capability. We have automated the entire workflow using proprietary and over-the-counter laboratory equipment. We have built dedicated production capabilities for our NGS products.

ISO certification

Medical device manufacturers implement a Quality Management System (QMS) for medical devices to ensure that their products consistently meet regulatory requirements and customer expectations. Implementing a QMS for medical devices is crucial for ensuring patient safety, regulatory compliance, and the overall effectiveness and reliability of medical devices in the market. The international standard ISO 13485 is widely recognized and provides a framework for developing and maintaining a QMS specific to the medical device industry. We certified our QMS to the ISO 9001:2015 (Quality Management Systems—Requirements) standard and ISO 13485:2016 standard (Medical devices—Quality management systems—Requirements for regulatory purposes). ISO is a global network of national standards with over 18,000 standards for nearly every aspect of technology and business. ISO has standard bodies in 163 countries. ISO Surveillance Audits are carried out twice within a three-year period by the registrar (certification body) to ensure we maintain our system in compliance with ISO standards. Recertification is required every three years and we have been successfully recertified since obtaining our original ISO certification.

In 2020, our QMS for manufacturing our NGS Target Enrichment Panels in our South San Francisco, and subsequently in 2023 our Wilsonville manufacturing facilities was certified to ISO 13485:2016.

Supply chain

We have historically purchased many of the components and raw materials used in our products from numerous suppliers worldwide. For reasons of quality assurance, sole source availability or cost effectiveness, certain components and raw materials used in the manufacture of our products are available only from one supplier. We have worked closely with our suppliers to develop contingency plans to assure continuity of supply while maintaining high quality and reliability, and in some cases, we have established long-term supply contracts with our suppliers. We qualify additional suppliers for key materials in an effort to ensure continuity of supply for our operations.

Competition

The synthetic biology industry is intensely competitive and is characterized by price competition, technological change, international competition, product turnaround time and manufacturing yield problems. The competitive factors in the market for our products include:

• price;
• product quality, reliability and accuracy;
• product offerings & complexity;
• turnaround time;
• breadth of product line;
• design and introduction of new products;
• market acceptance of our products and those of our customers;
• throughput and scale; and
• technical support and service.

We face competition from a broad range of providers of synthetic biology products such as GenScript Biotech Corporation, DNA Script, Inc., GENEWIZ (owned by Azenta), Integrated DNA Technologies, Inc. (owned by Danaher Corporation), DNA 2.0 Inc. d/b/a/ ATUM, GeneArt (owned by Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.), Eurofins Genomics LLC, Promega Corporation, OriGene Technologies, Inc., Blue Heron Biotech, LLC, Elegen and others. Additionally, we compete with both large and emerging providers in the life sciences tools and diagnostics industries focused on sample preparation for NGS such as Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., Illumina, Inc., Integrated DNA Technologies, Inc., Roche, New England Biolabs and Agilent. In the antibody discovery market, we compete with contract research organizations including Curia, GenScript, and Genovac (formerly part of Aldevron, LLC), and antibody discovery biotechnology companies, such as Fair Journey/Iontas, Adimab, Distributed Bio (owned by Charles River), Ablexis, Specifica, OmniAb and AbCellera Biologics Inc. In the emerging field of DNA digital data storage, we compete with Biomemory, Catalog Technologies, Inc., GenScript, various academic institutions, and other emerging competitors.

Corporate Responsibility

We are at the forefront of the bioeconomy revolution, and our products are increasingly being used to empower our customers, which consist of diagnostic, therapeutic and healthcare companies, agricultural biotech companies, chemical companies, academic institutions and government entities, around the world to address large societal challenges. All of our work supports our mission to provide synthetic DNA and DNA products to improve health and sustainability.

Full results from our Corporate Responsibility efforts, including our 2024 Corporate Responsibility Report can be found here: https://www.twistbioscience.com/company/corporate-responsibility. The information on our website, including, without limitation, in the 2024 Corporate Responsibility Report, should not be deemed incorporated by reference into this annual report or otherwise “filed” for purposes of Section 18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or otherwise subject to the liabilities of that section.

Human Capital

Our employees are a key factor in our ability to serve our customers. The ability to hire and retain highly skilled professionals remains key to our success in the marketplace. To attract, develop and motivate our employees, we offer a challenging work environment, ongoing skills development initiatives, attractive career advancement, opportunities and a culture that rewards entrepreneurial initiative and exceptional execution.

Our guiding principles of grit, impact, service and trust serve as the foundation of our culture. Our guiding principles set the tone for how we work together, provide a framework for giving feedback and increase the power of our brand. Service is at the core of our business and our interactions with one another. We relentlessly focus on exceeding internal and external customer needs.

Employee population

As of September 30, 2024, we had 923 employees. Of these employees, 182 were primarily engaged in research and development activities; 236 were primarily engaged in marketing, sales and customer support; 148 were primarily engaged in general and administrative activities; and 357 were primarily engaged in operations and manufacturing, dedicated to manufacturing our synthetic genes, oligo pools, NGS tools and DNA libraries. None of our employees is represented by a labor union, and we consider our employee relations to be good.

Recruiting, Development and Retention

Recruiting

We believe that our employees are our most important asset. Beginning with the pre-recruitment process, we provide internship opportunities in both scientific and non-scientific fields for students interested in biotechnology and the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) careers. We engage with local communities to provide expert speakers sharing nontraditional career pathways for the biotechnology field. We partner with community colleges and Hispanic Serving Institutions to build our brand within diverse communities as a source of diverse, high-quality candidates for every role with the goal of identifying the best possible candidate to fill open positions within the Company.

We actively engage with future scientists through organizations including the International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM), a non-profit organization dedicated to furthering the field of synthetic biology. In addition, we have provided internships through the Gloucester Biotechnology Academy, a hands-on training program that prepares students for careers as entry-level technicians in cutting-edge laboratories; and Eastside Preparatory Academy, a high school dedicated to serving students historically underrepresented in higher education. We have engaged with several organizations in the Portland area including Portland Community College, Partnerships in Diversity, Oregon State University, Oregon Bioscience Association and others. Twist Bioscience is a committed partner with the Oregon Bioscience Association in the implementation of a successful bio apprenticeship program in Oregon that provides access and support for Oregon’s priority populations, builds equity into economic strategies for the bioscience industry, and addresses the critical talent needs of our industry.

With an active program in place for our employees, we are striving to further support our female and underrepresented employees in advancing their careers while continuing to focus on hiring diverse talent, particularly at more senior positions.

Growth and development

We invest significant financial and support resources to develop the talent we need to remain at the cutting edge of innovation to ensure Twist Bioscience is an employer of choice. Our performance management system is aimed at supporting our culture, maintaining consistency with our guiding principles and to focusing on continuous learning and development. Our success in the market depends on employees understanding and embracing how their job contributes to the Company’s overall strategy. We encourage cross team communication as well as integrated departmental communication. We believe this broadens our employee’s skill set and provides opportunity for growth and advancement. We invest in our next generation of leaders through a six-month leadership program and individualized coaching for mid-level managers. In addition, we offer tuition reimbursement aimed at growth and career development.

We have made a significant investment in an online learning platform with on-demand, video-based content. Employees have the opportunity to refine or develop professional skills, learn new software, and explore as they plan their career growth. The platform also offers tremendous potential for managers and employees to create development plans as part of the performance review process.

Compensation and benefits, health and wellness

We strive to provide pay, comprehensive benefits and services that help meet the varying needs of our employees. Our generous total rewards package includes above-market pay; fully covered healthcare benefits for employees, with family member healthcare benefits covered at 90%; a health savings account for individuals and their families; approximately four weeks of paid vacation; a minimum of sixteen weeks of parental leave for all employees globally; flexible work schedules; and onsite services including gym and one meal daily. In addition, we offer full-time employees, both exempt and non-exempt, the benefit of equity ownership in the Company through restricted stock units (RSU) grants and/or our employee stock purchase plan.

We have an expert-built educational platform to assist employee’s fertility & family building needs with information about treatment, fostering or adopting, plus dedicated resources for egg freezers, egg donation, LGBTQIA+ families, and solo parents.

We have increased our well-being benefits, by offering programs that help workers monitor and reduce their stress levels, providing apps to support sleep and relaxation. We have further addressed employees’ emotional health and well-being by providing meditation sessions and using telehealth programs to offer mental health counseling.

Diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging

Diversity is in our DNA all the way from the top of the organization down to the individual employee. Our board adopted a Board Diversity Statement in January 2022 to provide informed decisions on diversity, equity and inclusion. Our employees come from numerous countries and bring diversity to our workplace across many critical categories. We believe our Company is stronger because of the variety of experiences and backgrounds our employees bring to their work every day. Among our employees, 55% identify as people of color.

We are committed to creating and maintaining a diverse, inclusive and safe work environment where our employees can bring their best selves to work each day. Our commitment to diversity extends through our recruitment, retention, learning and engagement and community partnerships. As part of our diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging strategy, we made an active decision to pursue opportunities for learning and engagement that bring people from different backgrounds together into conversation. We have initiated monthly Culture Conversations where we explore identities and systems of power using an intersectional lens each month. Past topics include: disability, LGBTQIA+, ageism, Latin identity, and more. Our objective is to appreciate each other as individuals with unique lived experiences, rather than define one another by a single trait such as race, sexual orientation or geographical location. To assess our efforts toward building a diverse workforce, we have included questions in our engagement survey to measure employee perception of inclusive culture.

In addition, we mandate training for all employees and managers to prevent workplace and sexual harassment. The course equips leaders and employees with the tools they need to identify and address unwelcome conduct in non-adversarial, respectful terms.

Employee health and safety

We remain steadfast in our commitment to promote the health and safety of our employees and have implemented a robust Injury and Illness Prevention Program (IIPP). We require annual workplace safety training to reinforce workplace safety procedures that may be useful in the event of emergency situations and to assist our employees in helping to prevent workplace accidents. Our Employee Safety Committee, which is comprised of numerous cross-departmental members, meets on a regular basis (at least quarterly) to review workplace safety and adherence to safety policies. As part of our efforts, all employees and managers complete workplace harassment and sexual harassment training that includes details on how to report any violation of these policies.

Conduct and ethics

Our Board of Directors adopted and regularly reviews the Code of Business Conduct and Ethics Policy (the “Code of Ethics”), which applies to all of our employees, directors and officers. We believe it is imperative that the board of directors and senior management strongly support a no-tolerance stance for workplace harassment, biases and unethical behavior. All employees are required to abide by, review and confirm compliance to the Company’s Code of Ethics, our Anti-Money Laundering Policy, our Anti-Corruption Policy. We also maintain a Modern Slavery Act Statement and our Supplier Code of Conduct. We have established a reporting hotline and email address that enables employees to anonymously report any suspected violations of the Code of Ethics.

In addition, because synthetic DNA is considered to be a dual use technology, we invest substantial financial and human resources in biosecurity to help ensure that our products are used for responsible research. We endeavor to abide by all local, national and international regulations as well as trade compliance requirements and are an active member of the

International Gene Synthesis Consortium and the Australia Group. We maintain an active relationship with the governing body for synthetic DNA within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Employee communications and engagement

We employ a variety of tools to facilitate open and direct communication including open forums with executives, employee surveys and engagement through focus groups, forums and committees. We endeavor to further refine our employee programs through our employee engagement survey as well as follow up quarterly pulse surveys. Based on a recent survey conducted in February 2024 where 91% of our employees responded:

• 89% of employees understand Twist’s mission
• 86% understand how they contribute to the mission of the Company
• 88% understand how their goals contribute to Twist

We hold All Employee meetings twice per month as well as a monthly managers meeting for all people managers.

Community engagement, social and relationship capital

We are endeavoring to develop relationships, give back to our communities and engage in corporate social responsibility and sustainability initiatives. We provide all employees with eight fully paid hours each year to give back to the community at an organization of their choice. We are working to engage with the local community organizations to provide volunteer opportunities for our employees.

Environmental management

Many gene synthesis companies rely on oligonucleotide, or oligo (short pieces of DNA) synthesis on a plastic 96-well plate format. The 96-well plate allows researchers to create 96 oligos in parallel, one in each well. While this process can successfully achieve DNA synthesis, it requires high volumes of phosphoramidites, an expensive raw material, as well as other ancillary chemical reagents such as activator, wash, deblock, oxidizer and capping reagents, many of which are toxic and environmentally harmful. The reagent consumption levels vary depending on the DNA synthesizer and its setup.

At Twist, we developed an ultra-high-throughput DNA synthesis platform to address the limitations of throughput, scalability, and cost inherent in legacy DNA synthesis methods like that described above. With a footprint that is similar to the size of a 96-well plate that produces 96 oligos or 1 or 2 genes, we are able to produce approximately 1,000,000 oligos or 9,600 genes in parallel. Furthermore, we have calculated the carbon footprint of the Twist DNA synthesis method and compared it to the carbon footprint of the 96-well plate DNA synthesis process. The difference is significant. Twist Bioscience’s emissions from manufacturing one gene is a minuscule 36 grams of CO2e, while the 96-well plate process has a carbon footprint of 23 kilograms of CO2e per gene.

With the Twist ultra-high-throughput DNA synthesizer, we believe we are able to achieve at least a 99.8% volume reduction (when compared to a standard manufacturer of oligos) in chemical consumption compared to legacy oligo synthesis. For the more expensive chemical reagents (e.g., phosphoramidite and activator reagents), we have achieved nearly a 1,000,000-fold volume reduction. This drastic volume reduction is achieved through various engineering breakthroughs, including using of inkjet printing to deliver phosphoramidites and activator reagents (10 picoliter per droplet), and the development of proprietary flow cell chambers and reagent recipes, among other proprietary developments.

In addition, the legacy oligo synthesis process often produces significantly more oligos than is typically required for most subsequent processes. In contrast, the Twist system includes a fully-integrated and miniaturized molecular biology workflow to assemble genes using nearly 100% of the oligos we produced, yielding nearly zero wasted synthesized oligos and reducing the usage of molecular biology reagents (e.g., polymerase and other enzymes, and dNTP).

Overall, Twist’s process to synthesize DNA significantly reduces the quantity of chemicals used, overproduced product and waste, for a more sustainable production process.

Government regulation

Twist Bioscience is a leading provider of synthetic DNA products, serving customers across research, development, and commercial applications. We offer a wide range of products intended for "Research Use Only" (RUO) as well as a limited catalog of NGS tools that have been CE-marked pursuant to, and regulated by, the In Vitro Diagnostic Device Regulation (EU) 2017/746, or IVDR, and sold as in-vitro diagnostic medical devices (IVDs) in the European market. Our RUO products are sold and promoted for non-diagnostic and non-clinical purposes to academic institutions, life sciences and research laboratories, and biopharmaceutical and biotechnology companies who then integrate our products into their workflows for further commercialization. These products serve as vital research tools, enabling our customers to develop a diverse spectrum of commercial products. However, if we expand our portfolio of IVDs , we may be subject to a variety of specialized regulatory requirements, including those set forth by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, or the FDA in the United States and the IVDR in the European Union.

Aside from certain labeling requirements, we believe that most of our products, as currently marketed, are largely unregulated by governmental bodies, including the FDA. Even so, we recognize that the applications of synthetic biology are rapidly evolving and we are actively involved in supporting our customers who are developing regulated products, including through contract manufacturing and specialized packaging solutions. As such, we may be subject to certain regulatory requirements, directly or indirectly, and maintain a robust quality management system to ensure compliance. Furthermore, if we expand our own portfolio of IVDs, we anticipate further engagement with regulatory bodies such as the FDA. We are committed to navigating this evolving landscape and ensuring that our products and services meet the highest quality and regulatory standards. For example, we have been recently evaluated by an external third party who has determined that we have processes in place to support compliance with current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP) and to support the required regulatory requirements as future regulations are updated by the FDA. Currently, our quality management system adheres to ISO 13485:2016 to ensure the quality and reliability of our products.

RUO is a term applicable to our target enrichment products for the next-generation sequencing (NGS) market and is applied to kits sold to this market segment. It is intended to restrict use of the kits to non-in vitro diagnostic purposes. Our NGS target enrichment and library preparation products are used in a more comprehensive workflow for next generation sequencing for research purposes only. In the future, we may develop this larger workflow as an in vitro diagnostic, for which we will obtain prior authorization from FDA or other applicable regulatory authorities before commercialization. For example, we launched a limited line of IVDs that are CE-marked and IVDR compliant to support our European customers who are in the in vitro diagnostic medical device market.

FDA

Pursuant to its authority under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, or the FDC Act, the FDA has jurisdiction over medical devices. The FDA regulates, among other things, the research, testing, manufacturing, safety, labeling, storage, recordkeeping, premarket clearance or approval, marketing and promotion and sales and distribution of medical devices in the United States to ensure that medical products distributed domestically are not adulterated and are safe and effective for their intended uses. In addition, the FDA regulates the import and export of medical devices.

Medical device regulation in general

The FDC Act classifies medical devices into one of three categories based on the risks associated with the device and the level of control necessary to provide reasonable assurance of safety and effectiveness. Devices deemed by the FDA to pose the greatest risk, such as life-sustaining, life-supporting or implantable devices, or devices deemed not substantially equivalent to previously 510(k) cleared devices are generally categorized as Class III. These devices typically require submission and approval of a Premarket Approval Application, or PMA. However, FDA can reclassify or use “de novo classification” for a device that meets the FDC Act standards for a class II or III device, which still requires PMA approval. Devices deemed to pose lower risk are categorized as either Class I or II. Class II classification usually requires the manufacturer to submit to the FDA a premarket notification submission requesting clearance of the device for commercial distribution in the United States pursuant to Section 510(k) of the FDC Act, referred to as 510(k) clearance. Most Class I devices are exempt from this requirement, as are some lower risk Class II devices with no established special controls. For devices requiring special controls, and when a 510(k) is required, the manufacturer must submit to the FDA a premarket notification submission demonstrating that the device is “substantially equivalent” to: (i) a device that was legally marketed prior to May 28, 1976, for which PMA approval is not required, (ii) a legally marketed device that has been reclassified from Class III to Class II or Class I, (iii) another legally marketed, similar device that has been cleared through the 510(k) process, or (iv) a device that was granted marketing authorization via the De Novo classification process under section 513(f)(2) of the FDC Act that is not exempt from premarket notification requirements.

Both Class II and III devices may require clinical studies. All clinical studies of investigational medical devices to determine safety and effectiveness must be conducted in accordance with FDA’s investigational device exemption (IDE) regulations, including the requirement for the study sponsor to submit an IDE application to FDA, unless exempt, which must become effective prior to commencing human clinical studies. PMA reviews generally last between three months and two years, although they can take longer. The PMA and 510(k) review processes can be expensive and lengthy and may not result in clearance (for Class I and II devices) or approval (for Class III devices). If we are required to submit our products for pre-market review by the FDA, we may be required to delay marketing and commercialization while we obtain premarket clearance or approval from the FDA. There would be no assurance that we could ever obtain such clearance or approval.

All medical devices, including in vitro diagnostics, or IVDs, that are regulated by the FDA are also subject to the Quality System Regulation. Obtaining the requisite regulatory approvals, including the FDA quality system inspections that are required for PMA approval, can be expensive, may involve delay, and could conclude without products being approved by the FDA. Changes to the current regulatory framework, including the imposition of additional or new regulations, could arise at any time during the development or marketing of our products. This may negatively affect our ability to obtain or maintain FDA or comparable regulatory clearance or approval of our products in the future.

IVDs are a category of medical devices that include reagents, instruments, and systems intended for use in diagnosis of disease or other conditions, including a determination of the state of health, in order to cure, mitigate, treat, or prevent disease or its sequelae. IVDs are intended for use in the collection, preparation, and examination of specimens taken from the human body. An RUO IVD product is an IVD product that is in the laboratory research phase of development or is intended for use in the conduct of nonclinical laboratory research and not intended to produce results for clinical use. As such, an RUO IVD is not intended for use in clinical investigations or in clinical practice. Such RUO products do not require premarket clearance or approval from the FDA, provided that they be labeled “For Research Use Only. Not For Use In Diagnostic Procedures” pursuant to FDA regulations or they may be considered to be adulterated and misbranded.

As noted above, although our products are currently intended for research purposes only, the regulatory requirements related to marketing, selling, and supporting such products could be uncertain and depend on the totality of circumstances. This uncertainty exists even if a use by our customers occurs without our consent. If the FDA or other regulatory authorities assert that any of our RUO products are subject to regulatory clearance or approval, our business, financial condition, or results of operations could be adversely affected.

According to the FDA, including the RUO labeling statement will not necessarily render the device exempt from FDA premarket clearance, approval, or other regulatory requirements if the totality of circumstances surrounding the distribution of the product indicate that the manufacturer intended its IVDs for diagnostic use. Such circumstances may include, but are not limited to, the product’s advertising, labeling, or promotion, or the manufacturer’s assistance of a clinical laboratory in validating or verifying a test that incorporates products labeled RUO. This uncertainty exists even if such use by our customers occurs without our consent. If the FDA or other regulatory authorities assert that any of our RUO products are subject to regulatory clearance or approval, our business, financial condition, or results of operations could be adversely affected.

Some of our customers may use our products in their own laboratory-developed tests, or LDTs. The FDA has historically taken the position that LDTs are considered to be IVDs, but has generally exercised enforcement discretion. On May 6, 2024, the FDA published a final rule that (1) makes explicit that IVDs are devices under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act), including when the manufacturer of the IVD is a laboratory, and (2) finalizes a policy under which the FDA will provide greater oversight of IVDs offered as LDTs through a phaseout of its general enforcement discretion approach for LDTs over the course of four years (the “LDT Final Rule”). This increase of regulatory requirements pursuant to the LDT Final Rule may influence the sales of our products and how customers employ our products, and we could be subject to additional regulatory controls, including enforcement action, administrative and judicial sanctions, all of which could adversely affect our business, financial condition, or results of operations. Whether the LDT Final Rule and the phaseout of FDA’s enforcement discretion will be fully implemented, however, is in question. The LDT Final Rule is receiving Congressional scrutiny, and there are currently two consolidated cases pending in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas brought by, inter alia, the American Clinical Laboratories Association and the Association for Molecular Pathology against FDA, et al., alleging that the LDT Final Rule violates the Administrative Procedure Act.

EU Regulation

In the European Union (EU), the new In Vitro Diagnostic Device Regulation (EU) 2017/746, or IVDR, imposes stricter requirements for the marketing and sale of applicable medical devices, including in the area of clinical evaluation requirements, quality systems and post-market surveillance. Some of the IVDR requirements such as general safety and performance requirements became effective in May 2022 while the complete enforcement of the entirety of IVDR will not happen until May 2028. We likely will be impacted by this new regulation, either directly as a manufacturer of IVDs, or indirectly as a supplier to customers who are placing IVDs in the EU market for clinical or diagnostic use. In February 2024, we introduced IVDR-compliant Precision Dx products for whole exome sequencing to meet the needs of our European customers and demonstrate our commitment to providing compliant solutions for clinical and diagnostic use in the EU.

FSAP

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) administer requirements of the Federal Select Agent Program, or FSAP. FSAP requirements govern possession, use, and transfer of select agents and toxins consisting of biological materials that have the potential to pose a severe threat to public, animal or plant health or to animal or plant products. The FSAP currently lists approximately 68 select agents and toxins. The registered entities primarily consist of academic, federal and non-federal government, commercial, and private facilities that conduct research studies or diagnostic activities. We are not a registered entity under FSAP and it is our policy generally not to produce or otherwise work with any biological material that is subject to FSAP license requirements. To the extent that we may possess, use, or transfer any material considered a select agent or toxin under FSAP prospectively, we would seek to register with FSAP and obtain all necessary permits for possession, transfer, importation, or any other regulated activity.

Export controls

Some sequences and synthetic controls we produce may be subject to licensing requirements for export outside of the United States under the U.S. Export Administration Regulations (EAR). Given the evolving nature of our industry, legislative bodies or regulatory authorities may adopt additional regulation or expand existing regulation to include our service. Changes to the current regulatory framework, including the imposition of additional or new regulations, could arise at any time, and we may be unable to obtain or maintain comparable regulatory approval or clearance of our service, if required. These regulations and restrictions may materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

OSTP framework for nucleic acid synthesis screening

The Office of Science and Technology Policy in 2024 published the Framework for Nucleic Acid Synthesis Screening. The Framework requires that U.S.-funded researchers and institutions limit the purchase of synthetic nucleic acids only to companies that publicly attest to adherence to the screening requirements of the Framework. Twist's biosecurity practices satisfy or exceed the requirements of the Framework and, as such, Twist has publicly attested to our adherence. We have also agreed, as required by the Framework, to amend our attestation within 72 hours should the status of our adherence to the Framework change.

Available information

Our corporate website address is www.twistbioscience.com (http://www.twistbioscience.com). We use the investor relations page of our website for purposes of compliance with Regulation FD and as a routine channel for distribution of important information, including news releases, analyst presentations, financial information and corporate governance practices. Our filings with the SEC are posted on our website and available free of charge as soon as reasonably practical after they are electronically filed with, or furnished to, the SEC. The SEC’s website, www.sec.gov (http://www.sec.gov), contains reports, proxy statements and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC. The content on any website referred to in this Form 10-K is not incorporated by reference in this Form 10-K unless expressly noted. Further, the Company’s references to website URLs are intended to be inactive textual references only.

Risk Factor Summary

Investing in our common stock involves a high degree of risk. You should carefully consider all information in the Annual Report on Form 10-K and in subsequent reports we file with SEC prior to investing in our common stock. These risks are discussed more fully in the section titled “Risk factors.” These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the following:

• We have incurred net losses in every period to date, and we expect to continue to incur significant losses as we develop our business and may never achieve profitability;
• We may require additional financing to achieve our goals, and a failure to obtain this necessary capital when needed on acceptable terms, or at all, could force us to delay, limit, reduce or terminate our product manufacturing and development and other operations;
• If we are unable to maintain adequate revenue growth or do not successfully manage such growth, our business and growth prospects will be harmed;
• Rapidly changing technology and extensive competition in synthetic biology could make the products we are developing and producing obsolete or non-competitive unless we continue to develop and manufacture new and improved products and pursue new market opportunities;
• The continued success of our business relies heavily on our disruptive technologies and products and our position in the market as a leading provider of synthetic DNA using a silicon chip;
• If we are unable to expand our DNA synthesis manufacturing capacity, we could lose revenue and our business could be harmed.
• We depend on one single-source supplier for a critical component for our DNA synthesis process. Although we have a reserve of supplies and alternative suppliers exist, the loss of this supplier or its failure to supply us with the necessary component on a timely basis could cause delays in the future capacity of our DNA synthesis process and adversely affect our business;
• We depend on the continuing efforts of our senior management team and other key personnel. If we lose members of our senior management team or other key personnel or are unable to successfully retain, recruit and train qualified researchers, engineering and other personnel, our ability to develop our products could be harmed, and we may be unable to achieve our goals;
• We may engage in strategic transactions, including acquisitions and divestitures that could disrupt our business, cause dilution to our stockholders, reduce our financial resources, or prove not to be successful;
• Our products could in the future be subject to additional regulation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration or other domestic and international regulatory agencies, which could increase our costs and delay our commercialization efforts, thereby materially and adversely affecting our business and results of operations;
• If we fail to maintain proper and effective internal controls, our ability to produce accurate financial statements on a timely basis could be impaired, which would adversely affect our business;
• Our ability to protect our intellectual property and proprietary technology through patents and other means is uncertain; and
• If we are unable to obtain, maintain and enforce intellectual property protection, others may be able to make, use, or sell products and technologies substantially the same as ours, which could adversely affect our ability to compete in the market.

Risk factors

The following discussion of risk factors contains forward-looking statements. These risk factors may be important to understanding other statements in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. The following information should be read in conjunction with Part II, Item 7, “Management’s discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations” and the consolidated financial statements and related notes in Part II, Item 8, “Consolidated financial statements and supplementary data” of this Form 10-K. The risks and uncertainties described below are not the only ones we face. Additional risk and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we presently deem less significant may also impair our business operations. If any of the events or circumstances described in the following risk factors actually occur, our business, operating results, financial condition, cash flows, and prospects could be materially and adversely affected. In that event, the market price of our common stock could decline, and you could lose part or all of your investment.

Our business, financial condition and operating results can be affected by a number of factors, whether currently known or unknown, including but not limited to those described below, any one or more of which could, directly or indirectly, cause our actual financial condition and operating results to vary materially from past, or from anticipated future, financial condition and operating results. Any of these factors, in whole or in part, could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, operating results and stock price.

Because of the following factors, as well as other factors affecting our financial condition and operating results, past financial performance should not be considered to be a reliable indicator of future performance, and investors should not use historical trends to anticipate results or trends in future periods.

Risks related to our business

We have incurred net losses in every period to date, and we expect to continue to incur significant losses as we develop our business and may never achieve profitability.

We have incurred net losses each year since inception and have generated limited revenue from product sales to date. We expect to incur increasing costs as we grow our business. We cannot be certain if or when we will produce sufficient revenue from our operations to support our costs. Our ability to generate product revenue sufficient to achieve profitability will depend heavily on the success of our existing products and the development and commercialization of additional products in the synthetic biology, biologic drug and data storage industries as well as leveraging our investment in our manufacturing facility in Wilsonville, Oregon. Even if profitability is achieved, we may not be able to sustain profitability. We incurred net losses of $208.7 million, $204.6 million and $217.9 million for the years ended September 30, 2024, 2023 and 2022, respectively. As of September 30, 2024, we had an accumulated deficit of $1,241.9 million. We expect to incur substantial losses and negative cash flow for the foreseeable future. We may incur significant losses in the future for a number of reasons, many of which are beyond our control, including the other risks described in this Form 10-K, market acceptance of our products, future product development, and our market penetration and margins. In addition, inflationary pressure could adversely impact our financial results by increasing operating costs. We may not fully offset these cost increases by raising prices for our products and services, which could result in downward pressure on our margins. Further, our clients may choose to reduce their business with us if we increase our pricing.

We may require additional financing to achieve our goals, and a failure to obtain this necessary capital when needed on acceptable terms, or at all, could force us to delay, limit, reduce or terminate our product manufacturing and development and other operations.

Since our inception, substantially all of our resources have been dedicated to the development of our DNA synthesis platform and our sample preparation kit for NGS. We believe that we will continue to expend substantial resources for the foreseeable future as we continue to expand our production capabilities and enter additional markets we may choose to pursue, including new COVID-19 testing products, pharmaceutical biologics drug discovery and digital data storage in DNA. These expenditures are expected to include costs associated with research and development, increasing manufacturing capabilities, including operating costs of our new Wilsonville, Oregon facility, and increasing supply capabilities as well as marketing and sales capabilities of existing and new products. In addition, other unanticipated costs may arise.

We expect that our existing cash and cash equivalents will be sufficient to fund our planned operating expenses, capital expenditure requirements and debt service payments through at least the next 12 months. However, our operating plan may change as a result of factors currently unknown to us, and as a result, we have sought and may in the future need to seek additional funds sooner than planned, through public or private equity or debt financings or other sources, such as strategic collaborations. In addition, we may seek additional capital due to favorable market conditions or strategic considerations even if we believe we have sufficient funds for our current or future operating plans. Such financing may result in dilution to stockholders, imposition of debt covenants and repayment obligations, or other restrictions that may adversely affect our business.

Our future capital requirements depend on many factors, including:

• the number and characteristics of any additional products or manufacturing processes we develop or acquire to serve new or existing markets;
• the scope, progress, results and costs of researching and developing future products or improvements to existing products or manufacturing processes, including increasing our manufacturing capabilities;
• the cost of manufacturing our DNA synthesis equipment and tools, our NGS sample preparation kits, and any future products we successfully commercialize;
• our ability to establish and maintain strategic collaborations, licensing or other arrangements and the financial terms of such agreements;
• the costs of expanding our sales and marketing capabilities in the United States and in other geographies;
• any lawsuits related to our products or commenced against us or any regulatory actions or proceedings commenced;
• the expenses needed to attract and retain skilled personnel;
• the costs associated with being a public company;
• the costs involved in preparing, filing, prosecuting, maintaining, defending and enforcing patent claims, including litigation costs and the outcome of such litigation; and
• the timing, receipt and amount of sales of, or royalties on, any future approved products, if any.

Additional funds may not be available when we need them, on terms that are acceptable to us, or at all. If adequate funds are not available to us on a timely basis, we may be required to:

• delay, limit, reduce or terminate our manufacturing, research and development activities; or
• delay, limit, reduce or terminate our establishment of marketing and sales capabilities or other activities that may be necessary to generate revenue and achieve profitability.

If we are unable to maintain adequate revenue growth or do not successfully manage such growth, our business and growth prospects will be harmed.

We have experienced significant revenue growth in a short period of time. We may not achieve similar growth rates in future periods. Investors should not rely on our operating results for any prior periods as an indication of our future operating performance. To effectively manage our anticipated future growth, we must continue to maintain and enhance our manufacturing, sales, financial and customer support administration systems, processes and controls. Failure to effectively manage our anticipated growth could lead us to over-invest or under-invest in development, operational, and administrative infrastructure; result in weaknesses in our infrastructure, systems, or controls; give rise to operational mistakes, losses, loss of customers, productivity or business opportunities; and result in loss of employees and reduced productivity of remaining employees.

Our continued growth could require significant capital expenditures and might divert financial resources from other projects such as the development of new products and services, including the development and commercialization of additional products in the synthetic biology, biologic drug and data storage industries. As additional products are developed and commercialized, we may need to incorporate new equipment, implement new technology systems, or hire new personnel with different qualifications. Failure to manage this growth or transition could result in delays in launching new products, turnaround time delays, higher manufacturing costs, declining product quality, deteriorating customer service, and slower responses to competitive challenges. A failure in any one of these areas could make it difficult for us to meet market expectations for our products, and could damage our reputation and the prospects for our business.

If our management is unable to effectively manage our anticipated growth, our expenses may increase more than expected, our revenue could decline or grow more slowly than expected and we may be unable to implement our business strategy. In addition, the quality of our products may suffer, which could negatively affect our reputation and harm our ability to retain and attract customers.

If we are unable to attract new customers and retain and grow sales from our existing customers, our business will be materially and adversely affected.

In order to grow our business, we must continue to attract new customers and retain and grow sales from our existing customers on a cost-effective basis. To do this, we aim to attract new and existing buyers of synthetic DNA and NGS tool kits, convert makers of synthetic DNA into buyers of synthetic DNA, monetize our antibody discovery platform by entering into partnerships and achieve widespread market acceptance by delivering both our current product offerings and new products and technologies at low cost, with high-quality, reliable turnaround times and throughput, superior e-commerce services and effective technical support. We cannot guarantee that our efforts to provide these key requirements will be consistently acceptable to, and meet the performance expectations of, our customers and potential customers. Furthermore, the commercialization of certain of the applications for which our customers use our products may be subject to clinical studies and/or coverage and reimbursement determinations by government and private payors, and if they are proven to have less clinical value than anticipated and/or fail to receive adequate coverage and reimbursement determinations it could have a negative impact on our sales and revenues. For example, we currently generate a significant amount of our NGS tool revenues from sales related to liquid biopsy applications that are undergoing clinical studies and/or subject to coverage and reimbursement determinations by government and private payors. If these liquid biopsy applications are proven to have less clinical value than anticipated and/or fail to receive adequate coverage and reimbursement determinations, it could have a material negative impact on our sales and revenues. If we are unable to successfully attract new customers and retain and grow sales from our existing customers, our business, financial position and results of operations would be negatively impacted.

If we, or our partners or suppliers, experience a significant disruption in, or breach in security of, information technology systems, or fail to implement new systems and software successfully, our business could be adversely affected. Cyberattacks and security vulnerabilities could lead to reduced revenue, increased costs, liability claims, or harm to our reputation or competitive position.

We rely on several centralized information technology systems throughout our Company to provide products, keep financial records, process orders, manage inventory, process shipments to customers and operate other critical functions. In addition, we currently generate a growing portion of our revenue through sales on our e-commerce platform. We manage our website and e-commerce platform internally and as a result any compromise of our security or misappropriation of proprietary information could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. We rely on encryption and authentication technology licensed from third parties to provide the security and authentication necessary to effect secure Internet transmission of confidential information, such as credit and other proprietary information. In 2024, we received ISO 27001:2022 certification, the most advanced information security standard published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), the world’s largest developer of voluntary international standards, and the International Electrotechnical Commission. Even though our information security management system received ISO 27001:2022 certification, our, and our partners’ or suppliers’, information technology systems have been and may still be susceptible to damage, disruptions or shutdowns due to power outages, hardware failures, computer viruses, cyberattacks such as phishing, social engineering, ransomware, denial-of-service and other malware attacks, telecommunication failures, user errors, catastrophes or other unforeseen events. Additionally, some actors are using artificial intelligence (“AI”) technology to launch more automated, targeted and coordinated attacks. Our, or our partners’ or suppliers’ information technology systems also may experience interruptions, delays or cessations of service or produce errors in connection with system integration, software upgrades or system migration work that takes place from time to time. If we were to experience a prolonged system disruption in the information technology systems that involve our interactions with customers or suppliers, including negatively impacting our order fulfillment and order entry on our e-commerce platform, it could result in the loss of sales and customers and significant incremental costs, which could adversely affect our business.

In addition, security breaches of our, or our partners’ or suppliers’, information technology systems could result in the misappropriation or unauthorized disclosure of confidential information belonging to us or to our employees, partners, customers or suppliers, including trade secrets or other intellectual property, proprietary business information, and personal information. Cybersecurity incidents, including phishing attacks and attempts to misappropriate or compromise confidential or proprietary information or sabotage enterprise IT systems are becoming increasingly frequent. While we have not, to our knowledge, experienced any material system failure, accident, or security breach to date, because techniques used to obtain unauthorized access to or to sabotage systems are constantly evolving and generally are not recognized until they are launched against a target, we cannot be sure that our continued data protection efforts and investment in information technology will prevent significant breakdowns, data leakages, breaches in our systems or the systems of our third party contractors and collaborators, or other cyber incidents in the future that could have a material adverse effect upon our reputation, business, operations, or financial condition. If such an event were to occur, it could materially disrupt our operations and programs, the development of our product candidates and production and shipment of our products. Any event that leads to unauthorized access, use, or disclosure of personal information, including personal information regarding our partners, suppliers or employees, could require us to comply with federal or state breach notification laws and foreign law equivalents, subject us to mandatory corrective action, and otherwise subject us to liability under laws and regulations that protect the privacy and security of personal information and harm our reputation. We would also be exposed to a risk of litigation and potential liability, which could materially adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition. In addition, the costs related to significant security breaches or disruptions could be material and exceed the limits of the cybersecurity insurance we maintain against such risks. As a result of any cyber incident, we could incur significant legal and financial exposure and reputational damages that could have a material adverse effect on our business.

Threats involving the misuse of access to our network, systems, and information by our current or former employees, contractors, vendors, or partners, whether intentional or unintentional, also pose a risk to the security of our network, systems, and information and data. For example, we are subject to the risk that employees may inadvertently share confidential information with unintended third parties, or that departing employees may take, or create their own information based on, our confidential information upon leaving the Company. In addition, any such insiders may be the victims of social engineering attacks that enable third parties to access our network, systems, and information using an authorized person’s credentials. We and our network, systems, and information are also vulnerable to malicious acts by insiders, including leaking, modifying, or deleting confidential information, or performing other acts that could materially interfere with our operations and business. While we provide regular training to our employees regarding cybersecurity threats and best practices, we cannot ensure that such training or other efforts will prevent unauthorized access to or sabotage of our network, systems, and information.

In addition, we and our third-party providers are at heightened risk of theft or cyber attack of technology, data, and intellectual property through direct intrusion by private parties or foreign actors, including those affiliated with or controlled by nation-state actors. This includes attacks which could materially disrupt our systems and operations, supply chain, and ability to produce, sell and distribute our products and services. If any theft affects or attack our technology, data, or intellectual property, our efforts to protect and enforce our intellectual property rights around the world may be inadequate to obtain a significant commercial advantage from our intellectual property, and we may be at heightened risk of losing our proprietary intellectual property rights around the world, including outside of such countries, to the extent such theft, attack or intrusion destroys the proprietary nature of our intellectual property. While we implement security measures designed to reduce these risks, there is no guarantee these measures will be adequate to safeguard all systems and networks. Any failure to maintain performance, reliability, security and availability of our systems and networks may result in accidental or unlawful destruction, damage, loss, unavailability, alteration, impairment, misuse, unauthorized disclosure of, or unauthorized access to our data, including personal or proprietary information.

Rapidly changing technology and extensive competition in synthetic biology could make the products we are developing and producing obsolete or non-competitive unless we continue to develop and manufacture new and improved products and pursue new market opportunities.

The synthetic biology industry is characterized by rapid and significant technological changes, frequent new product introductions and enhancements and evolving industry demands and standards. Our future success will depend on our ability to continually improve the products we are developing and producing, to develop and introduce new products that address the evolving needs of our customers on a timely and cost-effective basis and to pursue new market opportunities that develop as a result of technological and scientific advances. These new market opportunities may be outside the scope of our proven expertise or in areas which have unproven market demand, and the utility and value of new products and services developed by us may not be accepted in the markets served by the new products. Our inability to gain market acceptance of existing products in new markets or market acceptance of new products could harm our future operating results. Our future success also depends on our ability to manufacture these new and improved products to meet customer demand in a timely and cost-effective manner, including our ability to resolve manufacturing issues that may arise as we commence production of any new products we develop. Unanticipated difficulties or delays in replacing existing products with new products we introduce or in manufacturing improved or new products in sufficient quantities to meet customer demand could diminish future demand for our products and harm our future operating results. Further, while the impact that AI may have on the synthetic biology industry is still uncertain, recent advances in AI capabilities may indicate that it could be a significant disruptor in the synthetic biology industry. For example, AI may reduce customer demand for certain types of gene synthesis.

In addition, there is extensive competition in the synthetic biology industry, and our future success will depend on our ability to maintain a competitive position with respect to technological advances. Technological development by others may result in our technologies, as well as products developed using our technologies, becoming obsolete. Our ability to compete successfully will depend on our ability to develop proprietary technologies and products that are technologically superior to and/or are less expensive than our competitors’ technologies and products. Our competitors may be able to develop competing and/or superior technologies and processes and compete more aggressively and sustain that competition over a longer period of time.

The continued success of our business relies heavily on our disruptive technologies and products and our position in the market as a leading provider or synthetic DNA using a silicon chip.

Our future profitability will depend on our ability to successfully execute and maintain a sustainable business model and generate continuous streams of revenue. Our business model is premised on the fact that we are the only DNA synthesis provider to synthesize DNA on a silicon chip on a large commercial level and the competitive advantages this creates. Our DNA synthesis methods, among other things, reduce the amount of raw materials required, speed up the synthesis process and deliver large volumes of high-quality synthetic DNA at low unit cost. However, if other competitors develop and commercialize a manufacturing process using a silicon chip or other similar technologies providing for the development of competitive synthetic DNA products at scale, this could be disruptive to our business model and could adversely affect our business prospects, financial condition and results of operations. If we are unable to convert sufficient number of current manufacturers of synthetic DNA to buyers of our synthetic DNA, surpass our competitors regarding certain industry-related data points, and effectively implement our e-commerce platform which facilitates efficient order entry and fulfillment for our customers, our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operation will be adversely affected.

Issues relating to the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning could adversely affect our business and operating results.

In our ongoing efforts to innovate and optimize operational efficiency, we have integrated AI and machine learning into various aspects of our workplace. While AI and machine learning presents opportunities for enhanced productivity and innovation, it also introduces inherent risks, including legal and regulatory, that could adversely impact our business and reputation. Proper use of AI and machine learning can lead to improved decision-making, cost reduction, and competitive advantage. However, improper use, including algorithmic biases, ethical considerations, data privacy issues, and potential regulatory non-compliance, could result in reputational damage, legal liabilities, and financial losses. The rapidly evolving regulatory landscape surrounding AI also poses a risk, as new laws and regulations could impose additional compliance burdens, resulting in increased operational costs. We are committed to implementing robust governance and control mechanisms to mitigate these risks, but there can be no assurance that such measures will adequately prevent or mitigate the adverse effects that the integration and use of AI may have on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

If we are unable to expand into adjacent addressable markets, our business may be materially and adversely affected.

Our future revenue growth and market potential may depend on our ability to leverage our DNA synthesis platform together with our custom libraries and other proprietary tools, such as our antibody discovery and optimization platform, in adjacent businesses such as pharmaceutical biologics drug discovery and digital data storage in DNA. There can be no assurance that we can continue to utilize our biopharma services offerings to accelerate the lead identification and lead optimization steps of antibody discovery or to discover more effective antibody drugs. In addition, our technology may not develop in a way that allows data storage in DNA to become cost competitive with traditional data storage media or in a way that otherwise enables us to address the markets opportunities that we believe exist. If we are unable to expand into adjacent addressable markets, our business, financial position and results of operations could be negatively impacted.

A significant portion of our sales depends on customers’ budgets that may be subject to significant and unexpected variation, including seasonality.

Our customers’ spending on research and development impacts our sales and profitability. Our customers and potential customers include chemicals/materials, diagnostics, therapeutics, food/agriculture, and their budgets can have a significant effect on the demand for our products. Their research and development budgets are based on a wide variety of factors, including factors beyond our control, such as:

• the allocation of available resources to make purchases;
• funding from government sources;
• funding from research grants;
• changes in government programs that provide funding to research institutions and companies;
• the spending priorities among various types of research equipment;
• policies regarding capital expenditures during recessionary periods;
• political climate or macroeconomic conditions, including economic downturns or market uncertainty or reduced spending in response to emergency public health situations;
• inability to raise sufficient funds in the capital markets;
• changes in the regulatory environment;
• healthcare legislative reform measures,
• differences in budgetary cycles;
• inflationary pressures; and
• market acceptance of relatively new technologies, such as ours.

Any decrease in spending or change in spending priorities of our customers and potential customers could significantly reduce the demand for our products. As we expand into new geographic markets, our revenue may be impacted by seasonal trends in the different regions, the seasonality of customer budgets in those regions and the mix of domestic versus international sales. In addition, access to capital markets is critical to many of our customers’ ability to fund their operations, including purchasing our products and services. Traditionally, biotechnology and life sciences companies have funded their research and development expenditures by raising capital in the equity markets. Declines and uncertainties in these markets have severely restricted raising new capital and have affected companies’ ability to fund existing research and development efforts which may lead them to delay project starts, reduce or cancel orders and or cancel projects. In the past, we experienced some cancellations of customer orders that we believe were due to customers' funding concerns. Moreover, we have no control over the timing and volume of purchases by these customers and potential customers, and as a result, revenue from these sources may vary significantly due to factors that can be difficult to forecast. Any delay or reduction in purchases by customers and potential customers or our inability to forecast fluctuations in demand could harm our future operating results.

We generally do not have long-term contracts with our customers requiring them to purchase any specified quantities from us.

We generally do not have long-term contracts with our customers requiring them to purchase any specified quantities from us and without such contracts our customers are not obligated to order or reorder our products. As a result, we cannot accurately predict our customers’ decisions to reduce or cease purchasing our products. Additionally, even where we enter into contracts with our customers, there is no guarantee that such agreements will be negotiated on terms that are commercially favorable to us in the long-term. Therefore, if many of our customers were to substantially reduce their transaction volume or cease ordering products from us, this could materially and adversely affect our financial performance.

We may be unable to successfully recruit and maintain adequate sales, marketing and other support personnel in order to increase our market share and expand our customer base.

Our ability to achieve profitability depends on our being able to increase our market share and expand our customer base. Although members of our sales and marketing teams have considerable industry experience and have engaged in marketing activities for our products, in the future we must expand our sales, marketing, distribution and customer support capabilities with the appropriate technical expertise to effectively market our products. Furthermore, it takes six to nine months to recruit, onboard and ramp sales personnel to full capability. To perform sales, marketing, distribution and customer support successfully, we will face a number of risks, including that:

• we may not be able to attract, retain and manage the sales, marketing and service workforce necessary to publicize and gain broader market acceptance of our technology;
• the time and cost of establishing a specialized sales, marketing and service force for a particular product or service, which may be difficult to justify in light of the revenue generated;
• our field sales personnel may not be able to access our customers’ premises which could delay the adoption and ordering of our products; and
• our sales, marketing and service force may be unable to initiate and execute successful commercialization activities with respect to new products or markets we may seek to enter.

If our sales and marketing efforts, or those of any third-party sales and distribution partners, are not successful, our new technologies and products may not gain market acceptance, which could materially impact our business operations.

If we are unable to expand our DNA synthesis manufacturing capacity, we could lose revenue and our business could be harmed.

In order to expand our manufacturing capacity of new and existing products, we may need to either build additional internal manufacturing capacity, contract with one or more partners, or both. Our production facility in Wilsonville, Oregon has increased our manufacturing capacity, but if customer demand increases, we may need to expand manufacturing capacity further, which could impact our revenue growth. Our technology and the production process for our DNA synthesis equipment and tools are complex, involving specialized parts, and we may encounter unexpected difficulties in the manufacture, improvement or increasing the capacity of our DNA synthesis equipment and tools, and addressing these difficulties may cause us to divert our time and resources from our other product offerings. There is no assurance that we will be able to continue to increase manufacturing capacity internally or that we will find one or more suitable partners to help us towards this objective, in order to meet the volume and quality requirements necessary for success in our existing and potential markets. Manufacturing and product quality issues may arise as we continue to increase the scale of our production. If our DNA synthesis equipment and tools do not consistently produce DNA products that meet our customers’ performance expectations, our reputation may be harmed, and we may be unable to generate sufficient revenue to become profitable. Any delay or inability in expanding our manufacturing capacity could diminish our ability to develop or sell our products, which could result in lost revenue and materially harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We are substantially dependent on the success of our synthetic DNA products.

To date, we have invested a substantial portion of our efforts and financial resources towards the research and development and commercialization of our synthetic DNA products. The DNA synthesis business is very capital intensive, particularly for early-stage companies that do not have significant off-setting revenues and which are making significant investments in the commercialization and marketing of their products.

Substantially all of our revenue generated to date is from our synthetic DNA products. Our financial results are dependent on strengthening our synthetic biology and NGS product groups while diversifying into other developing sectors such as pharmaceutical biologics drug discovery, creating useful DNA libraries and data storage.

Our near-term prospects, including our ability to finance our research and development activities and initiatives and enter into strategic collaborations, will depend heavily on the successful development and commercialization of our synthetic DNA products. These initiatives will be substantially dependent on our ability to generate revenue from our synthetic DNA products and obtain other funding necessary to support these initiatives. Our inability to continue these initiatives and initiate new research and development efforts could result in a failure to develop or delay in developing new products, improve upon existing products such that sectors such as pharmaceutical biologics drug discovery, DNA library creation and data storage may never be fully developed, and expand our addressable market, which could have a material and adverse impact on our sales, business, financial position and results of operations.

We depend on one single-source supplier for a critical component for our DNA synthesis process. Although we have a reserve of supplies and alternative suppliers exist, the loss of this supplier or its failure to supply us with the necessary component on a timely basis could cause delays in the future capacity of our DNA synthesis process and adversely affect our business.

We depend on one single-source supplier for a critical component for our DNA synthesis process. We do not currently have the infrastructure or capability internally to manufacture this component. Although we have a reserve of supplies and although alternative suppliers exist for this critical component of our synthesis process, our existing DNA synthesis manufacturing process has been designed based on the functions, limitations, features and specifications of the components that we currently utilize. We have a supply agreement in place with this component supplier. However, there can be no assurance that our supply of this component will not be limited, interrupted, or of satisfactory quality or continue to be available at acceptable prices. Additionally, we do not have any control over the process or timing of the acquisition or manufacture of materials by our supplier and cannot ensure that it will deliver to us the component we order on time, or at all.

The loss of this component provided by this supplier could require us to change the design of our manufacturing process based on the functions, limitations, features and specifications of the replacement components.

In addition, the lead time needed to establish a relationship with a new supplier can be lengthy, and we may experience delays in meeting demand in the event we must switch to a new supplier. The time and effort to qualify a new supplier could result in additional costs, diversion of resources or reduced manufacturing yields, any of which would negatively impact our operating results. Further, we may be unable to enter into agreements with a new supplier on commercially reasonable terms, which could have a material adverse impact on our business. Our dependence on this single-source supplier exposes us to certain risks, including the following:

• our supplier may cease or reduce production or deliveries, raise prices or renegotiate terms;
• we may be unable to locate a suitable replacement on acceptable terms or on a timely basis, if at all;
• if there is a disruption to our single-source supplier’s operations, and if we are unable to enter into arrangements with alternative suppliers, we will have no other means of completing our synthesis process until they restore the affected facilities or we or they procure alternative manufacturing facilities or sources of supply;
• delays caused by supply issues may harm our reputation, frustrate our customers and cause them to turn to our competitors for future projects; and
• our ability to progress our DNA synthesis products could be materially and adversely impacted if the single-source supplier upon which we rely were to experience a significant business challenge, disruption or failure due to issues such as financial difficulties or bankruptcy, issues relating to other customers such as regulatory or quality compliance issues, or other financial, legal, regulatory, operational or reputational issues.

Moreover, to meet anticipated market demand, our single-source supplier may need to increase manufacturing capacity, which could involve significant challenges. This may require us and our supplier to invest substantial additional funds and hire and retain the technical personnel who have the necessary experience. Neither we nor our supplier may successfully complete any required increase to existing manufacturing capacity in a timely manner, or at all.

We must continue to secure and maintain sufficient and stable supplies of raw materials. Any shortage of raw materials or materials necessary for our production capabilities may adversely affect our business.

Although historically we have not experienced price increases due to unexpected shortages in raw materials or other materials and other unanticipated events, there is no assurance that our supply of raw materials or other materials will not be significantly adversely affected in the future, which may in turn adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operation.

In addition, as we grow, our existing suppliers may not be able to meet our increasing demand, and we may need to find additional suppliers. There is no assurance that we will always be able to secure suppliers who provide raw materials at the specification, quantity and quality levels that we demand (or at all) or be able to negotiate acceptable fees and terms of services with any such suppliers. Identifying a suitable supplier is an involved process that requires us to become satisfied with their quality control, responsiveness and service, financial stability and labor and other ethical practices. Even if we are able to expand existing sources, we may encounter delays in production and added costs as a result of the time it takes to train suppliers in our methods, products and quality control standards.

We typically do not enter into agreements with our suppliers but secure our raw materials and component parts we use in our equipment on a purchase order basis. Our suppliers may reduce or cease their supply of raw materials, component parts and outsourced services and products to us at any time in the future. If the supply of raw materials, component parts and the outsourced services and products is interrupted due to shortages or other reasons, our production processes may be delayed. If any such event occurs, our operation and financial position may be adversely affected.

A deterioration of our relationship with any of our suppliers, or problems experienced by these suppliers, could lead to shortages in our production capacity for some or all of our products. In such case, we may not be able to fulfill the demand of existing customers or supply new customers. In addition, shortages of raw materials or component parts or an increase in the cost of the raw materials or component parts we use could result in decreased revenue or could impair our ability to maintain or expand our business.

While we have experienced increased operating costs in recent periods, which we believe were due in part to a rise in inflation, we do not believe that inflation has had a material effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations. In the event of significant price increases for raw materials, we may have to pass the increased raw materials costs to our customers. However, we cannot assure you that we will be able to raise the prices of our products sufficiently to cover increased costs resulting from increases in the cost of our raw materials or overcome the interruption of a sufficient supply of qualified raw materials for our products. As a result, a price increase for our raw materials may negatively impact our business, financial position and results of operations.

We may encounter difficulties in managing our growth, and these difficulties could impair our profitability.

Currently, we are working simultaneously on multiple projects, expanding our capacity as well as targeting several market sectors, including activities in the chemicals/materials, diagnostics, therapeutics, food and data storage sectors. In addition, we work to renew our ISO certifications from time to time. These diversified operations and activities place significant demands on our limited resources and require us to substantially expand the capabilities of our technical, administrative and operational resources.

If we are unable to manage this growth and the periodic ISO recertification of our manufacturing facilities effectively, our shipments to our customers could be impacted, our time and resources could be diverted from other products and offerings and our business and operating results could suffer. In addition, if we fail to timely deliver products or meet quantity requirements under our contracts with customers, we may offer discounts to them, and customers' minimum purchase requirements, if applicable, may be reduced. Our ability to manage our operations and costs, including research and development, costs of components, manufacturing, sales and marketing, requires us to continue to enhance our operational, financial and management controls, reporting systems and procedures and to attract and retain sufficient numbers of talented employees. Failure to attract and retain sufficient numbers of talented employees will further strain our human resources and could impede our growth.

Our revenue, results of operations, cash flows and reputation in the marketplace may suffer upon the loss of a limited number of large customers.

We have derived, and believe we may continue to derive, a significant portion of our revenues from a limited number of large customers. Our customers may buy less of our products depending on their own technological developments, the clinical efficacy and commercial success of the applications for which they use our products, end-user demand for our products and internal budget cycles. In addition, existing customers may choose to produce some or all of their synthetic DNA requirements internally by using or developing manufacturing capabilities organically or by using capabilities from acquisitions of assets or entities from third parties with such capabilities. The loss of any significant customer or a significant reduction in the amount of product ordered by any significant customer would adversely affect our revenue, results of operations, cash flows and reputation in the marketplace.

We depend on the continuing efforts of our senior management team and other key personnel. If we lose members of our senior management team or other key personnel or are unable to successfully retain, recruit and train qualified researchers, engineering and other personnel, our ability to develop our products could be harmed, and we may be unable to achieve our goals.

Our future success depends upon the continuing services of members of our senior management team and scientific and engineering personnel. We are highly dependent on Dr. Emily Leproust, our Chief Executive Officer, who is employed “at will,” meaning we or she may terminate the employment relationship at any time. In particular, our researchers and engineers are critical to our future technological and product innovations, and we will need to hire additional qualified personnel. We may not be able to attract and retain qualified personnel on acceptable terms, or at all. In addition, to the extent we hire personnel from competitors, we may be subject to allegations that they have been improperly solicited or that they have divulged proprietary or other confidential information, or that their former employers own their research output. Our industry, particularly in the San Francisco Bay Area, is characterized by high demand and intense competition for talent, and the turnover rate can be high. We compete for qualified management and scientific personnel with other life science companies, academic institutions and research institutions, particularly those focusing on genomics.

Many of these employees could leave our Company with little or no prior notice and would be free to work for a competitor. If one or more of our senior executives or other key personnel were unable or unwilling to continue in their present positions, we might not be able to replace them easily or at all, and other senior management may be required to divert attention from other aspects of the business. In addition, we do not have “key person” life insurance policies covering members of our management team or other key personnel except Dr. Leproust. While we conduct succession planning to identify the person(s) for key positions who possess the skills and capabilities to take on the responsibilities filled by our leaders, we cannot assure you that these strategies will successfully mitigate the loss of any key personnel. The loss of any of these individuals or our inability to attract or retain qualified personnel, including researchers, engineers and others, could prevent us from pursuing collaborations and adversely affect our product development and introductions, business growth prospects, results of operations and financial condition.

We may engage in strategic transactions, including acquisitions, collaborations, or investments in other companies or technologies, that could disrupt our business, cause dilution to our stockholders, reduce our financial resources, or prove not to be successful.

We may enter into transactions to acquire other businesses, products or technologies and our ability to do so successfully cannot be ensured. While historically we have not completed many acquisitions, we closed a business acquisition in the first quarter of 2022 and we are continuing to pursue opportunities in the life sciences industry that complement and expand our synthetic DNA product offering and our other products in both local and international markets. If we identify suitable opportunities, we may not be able to make such acquisitions on favorable terms or at all. Any acquisitions we make may not strengthen our competitive position, and these transactions may be viewed negatively by customers or investors. We may decide to incur debt in connection with an acquisition or issue our common stock or other equity securities to the stockholders of the acquired company, as we did for the business acquisitions, which would reduce the percentage ownership of our existing stockholders. We could incur losses resulting from undiscovered liabilities of the acquired business that are not covered by any indemnification we may obtain from the seller. In addition, we may not be able to successfully integrate the acquired personnel, technologies and operations into our existing business in an effective, timely and non-disruptive manner. Acquisitions may also divert management attention from day-to-day responsibilities, increase our expenses and reduce our cash available for operations and other uses. In addition, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to fully recover the costs of such acquisitions or that we will be successful in leveraging any such strategic transactions into increased business, revenue or profitability. We also cannot predict the number, timing or size of any future acquisitions or the effect that any such transactions might have on our operating results.

From time to time, we may consider other strategic transactions, including collaborations or investments in other companies. The competition for collaborators is intense, and the negotiation process is time-consuming and complex. Any new collaboration may be on terms that are not optimal for us, and we may not be able to maintain any new collaboration. Any such collaboration may require us to incur non-recurring or other charges, increase our near- and long-term expenditures and pose significant integration or implementation challenges or disrupt our management or business. These transactions would entail numerous operational and financial risks, including exposure to unknown liabilities, disruption of our business and diversion of our management’s time and attention to manage a collaboration, incurrence of substantial debt or dilutive issuances of equity securities to pay transaction consideration or costs, higher than expected collaboration, acquisition or integration costs, write-downs of assets or goodwill or impairment charges, increased amortization expenses, difficulty and cost in facilitating the collaboration or combining the operations and personnel of any acquired business, impairment of relationships with key suppliers, manufacturers or customers of any acquired business due to changes in management and ownership and the inability to retain key employees of any acquired business. Antitrust or other competition laws may also limit our ability to acquire or work collaboratively with certain businesses or to fully realize the benefits of strategic transactions to acquire or collaborate with other businesses. Accordingly, although there can be no assurance that we will undertake or successfully complete any collaborations, any transactions that we do complete may be subject to the foregoing or other risks and have a material and adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. Conversely, any failure to enter into any collaboration or other strategic transaction that would be beneficial to us could delay the development and potential commercialization of our products and technologies.

As we expand our development and commercialization activities outside of the United States, we will be subject to an increased risk of inadvertently conducting activities in a manner that violates the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and similar laws. If that occurs, we may be subject to civil or criminal penalties which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.

We are subject to the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, or the FCPA, which prohibits corporations and individuals from paying, offering to pay, or authorizing the payment of anything of value to any foreign government official, government staff member, political party, or political candidate in an attempt to obtain or retain business or to otherwise influence a person working in an official capacity. We are also subject to the UK Anti-Bribery Act, which prohibits both domestic and international bribery, as well as bribery across both public and private sectors. We require that our employees review our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics, our Anti-Money Laundering Policy and our Anti-Corruption Policy on an annual basis.

In the course of establishing and expanding our commercial operations and complying with non-U.S. regulatory requirements, we will need to establish and expand business relationships with various third parties and we will interact more frequently with foreign officials, including regulatory authorities. Expanded programs to maintain compliance with such laws will be costly and may not be effective. Any interactions with any such parties or individuals where compensation is provided that are found to be in violation of such laws could result in substantial fines and penalties and could materially harm our business. Furthermore, any finding of a violation under one country’s laws may increase the likelihood that we will be prosecuted and be found to have violated another country’s laws. We require that our employees annually certify that they understand and will comply with our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics Policy, our Anti-Money Laundering Policy, our Anti-Corruption Policy as well as the UK Modern Slavery Act of 2015. Even so, if our business practices outside the United States are found to be in violation of the FCPA, UK Anti-Bribery Act, antitrust or other similar laws, we may be subject to significant civil and criminal penalties which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

We could engage in exporting or related activity that contravenes international trade restraints, or regulatory authorities could promulgate more far-reaching international trade restraints, which could give rise to one or more of substantial legal liability, impediments to our business and reputational damage.

Our international business activities must comport with U.S. export controls and other international trade restraints, including the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Export Administration Regulations and economic sanctions regulations administered by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Controls.

We have established an international trade compliance program that encompasses best practices for preventing, detecting and addressing noncompliance with international trade restraints. Furthermore, to date our exports have not been licensable under export controls; however, we could fail to observe the compliance program requirements in a manner that leaves us in noncompliance with export controls or other international trade restraints. In addition, authorities could promulgate international trade restraints that impinge on our ability to pursue our business as planned. One or more of resulting legal penalties, restraints on our business or reputational damage could have material adverse effects on our business and financial condition.

We operate in a highly competitive industry and if we are not able to compete effectively, our business and operating results will likely be harmed.

We face competition from a broad range of providers of core synthetic biology products such as GenScript Biotech Corporation, DNA Script, Inc., GENEWIZ (owned by Azenta), Integrated DNA Technologies, Inc. (owned by Danaher Corporation), DNA 2.0 Inc. d/b/a/ ATUM, GeneArt (owned by Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.), Eurofins Genomics LLC, Promega Corporation, OriGene Technologies, Inc., Blue Heron Biotech, LLC, Elegen and others. Additionally, we compete with both large and emerging providers in the life sciences tools and diagnostics industries focused on sample preparation for NGS such as Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., Illumina, Inc., Integrated DNA Technologies, Inc., Roche, New England Bioloabs and Agilent. In the antibody discovery market, we compete with contract research organizations including Curia, GenScript, and Genovac (formerly part of Aldevron, LLC), and antibody discovery biotechnology companies, such as Fair Journey/Iontas, Adimab, Distributed Bio (owned by Charles River), Ablexis, Specifica, OmniAb and AbCellera Biologics Inc. In the emerging field of DNA digital data storage, we compete with Biomemory, Catalog Technologies, Inc., GenScript, various academic institutions, and other emerging competitors. We may not be successful in maintaining our competitive position for a number of reasons. Some of our current competitors, as well as many of our potential competitors, have significant name recognition, substantial intellectual property portfolios, longer operating histories, greater resources to invest in new technologies, substantial experience in new product development and manufacturing capabilities and more established distribution channels to deliver products to customers than we do. These competitors may be able to respond more quickly and effectively than we can to new or changing opportunities, technologies, standards or customer requirements. Our competitors may develop disruptive technologies or products that are comparable or superior to our technologies and products. In light of these advantages, even though we believe our technology is superior to the products offerings of our competitors, current or potential customers might accept competitive products in lieu of purchasing our products. Increased competition is likely to result in continued pricing pressures, which could harm our sales, profitability or market share. Our failure to continue competing effectively or winning additional business with our existing customers could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.

We may be subject to significant pricing pressures and if we are unable to pass on any cost increase to our customers, our business, financial position and results of operations could be adversely affected.

Over time, increasing customer demand for lower prices could force us to discount our products and result in lower margins. The impact may be further exacerbated if we are unable to successfully control production costs. In addition, if due to rising market prices as a result of inflation or otherwise, our suppliers increase prices or reduce discounts on their supplies, we may be unable to pass on any cost increase to our customers, thereby resulting in reduced margins and profits. Furthermore, changes in our product mix may negatively affect our gross margins. Overall, these pricing pressures may adversely affect our business, financial position and results of operations.

Ethical, legal and social concerns surrounding the use of genetic information could reduce demand for our technology.

Our products may be used to create DNA sequences of humans, agricultural crops and other living organisms. Our products could be used in a variety of applications, which may have underlying ethical, legal and social concerns. Governmental authorities could, for safety, social or other purposes, impose limits on or implement regulation of the use of gene synthesis. Such concerns or governmental restrictions could limit the use of our DNA synthesis products, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. In addition, public perception about the safety and environmental hazards of, and ethical concerns over, genetically engineered products and processes could influence public acceptance of our technologies, products and processes. These concerns could result in increased expenses, regulatory scrutiny, delays or other impediments to our programs.

We use biological and hazardous materials that require considerable expertise and expense for handling, storage and disposal and may result in claims against us.

We work with materials, including chemicals, biological agents, and compounds and DNA samples that could be hazardous to human health and safety or the environment. Our operations also produce hazardous and biological waste products. Federal, state and local laws and regulations govern the use, generation, manufacture, storage, handling and disposal of these materials and wastes. Compliance with applicable environmental laws and regulations is expensive, and current or future environmental laws and regulations may restrict our operations. If we do not comply with applicable regulations, we may be subject to fines and penalties.

In addition, we cannot eliminate the risk of accidental injury or contamination from these materials or wastes, which could cause an interruption of our commercialization efforts, research and development programs and business operations, as well as environmental damage resulting in costly clean-up and liabilities under applicable laws and regulations. Furthermore, environmental laws and regulations are complex, change frequently and have tended to become more stringent. We cannot predict the impact of such changes and cannot be certain of our future compliance. While our property insurance policy provides limited coverage in the event of contamination from hazardous and biological products and the resulting cleanup costs, we do not currently have any additional insurance coverage for legal liability for claims arising from the handling, storage or disposal of hazardous materials. Accordingly, in the event of contamination or injury, we could be liable for damages or penalized with fines in an amount exceeding our resources and our operations could be suspended or otherwise adversely affected.

We could develop DNA sequences or engage in other activity that contravenes biosecurity requirements, or regulatory authorities could promulgate more far-reaching biosecurity requirements that our standard business practices cannot accommodate, which could give rise to substantial legal liability, impede our business and damage our reputation.

The Federal Select Agent Program, or the FSAP, involves rules administered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Toxins and the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service that regulate possession, use and transfer of biological select agents and toxins that have the potential to pose a severe threat to public, animal or plant health or to animal or plant products.

We have established a comprehensive, biosecurity program under which we follow biosafety and biosecurity best practices and avoid DNA synthesis activities that implicate FSAP rules; however, we could inadvertently err in our observance of compliance program requirements in a manner that leaves us in noncompliance with FSAP or other biosecurity rules. In addition, authorities could promulgate new biosecurity requirements that restrictions our operations. One or more resulting legal penalties, restraints on our business or reputational damage could have material adverse effects on our business and financial condition.

Third parties may use our products in ways that could damage our reputation.

After our customers have received our products, we do not have any control over their use and our customers may use them in ways that are harmful to our reputation as a supplier of synthetic DNA products. In addition, while we have established a biosecurity program designed to comply with biosafety and biosecurity requirements and perform export control screening in an effort to ensure that third parties do not obtain our products for malevolent purposes, we cannot guarantee that these preventative measures will eliminate or reduce the risk of the domestic and global opportunities for the misuse of our products. Accordingly, in the event of such misuse, our reputation, future revenue and operating results may suffer.

Any damage to our reputation or brand may materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We believe that developing and maintaining our brand is important to our success and that our financial success is influenced by the perception of our brand by our customers. Furthermore, the importance of our brand recognition may become even greater to the extent that competitors offer more products similar to ours. Many factors, some of which are beyond our control, are important to maintaining our reputation and brand. These factors include our ability to comply with ethical, social, product, labor and environmental standards. Any actual or perceived failure in compliance with such standards could damage our reputation and brand.

Because we are subject to existing and potential additional governmental regulation, the markets for our products may be narrowed.

We are subject, both directly and indirectly, to the adverse impact of existing and potential future government regulation of our operations and markets. For example, the export of our products is subject to strict regulatory control in a number of jurisdictions. The failure to satisfy export control criteria or obtain necessary clearances could delay or prevent the shipment of products, which could adversely affect our revenues and profitability. Moreover, the life sciences industry, which is currently the primary market for our technology, has historically been heavily regulated. There are, for example, laws in several jurisdictions restricting research in genetic engineering, which can operate to narrow our markets. Given the evolving nature of this industry, legislative bodies or regulatory authorities may adopt additional regulation that adversely affects our market opportunities. Our business is also directly affected by a wide variety of government regulations applicable to business enterprises generally and to companies operating in the life science industry in particular. Failure to comply with these regulations or obtain or maintain necessary permits and licenses could result in a variety of fines or other censures or an interruption in our business operations which may have a negative impact on our ability to generate revenues and could increase the cost of operating our business.

Our products could in the future be subject to additional regulation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration or other domestic and international regulatory agencies, which could increase our costs and delay our commercialization efforts, thereby materially and adversely affecting our business and results of operations.

The FDA regulates medical devices, including in vitro diagnostics, or IVDs. IVDs are a category of medical devices that include reagents, instruments, and systems intended for use in diagnosis of disease or other conditions, including a determination of the state of health, in order to cure, mitigate, treat, or prevent disease or its sequelae. IVDs are intended for use in the collection, preparation, and examination of specimens taken from the human body. An RUO IVD product is an IVD product that is in the laboratory research phase of development or is intended for use in the conduct of nonclinical laboratory research and not intended to produce results for clinical use. As such, an RUO IVD is not intended for use in clinical investigations or in clinical practice. Such RUO products do not require premarket clearance or approval from the FDA, provided that they are labeled “For Research Use Only. Not For Use In Diagnostic Procedures” pursuant to FDA regulations. Our IVD products are not intended for clinical or diagnostic use, and we market and label them as RUO. Our customers, however, may use our products in their own laboratory-developed tests, or LDTs. The FDA has historically taken the position that LDTs are considered to be IVDs, but has generally exercised enforcement discretion. On May 6, 2024, the FDA published a final rule that phases out over a period of four years the policy of enforcement discretion it has historically applied to most LDTs (the “LDT Final Rule”). While the LDT Final Rule is currently being challenged in Federal court and receiving Congressional scrutiny, if the increase of regulatory requirements under the LDT Final Rule remain in place, it may influence the sales of our products and how customers employ our products, and subject us to additional regulatory controls including enforcement action, administrative and judicial sanctions, all of which could adversely affect our business, financial condition, or results of operations. See "Business-Government regulation-FDA".

In the future, certain of our products or related applications could be subject to additional FDA regulation. Even where a product is not subject to FDA clearance or approval requirements or deemed exempt, the FDA may impose restrictions as to the types of customers to which we can market and sell our products. Such regulation and restrictions may materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. Other regulatory regimes that do not currently present material challenges but that could in the future present material challenges include export controls and biosecurity.

Many countries have laws and regulations that could affect our products and which could limit our ability to sell our products in those countries. The number and scope of these requirements are increasing. We may not be able to obtain regulatory approvals in such countries or may incur significant costs in obtaining or maintaining foreign regulatory approvals. For example, the European Union requires manufacturers to adhere to the In Vitro Diagnostic Device Regulation (EU) 2017/746, or IVDR, for the marketing and sale of medical devices. Complying with the requirements of the IVDR may require us to incur significant expenditures. Failure to meet these requirements could adversely impact our business in the EU and other regions that tie their product registrations or chemical regulations to the EU requirements.

Certain of our potential customers may require that we become certified under the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988.

Although we are not currently subject to the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendment of 1988, or CLIA, we may in the future be required by certain customers to obtain a CLIA certification. CLIA, which extends federal oversight over clinical laboratories by requiring that they be certified by the federal government or by a federally approved accreditation agency, is designed to ensure the quality and reliability of clinical laboratories by mandating specific standards in the areas of personnel qualifications, administration and participation in proficiency testing, patient test management, quality control, quality assurance and inspections. If our customers require a CLIA certification, we will have to continually expend time, money and effort to ensure that we meet the applicable quality and safety requirements, which may divert the attention of management and disrupt our core business operations.

We currently manufacture all of our products and multiple sub-assemblies at our manufacturing facilities in Wilsonville, Oregon and South San Francisco, California, and if either of these facilities are destroyed or we experience at either of these facilities any manufacturing difficulties, disruptions, or delays, this could limit supply of our products or adversely affect our ability to sell products or conduct our clinical trials, and our business would be adversely impacted

We currently manufacture all of our products and multiple sub-assemblies at our manufacturing facilities in Wilsonville, Oregon and South San Francisco, California. Although a portion of our manufacturing still takes place at our South San Francisco facility, we depend primarily on our manufacturing facility in Wilsonville, Oregon. For example, we have recently consolidated all synthetic biology production in Wilsonville, and our Express Genes product is manufactured solely in Wilsonville. We still manufacture a significant portion of our NGS products at our South San Francisco facility. Any manufacturing difficulties at our two manufacturing could result in turnaround time delays. With respect to our Wilsonville facility, if regulatory, manufacturing, or other problems require us to discontinue production at the facility, we will not be able to manufacture our synthetic genes, oligo pools or selected NGS products or create our DNA libraries, which would adversely impact our business. In addition, if either of our facilities or the equipment therein is significantly damaged, destroyed, or affected by fire, flood, power loss, or similar events, or is shut down for health and safety reasons, including public health emergencies, severe weather, or other reasons, we may not be able to quickly or inexpensively replace our manufacturing capacity or replace the facility. In the event of a temporary or protracted loss of either of these facilities or the equipment therein, we might not be able to transfer manufacturing to another third party. Even if we could transfer manufacturing from one facility to another, the shift would likely be expensive and time-consuming, particularly if we were to maintain the current manufacturing standards procedures at such alternative facility.

Natural disasters, public health crises, political crises, severe weather events, and other catastrophic events or other events outside of our control may damage our facilities or the facilities of third parties on which we depend and could impact our ability to sell products.

Our headquarters in South San Francisco, California is located near known earthquake fault zones and is vulnerable to damage from earthquakes. Our primary manufacturing facility in Wilsonville, Oregon is vulnerable to extreme heat, wildfires, and severe weather events, all of which may be further exacerbated by the effects of climate change, as well as damage from earthquakes. An earthquake or other natural disaster or power shortages or outages could disrupt operations or impair critical systems at our headquarters or at any of our other facilities throughout the world. We, our suppliers, third-party service providers and customers are vulnerable to damage from natural disasters, including fire, floods or monsoons, power loss, communications failures, public health crises, such as pandemics and epidemics, political crises, such as terrorism, war, political instability or other conflict and similar events. If any disaster were to occur, our ability to operate our business at any of our facilities could be seriously, or potentially completely, impaired. In addition, the nature of our activities could cause significant delays in our research programs and commercial activities and make it difficult for us to recover from a disaster. The insurance we maintain may not be adequate to cover our losses resulting from disasters or other business interruptions. Accordingly, an earthquake or other disaster could materially and adversely harm our ability to conduct business. Furthermore, our in vivo antibody discovery services involve mice. In the past, vivarium sites have been shut down by animal activists, and any disturbance or shut down at the site where our in vivo antibody discovery work is being conducted could disrupt our business operations or harm our reputation.

Delivery of our products could be delayed or disrupted by factors beyond our control, and we could lose customers as a result.

We rely on third-party carriers for the timely delivery of our products. As a result, we are subject to carrier disruptions and increased costs that are beyond our control, including travel restrictions, employee strikes, inclement weather, delays due to public health emergencies, and increased fuel costs. For example, in the past we have experienced shipment delays due to flight cancellations caused by inclement weather. Any failure to deliver products to our customers in a timely and accurate manner may damage our reputation and brand and could cause us to lose customers. If our relationship with any of these third-party carriers is terminated or impaired or if any of these third parties are unable to deliver our products, the delivery and acceptance of our products by our customers may be delayed which could harm our business and financial results. The failure to deliver our products in a timely manner may harm our relationship with our customers, increase our costs and otherwise disrupt our operations.

Doing business internationally creates operational and financial risks for our business.

During our fiscal years ended September 30, 2024, 2023 and 2022, 40%, 40% and 41%, respectively, of our revenue was generated from customers located outside of the United States. In connection with our growth strategy, we intend to further expand in international markets. Conducting and launching operations on an international scale requires close coordination of activities across multiple jurisdictions and time zones and consumes significant management resources. If we fail to coordinate and manage these activities effectively, our business, financial condition or results of operations could be adversely affected. International sales entail a variety of risks, including longer payment cycles and difficulties in collecting accounts receivable outside of the United States, currency exchange fluctuations, challenges in staffing and managing foreign operations, tariffs and other trade barriers (including tariffs enacted and proposed by the U.S. government on various imports from China and by the Chinese government on certain U.S. goods), unexpected changes in legislative or regulatory requirements of foreign countries into which we sell our products, difficulties in obtaining export licenses or in overcoming other trade barriers, laws and business practices favoring local companies, political instability, including conflicts and tensions involving Russia and China and the Israel-Hamas war, economic instability, difficulties protecting or procuring intellectual property rights, and restrictions resulting in delivery delays and significant taxes or other burdens of complying with a variety of foreign laws.

Changes in the value of the relevant currencies may affect the cost of certain items required in our operations. Changes in currency exchange rates may also affect the relative prices at which we are able to sell products in the same market. Our revenue from international customers may be negatively impacted as increases in the U.S. dollar relative to our international customers’ local currency could make our products more expensive, impacting our ability to compete. Our costs of materials from international suppliers may increase if in order to continue doing business with us they raise their prices as the value of the U.S. dollar decreases relative to their local currency. Foreign policies and actions regarding currency valuation could result in actions by the United States and other countries to offset the effects of such fluctuations. The recent global financial downturn has led to a high level of volatility in foreign currency exchange rates and that level of volatility may continue, which could adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.

Our ability to use our net operating loss carryforwards to offset future taxable income may be subject to certain limitations.

In general, under Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, or the Code, a corporation that undergoes an “ownership change” is subject to limitations on its ability to use its pre-change net operating loss carryforwards, or NOLs, to offset future taxable income. We have experienced at least one ownership change in the past, and we may experience ownership changes in the future. Future changes in our stock ownership, some of which are outside of our control, could result in an ownership change under Section 382 of the Code. Furthermore, our ability to use NOLs of companies that we may acquire in the future may be subject to limitations. For these reasons, we may not be able to use a material portion of the NOLs reflected on our balance sheet, even if we attain profitability.

The enactment of legislation implementing changes in taxation of international business activities, the adoption of other corporate tax reform policies, or changes in tax legislation or policies could impact our future financial position and results of operations.

Corporate tax reform, base-erosion efforts and tax transparency continue to be high priorities in many tax jurisdictions where we intend to have business operations. As a result, policies regarding corporate income and other taxes in numerous jurisdictions are under heightened scrutiny and tax reform legislation is being proposed or enacted in a number of jurisdictions. For example, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, or the Tax Act, signed into law on December 22, 2017, adopting broad U.S. corporate income tax reform, among other things, reduced the U.S. corporate income tax rate, but imposed base-erosion prevention measures on non-U.S. earnings of U.S. entities as well as a one-time mandatory deemed repatriation tax on accumulated non-U.S. earnings of U.S. entities.

In addition, many countries are beginning to implement legislation and other guidance to align their international tax rules with the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Base Erosion and Profit Shifting recommendations and action plan that aim to standardize and modernize global corporate tax policy, including changes to cross-border tax, transfer-pricing documentation rules, and nexus-based tax incentive practices.

Such legislative initiatives may materially and adversely affect our plans to expand internationally and may negatively impact our financial condition and results of operations generally.

Our inability to collect on our accounts receivable by a significant number of customers may have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Sales to our customers are generally made on open credit terms. Management maintains an allowance for potential credit losses. If our customers’ cash flow, working capital, financial conditions or results of operations deteriorate, they may be unable or even unwilling to pay trade receivables owed to us promptly or at all. As a result, we could be exposed to a certain level of credit risk. If a major customer experiences, or a significant number of customers experience, financial difficulties, the effect on us could be material and have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Risks related to being a public company

If we fail to maintain proper and effective internal controls, our ability to produce accurate financial statements on a timely basis could be impaired, which would adversely affect our business.

As a public company, we are required to comply with Section 404 of the Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2002 (“SOX”), which requires, among other things, that companies maintain disclosure controls and procedures to ensure timely disclosure of material information, and that management review the effectiveness of those controls on a quarterly basis and that our independent registered public accounting firm provide an attestation report on the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, among other additional requirements. Effective internal controls are necessary for us to provide reliable financial reports and to help prevent fraud, and our management and other personnel devote a substantial amount of time to these compliance requirements. These rules and regulations also increase our legal and financial compliance costs and make some activities more time-consuming and costly.

We cannot be certain that we will be able to maintain adequate controls over our financial processes and reporting in the future. For example, as previously disclosed in our annual reports on Form 10-K for the fiscal years ended September 30, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 we had at least one material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting as of the end of each of these fiscal years. Although management has since remediated these material weaknesses and concluded that our internal control over financial reporting was effective as of September 30, 2024, weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting could again be discovered in the future. If we fail to maintain effective internal controls, investors may lose confidence in the accuracy and completeness or our financial reports, the market price of our securities may be negatively affected, and we could be subject to sanctions or investigation by regulatory authorities, such as the SEC or Nasdaq.

The requirements of being a public company may strain our resources and require a substantial amount of management’s attention.

As a public company, we are subject to the reporting requirements of the Exchange Act, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, or the Dodd-Frank Act, Nasdaq listing requirements and other applicable securities rules and regulations. The SEC and other regulators have continued to adopt new rules and regulations and make additional changes to existing regulations that require our compliance. Stockholder activism, the current political environment, and the current high level of government intervention and regulatory reform may lead to substantial new regulations and disclosure obligations, which may lead to additional compliance costs and impact, in ways we cannot currently anticipate, the manner in which we operate our business. Compliance with these rules and regulations may cause us to incur additional accounting, legal and other expenses. We also incur costs associated with corporate governance requirements, including requirements under securities laws, as well as rules and regulations implemented by the SEC and Nasdaq, particularly as a large accelerated filer. These rules and regulations have increased our legal and financial compliance costs and we devote significant time to comply with these requirements. We are currently evaluating and monitoring developments with respect to these rules and regulations, and we cannot predict or estimate the amount of additional costs we may incur or the timing of such costs.

Risks related to our intellectual property

Our ability to protect our intellectual property and proprietary technology through patents and other means is uncertain.

Our commercial success depends in part on our ability to protect our intellectual property and proprietary technologies. We rely on patent protection, where appropriate and available, as well as a combination of copyright, trade secret and trademark laws, and nondisclosure, confidentiality and other contractual restrictions to protect our proprietary technology. However, these legal means afford only limited protection and may not adequately protect our rights or permit us to gain or keep any competitive advantage.

Worldwide, we own or exclusively in-license over 150 issued or allowed patents and more than 250 pending patent applications as of September 30, 2024. In addition to these owned and exclusively licensed patents and pending patent applications, we also license patents on a non-exclusive and/or territory restricted basis. Our intellectual property portfolio includes important patents and patent applications directed to DNA synthesis, Next Generation Sequencing, antibody libraries, and DNA data storage.

Several patent applications covering our technologies have been filed recently. We cannot offer any assurances about which, if any, patents will issue, the breadth of any such patent, or whether any issued patents will be found invalid and unenforceable or will be threatened by third parties. Any successful opposition to these patents or any other patents owned by or, if applicable in the future, licensed to us could deprive us of rights necessary for the practice of our technologies or the successful commercialization of products that we may develop. Since patent applications in the United States and most other countries are confidential for a period of time after filing, we cannot be certain that we were the first to file any patent application related to our technologies or products. Furthermore, an interference proceeding can be provoked by a third party or instituted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office ("USPTO"), or the European Patent Office ("EPO"), to determine who was the first to invent any of the subject matter covered by the patent claims of our applications. For example, on March 3, 2021, our European Patent No. 3030682 which relates to polynucleotide synthesis was opposed by an anonymous third party. An initial decision to revoke the patent was issued on November 29, 2022, which will not become final until all appeals are exhausted. We believe the EPO's decision relating to the original claims is erroneous and we appealed the EPO’s decision on January 27, 2023. The opponent filed a reply to the appeal on August 2, 2023. On April 205, 2024, the EOP issued a summons for an oral hearing for May 6, 2025, and the appeal remains pending. We continue to prosecute related pending European applications.

Patent law can be highly uncertain and involve complex legal and factual questions for which important principles remain unresolved. In the United States and in many international jurisdictions, policy regarding the breadth of claims allowed in patents can be inconsistent. The U.S. Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit have made, and will likely continue to make, changes in how the patent laws of the United States are interpreted. Similarly, international courts have made, and will likely continue to make, changes in how the patent laws in their respective jurisdictions are interpreted. We cannot predict future changes in the interpretation of patent laws or changes to patent laws that might be enacted into law by U.S. and international legislative bodies.

If we are unable to obtain, maintain and enforce intellectual property protection, others may be able to make, use, or sell products and technologies substantially the same as ours, which could adversely affect our ability to compete in the market.

We may not pursue or maintain patent protection for our products in every country or territory in which we sell our products and technologies. In addition, our pending U.S. and foreign patent applications may not issue as patents or may not issue in a form that will be sufficient to protect our proprietary technology and gain or keep our competitive advantage. Any patents we have obtained or do obtain may be subject to re-examination, reissue, opposition or other administrative proceedings, or may be challenged in litigation, and such challenges could result in a determination that the patent is invalid or unenforceable.

Patents have a limited lifespan. Patent terms may be shortened or lengthened by, for example, terminal disclaimers, patent term adjustments, supplemental protection certificates, and patent term extensions. Although extensions may be available, the life of a patent, and the protection it affords, is limited. Patent term extensions and supplemental protection certificates, and the like, may be impacted by the regulatory process and may not significantly lengthen patent term. Non-payment or delay in payment of patent fees or annuities, delay in patent filings or delay in extension filing, whether intentional or unintentional, may also result in the loss of patent rights important to our business. In such an event, competitors might be able to enter the market earlier than would otherwise have been the case. In addition, certain countries have compulsory licensing laws under which a patent owner may be compelled to grant licenses to other parties. Furthermore, many countries limit the enforceability of patents against other parties, including government agencies or government contractors. In these countries, the patent owner may have limited remedies, which could materially diminish the value of any patents.

We cannot be certain that the steps we have taken will prevent unauthorized use or unauthorized reverse engineering of our technology. In addition, competitors may be able to design alternative methods or devices that avoid infringement of our patents. To the extent our intellectual property, including licensed intellectual property, offers inadequate protection, or is found to be invalid or unenforceable, we are exposed to a greater risk of direct competition. If our intellectual property does not provide adequate protection against our competitors’ products, our competitive position could be adversely affected, as could our business. Both the patent application process and the process of managing patent disputes can be time consuming and expensive.

Monitoring unauthorized use of our intellectual property is difficult and costly. From time to time, we review our competitors’ products, and may in the future seek to enforce our patents or other rights against potential infringement. However, the steps we have taken to protect our proprietary rights may not be adequate to prevent misappropriation of our intellectual property. We may not be able to detect unauthorized use of, or take appropriate steps to enforce, our intellectual property rights. We cannot guarantee that any of our patent searches or analyses, including but not limited to the identification of relevant patents, the scope of patent claims or the expiration of relevant patents, are complete or thorough, nor can we be certain that we have identified each and every third-party patent and pending application in the United States and abroad that is relevant to or necessary for the commercialization of our products in any jurisdiction. For example, U.S. applications filed before November 29, 2000 and certain U.S. applications filed after that date that will not be filed outside the United States remain confidential until patents issue. Patent applications in the United States and elsewhere are published approximately 18 months after the earliest filing for which priority is claimed. Therefore, patent applications covering our product candidates or technologies could have been filed by others without our knowledge. Additionally, pending patent applications that have been published can, subject to certain limitations, be later amended in a manner that could cover our platform technologies, our products or the use of our products or technologies. The scope of a patent claim is determined by the interpretation of the law, the written disclosure in a patent and the patent’s prosecution history. Our interpretation of the relevance or the scope of a patent or a pending application may be incorrect, which may negatively impact our ability to market our products. We may incorrectly determine that our products are not covered by a third-party patent or may incorrectly predict whether a third party’s pending application will issue with claims of relevant scope. Our determination of the expiration date of any patent in the United States or abroad that we consider relevant may be incorrect, which may negatively impact our ability to develop and market our product candidates.

A court or other judicial body may decide that the patent we seek to enforce is invalid or unenforceable or may refuse to stop the other party from using the technology at issue on the grounds that the patent in question does not cover the technology in question. An adverse result in any litigation could put one or more of our patents at risk of being invalidated or interpreted narrowly. Some of our competitors may be able to devote significantly more resources to intellectual property litigation and may have significantly broader patent portfolios to assert against us if we assert our rights against them.

We may not be able to protect our intellectual property rights throughout the world.

Filing, prosecuting and defending patents on our technologies and products in all countries throughout the world would be prohibitively expensive. In addition, the laws of some non-U.S. countries do not protect intellectual property rights to the same extent as the laws of the United States, and many companies have encountered significant problems in protecting and defending such rights in foreign jurisdictions. Consequently, we may not be able to prevent third parties from using our inventions in countries outside the United States, or from selling or importing products made using our inventions in and into the United States or other jurisdictions. Competitors may use our technologies in jurisdictions where we have not obtained patent protection to develop their own technologies and products and, may export otherwise infringing products to territories where we have patent protection. These products may compete with our products, and our patents or other intellectual property rights may not be effective or sufficient to prevent them from competing.

The legal systems of certain countries, particularly China and certain other developing countries, do not favor the enforcement of patents and other intellectual property protection, particularly those relating to biotechnology, which could make it difficult for us to stop the infringement of our patents. Proceedings to enforce our patent rights in foreign jurisdictions could result in substantial cost and divert our efforts and attention from other aspects of our business, put our own patents at risk of being invalidated or interpreted narrowly, put our patent applications at risk of not being issued, and provoke third parties to assert claims against us. We may not prevail in any lawsuits that we initiate, and the damages or other remedies awarded, if any, may not be commercially meaningful. Accordingly, our efforts to enforce our intellectual property rights around the world may be inadequate to obtain a significant commercial advantage from the intellectual property that we develop. Certain countries in Europe and developing countries, including China and India, have compulsory licensing laws under which a patent owner may be compelled to grant licenses to third parties. In those countries, we may have limited remedies if any of our patents are infringed or if we are compelled to grant a license to a third party, which could materially diminish the value of those patents. This could limit our potential revenue opportunities. Accordingly, our efforts to enforce our intellectual property rights around the world may be inadequate to obtain a significant commercial advantage from the intellectual property that we develop or license.

If we are unable to protect the confidentiality of our proprietary information and know-how, the value of our technology and products could be adversely affected.

In addition to pursuing patents on our technology, we take steps to protect our intellectual property and proprietary technology by entering into confidentiality agreements and intellectual property assignment agreements with our employees, consultants, corporate partners and, when needed, our advisors. Such agreements may not be enforceable or may not provide meaningful protection for our trade secrets or other proprietary information in the event of unauthorized use or disclosure or other breaches of the agreements, and we may not be able to prevent such unauthorized disclosure. Monitoring unauthorized disclosure is difficult, and we do not know whether the steps we have taken to prevent such disclosure are, or will be, adequate. If we were to enforce a claim that a third party had illegally obtained and was using our trade secrets, it would be expensive and time consuming, and the outcome would be unpredictable. In addition, courts outside the United States may be less willing to protect trade secrets.

Trade secrets and know-how can be difficult to protect as trade secrets, and know-how will over time be disseminated within the industry through independent development, the publication of journal articles, and the movement of personnel skilled in the art from company to company. In addition, because we may rely on third parties in the development of our products, we may, at times, share trade secrets with them. We seek to protect our proprietary technology in part by entering into confidentiality agreements and, if applicable, material transfer agreements, consulting agreements or other similar agreements with third parties prior to beginning research or disclosing proprietary information. These agreements typically limit the rights of the third parties to use or disclose our confidential information, including our trade secrets. Despite the contractual provisions employed when working with third parties, the need to share trade secrets and other confidential information increases the risk that such trade secrets become known by our competitors, are inadvertently incorporated into the technology of others, or are disclosed or used in violation of these agreements. If we are unable to prevent unauthorized material disclosure of the intellectual property related to our technologies to third parties, we will not be able to establish or maintain a competitive advantage in our market, which could materially adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Despite our efforts to protect our trade secrets, our competitors may discover our trade secrets, either lawfully or through breach of our agreements with third parties, independent development or publication of information by any of our third-party collaborators. Competitors could willfully infringe our intellectual property rights, design around our protected technology or develop their own competitive technologies that fall outside of our intellectual property rights. In addition, if any of our trade secrets were to be lawfully obtained or independently developed by a competitor, we would have no right to prevent such competitor from using that technology or information to compete with us, which could harm our competitive position. Given that our proprietary position is based, in part, on our know-how and trade secrets, a competitor’s discovery of our trade secrets or other unauthorized use or disclosure would impair our competitive position and may have an adverse effect on our business and results of operations.

We may be involved in lawsuits to protect or enforce our patents and proprietary rights, to determine the scope, coverage and validity of others’ proprietary rights, or to defend against third party claims of intellectual property infringement that could require us to spend significant time and money and could prevent us from selling our products or impact our stock price.

Litigation may be necessary for us to enforce our patent and proprietary rights and/or to determine the scope, coverage and validity of others’ proprietary rights. Litigation on these matters has been prevalent in our industry and we expect that this will continue. As the biotechnology and synthetic biology industries expand and more patents are issued, the risk increases that there may be patents issued to third parties that relate to our technologies and products of which we are not aware or that we may need to challenge to continue our operations as currently contemplated. In addition, our competitors and others may have patents or may in the future obtain patents and claim that the use of our products or processes infringes these patents. As we move into new markets and applications for our products and processes, incumbent participants in such markets may assert their patents and other proprietary rights against us as a means of slowing our entry into such markets or as a means to extract substantial license and royalty payments from us.

Patent infringement suits can be expensive, lengthy and disruptive to business operations and the outcome following legal assertions of invalidity and unenforceability is unpredictable. We could incur substantial costs and divert the attention of our management and technical personnel in prosecuting or defending against any claims and may harm our reputation. Some of our competitors may be able to sustain the costs of complex patent litigation more effectively than we can because they have substantially greater resources. There can be no assurance that we will prevail in any suit initiated against us by third parties, successfully settle or otherwise resolve patent infringement claims. If we are unable to successfully settle claims on terms acceptable to us, we may be required to engage in or continue costly, unpredictable and time-consuming litigation and may be prevented from or experience substantial delays in marketing our technologies and products. Furthermore, parties making claims against us may be able to obtain injunctive or other relief, which could block our ability to develop, commercialize and sell products, and could result in the award of substantial damages against us, including treble damages and attorneys’ fees and costs in the event that we are found to be a willful infringer of third party patents.

In the event of a successful claim of infringement against us, we may be required to obtain one or more licenses from third parties, which we may not be able to obtain at a reasonable cost, if at all. We could therefore incur substantial costs related to royalty payments for licenses obtained from third parties, which could negatively affect our gross margins. In addition, we could encounter delays in product introductions while we attempt to develop alternative methods or products to avoid infringing third-party patents or proprietary rights. Defense of any lawsuit or failure to obtain any required licenses on favorable terms could prevent us from commercializing our products, and the risk of a prohibition on the sale of any of our products could adversely affect our ability to grow and gain market acceptance for our products.

Suppliers of certain equipment and technology platforms on which we rely for our business may also be subject to patent infringement lawsuits. Even if we are not a named party in such lawsuits, if such suppliers are enjoined by a court to stop selling their equipment and technology platforms or supporting our existing equipment and technology platforms, we may not have an alternative source for such equipment and technology platforms, which may have a material adverse effect on our business.

We may also be subject to claims that former employees, collaborators or other third parties have an ownership interest in our patents or other intellectual property. We were previously involved in litigation of this kind with Agilent. While we have settled this dispute, there can be no assurance that future litigation will not be initiated by these parties. Some of our employees were previously employed at universities or biotechnology or biopharmaceutical companies, including our competitors or potential competitors. We may be subject to claims that these employees or we have inadvertently or otherwise used or disclosed trade secrets or other proprietary information of their former employers. Litigation may be necessary to defend against these and other claims challenging inventorship or ownership. If we fail in defending any such claims, in addition to paying monetary damages, we may lose valuable intellectual property rights. A loss of key research personnel or their work product could hamper our ability to commercialize, or prevent us from commercializing, our products and technologies. Such an outcome could have a material adverse effect on our business. Even if we are successful in defending against such claims, litigation could result in substantial costs and distraction to management and other employees.

Furthermore, because of the substantial amount of discovery required in connection with intellectual property litigation, there is a risk that some of our confidential information could be compromised by disclosure during this type of litigation. In addition, during the course of this kind of litigation, there could be public announcements of the results of hearings, motions or other interim proceedings or developments. If securities analysts or investors perceive these results to be negative, it could have a substantial adverse effect on the price of our common stock. Such litigation or proceedings could substantially increase our operating losses and reduce the resources available for development activities or any future sales, marketing or distribution activities. Finally, any uncertainties resulting from the initiation and continuation of any litigation could have a material adverse effect on our ability to raise the funds necessary to continue our operations.

In addition, our agreements with some of our suppliers, distributors, customers and other entities with whom we do business may require us to defend or indemnify these parties to the extent they become involved in infringement claims against us, including the claims described above. We could also voluntarily agree to defend or indemnify third parties in instances where we are not obligated to do so if we determine it would be important to our business relationships. If we are required or agree to defend or indemnify any of these third parties in connection with any infringement claims, we could incur significant costs and expenses that could adversely affect our business, operating results, or financial condition.

We may not be successful in obtaining or maintaining necessary rights to our products and technologies through acquisitions and in-licenses, and our intellectual property agreements with third parties may involve unfavorable terms or be subject to disagreements over contract interpretation.

We may find that our programs require the use of proprietary rights held by third parties, and the growth of our business may depend in part on our ability to acquire, in-license or use these proprietary rights. We may be unable to acquire or in-license compositions, methods of use, processes or other third-party intellectual property rights from third parties that we identify as necessary for our products and technologies. The licensing and acquisition of third-party intellectual property rights is a competitive area, and other companies may also be pursuing strategies to license or acquire third-party intellectual property rights that we may consider attractive. These companies may have a competitive advantage over us due to their size, financial resources and greater commercialization capabilities. In addition, companies that perceive us to be a competitor may be unwilling to assign or license rights to us. Moreover, collaboration arrangements are complex and time-consuming to negotiate, document, implement and maintain. We may not be successful in our efforts to establish and implement collaborations or other alternative arrangements should we so choose to enter into such arrangements. We also may be unable to license or acquire third-party intellectual property rights on terms that would be favorable to us or would allow us to make an appropriate return on our investment.

We engage in discussions regarding other possible commercial and cross-licensing agreements with third parties from time to time. There can be no assurance that these discussions will lead to the execution of commercial license or cross-license agreements or that such agreements will be on terms that are favorable to us. Even if we are able to obtain a license to intellectual property of interest, we may not be able to secure exclusive rights, in which case others could use the same rights and compete with us. In addition, if we enter into cross-licensing agreements, there is no assurance that we will be able to effectively compete against others who are licensed under our patents.

In addition, provisions in our licensing and other intellectual property agreements may be susceptible to multiple interpretations. The resolution of any contract interpretation disagreement that may arise could affect the scope of our rights to the relevant intellectual property or technology or affect financial or other obligations under the relevant agreement, either of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

We have not yet registered some of our trademarks in all of our potential markets, and failure to secure those registrations could adversely affect our business.

Some of our trademark applications may not be allowed for registration, and our registered trademarks may not be maintained or enforced. In addition, in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and in comparable agencies in many foreign jurisdictions, third parties are given an opportunity to oppose pending trademark applications and to seek to cancel registered trademarks. Opposition or cancellation proceedings may be filed against our trademarks, and our trademarks may not survive such proceedings.

In addition, third parties may file first for our trademarks in certain countries. If they succeed in registering such trademarks, and if we are not successful in challenging such third-party rights, we may not be able to use these trademarks for marketing our products and technologies in those countries. Over the long-term, if we are unable to establish name recognition based on our trademarks, then our marketing abilities may be materially adversely impacted.

We depend on certain technologies that are licensed to us. We do not control these technologies and any loss of our rights to them could prevent us from selling our products.

We rely on, or may in the future rely on, licenses in order to be able to use various proprietary technologies that are material to our business. We do not or will not own the patents that underlie these licenses. Our rights to use the technology we license are subject to the negotiation of, continuation of and compliance with the terms of those licenses. In some cases, we do not or will not control the prosecution, maintenance, or filing of the patents to which we hold licenses, or the enforcement of these patents against third parties. Some of our patents and patent applications were either acquired from another company who acquired those patents and patent applications from yet another company or are licensed from a third party. For example, Twist Bioscience acquired Genome Compiler Corporation in 2016, and Genome Compiler had a non-exclusive license to U.S. Patent No- 7,805,252 owned by DNA 2.0. Thus, these patents and patent applications are not written by us or our attorneys, and we did not have control over the drafting and prosecution. The former patent owners and our licensors might not have given the same attention to the drafting and prosecution of these patents and applications as we would have if we had been the owners of the patents and applications and had control over the drafting and prosecution. We cannot be certain that drafting and/or prosecution of the licensed patents and patent applications by the licensors have been or will be conducted in compliance with applicable laws and regulations or will result in valid and enforceable patents and other intellectual property rights.

Our rights to use the technology we license is subject to the validity of the owner’s intellectual property rights. Enforcement of our licensed patents or defense or any claims asserting the invalidity of these patents is often subject to the control or cooperation of our licensors. Legal action could be initiated against the owners of the intellectual property that we license. Even if we are not a party to these legal actions, an adverse outcome could harm our business because it might prevent these other companies or institutions from continuing to license intellectual property that we may need to operate our business.

Our licenses contain or will contain provisions that allow the licensor to terminate the license upon specific conditions. Our rights under the licenses are subject to or will be subject to our continued compliance with the terms of the license, including the payment of royalties due under the license. Termination of these licenses could prevent us from marketing some or all of our products. Because of the complexity of our products and the patents we have licensed, determining the scope of the license and related royalty obligation can be difficult and can lead to disputes between us and the licensor. An unfavorable resolution of such a dispute could lead to an increase in the royalties payable pursuant to the license. If a licensor believed we were not paying the royalties due under the license or were otherwise not in compliance with the terms of the license, the licensor might attempt to revoke the license. If such an attempt were successful, we might be barred from producing and selling some or all of our products.

Risks relating to owning our common stock

We have never paid dividends on our capital stock and we do not intend to pay dividends for the foreseeable future. Consequently, any gains from an investment in our common stock will likely depend on whether the price of our common stock increases.

We have never declared or paid any dividends on our common stock and do not intend to pay any dividends in the foreseeable future. We anticipate that we will retain all of our future earnings for use in the operation of our business and for general corporate purposes. Any determination to pay dividends in the future will be at the discretion of our board of directors. Accordingly, investors must rely on sales of their common stock after any price appreciation as the only way to realize any future gains on their investments.

Our charter documents and Delaware law could prevent a takeover that stockholders consider favorable and could also reduce the market price of our stock.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and our amended and restated bylaws contain provisions that could delay or prevent a change in control of our Company. These provisions could also make it more difficult for stockholders to elect directors and take other corporate actions. These provisions include:

• providing for a classified board of directors with staggered, three-year terms;
• authorizing our board of directors to issue preferred stock with voting or other rights or preferences that could discourage a takeover attempt or delay changes in control;
• prohibiting cumulative voting in the election of directors;
• providing that vacancies on our board of directors may be filled only by a majority of directors then in office, even though less than a quorum;
• prohibiting the adoption, amendment or repeal of our amended and restated bylaws or the repeal of the provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation regarding the election and removal of directors without the required approval of at least 66.67% of the shares entitled to vote at an election of directors;
• prohibiting stockholder action by written consent;
• limiting the persons who may call special meetings of stockholders; and
• requiring advance notification of stockholder nominations and proposals.

These provisions may frustrate or prevent any attempts by our stockholders to replace or remove our current management by making it more difficult for stockholders to replace members of our board of directors, which is responsible for appointing the members of our management. In addition, the provisions of Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporate Law, or the DGCL, govern us. These provisions may prohibit large stockholders, in particular those owning 15% or more of our outstanding voting stock, from merging or combining with us for a certain period of time without the consent of our board of directors.

These and other provisions in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and our amended and restated bylaws and under Delaware law could discourage potential takeover attempts, reduce the price investors might be willing to pay in the future for shares of our common stock and result in the market price of our common stock being lower than it would be without these provisions.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware and the federal district courts of the United States will be the exclusive forum for substantially all disputes between us and our stockholders, which could limit our stockholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us or our directors, officers or other employees.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware is the sole and exclusive forum for any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf, any action asserting a breach of fiduciary duty owed by any of our directors, officers or other employees to us or our stockholders, any action asserting a claim against us arising pursuant to any provisions of the DGCL, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or our amended and restated bylaws, any action or proceeding asserting a claim as to which the Delaware General Corporation Law confers jurisdiction upon the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware or any action asserting a claim against us that is governed by the internal affairs doctrine, subject in each case to the Court of Chancery having personal jurisdiction over the parties named as defendants therein. The exclusive forum provision will not apply to suits brought to enforce any liability or duty created by the Exchange Act or any other claim for which the federal courts have exclusive jurisdiction. The choice of forum provision may limit a stockholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with us or our directors, officers or other employees, which may discourage such lawsuits against us and our directors, officers and other employees. If a court were to find the choice of forum provision contained in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, we might incur additional costs associated with resolving such action in other jurisdictions.

In addition, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that the U.S. federal district courts are the exclusive forum for the resolution of any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act. Our exclusive forum provision will not relieve us of our duties to comply with the federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder, and our stockholders will not be deemed to have waived our compliance with these laws, rules and regulations.

The enforceability of similar federal court choice of forum provisions in other companies’ certificates of incorporation has been challenged in legal proceedings, and it is possible that a court could find our federal court choice of forum provision to be inapplicable or unenforceable. If a court were to find either of the choice of forum provisions contained in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such action in other jurisdictions. Additionally, while the Delaware Supreme Court recently determined that choice of forum provisions for actions arising under the Securities Act are facially valid, a stockholder may nevertheless seek to bring such a claim arising under the Securities Act against us, our directors, officers, or other employees in a venue other than in the federal district courts of the United States. In such instance, we would expect to vigorously assert the validity and enforceability of the exclusive forum provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, and this may require significant additional costs associated with resolving such action in other jurisdictions.

General risk factors

The market price of our common stock is likely to be volatile and could fluctuate or decline, resulting in a substantial loss of your investment.

The market price of our common stock could be subject to wide fluctuations in response to, among other things, the factors described in this “Risk factors” section or otherwise, and other factors beyond our control, such as fluctuations in the valuations of companies perceived by investors to be comparable to us.

Furthermore, the stock markets have experienced price and volume fluctuations that have affected and continue to affect the market prices of equity securities of many companies. These fluctuations often have been unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of those companies. These broad market fluctuations, as well as general economic, systemic, political and market conditions, such as recessions, interest rate changes or international currency fluctuations, may negatively affect the market price of our common stock.

Factors that could cause the market price of our common stock to fluctuate significantly include:

• actual or anticipated fluctuations in our financial condition and operating results, including fluctuations in our quarterly and annual results;
• announcements of technological innovations by us or our competitors;
• overall conditions in our industry and the markets in which we operate;
• addition or loss of significant customers, or other developments with respect to significant customers;
• changes in laws or regulations applicable to our products;
• actual or anticipated changes in our growth rate relative to our competitors;
• announcements by us or our competitors of significant acquisitions, strategic partnerships, joint ventures or capital commitments;
• additions or departures of key personnel;
• operational impacts resulting from a reduction in force;
• competition from existing products or new products that may emerge;
• issuance of new or updated research or reports by securities analysts;
• fluctuations in the valuation of companies perceived by investors to be comparable to us;
• disputes or other developments related to proprietary rights, including patents, litigation matters and our ability to obtain intellectual property protection for our technologies;
• announcement or expectation of additional financing efforts;
• sales of our common stock by us or our stockholders;
• the addition or removal of our stock to or from a stock index fund;
• share price and volume fluctuations attributable to inconsistent trading volume levels of our shares;
• the expiration of contractual lock-up agreements with our executive officers, directors and stockholders, which we may enter into in the future from time to time;
• general economic and market conditions, including economic downturns or uncertainty in financial markets; and
• other factors beyond our control, such as terrorism, war, natural disasters and pandemics.

In the past, many companies that have experienced volatility in the market price of their stock have become subject to securities class action litigation. We are now and may in the future be the target of this type of litigation. Securities litigation against us could result in substantial costs and divert our management’s attention from other business concerns, which could harm our business.

Our quarterly and annual operating results and cash flows have fluctuated in the past and might continue to fluctuate, causing the value of our common stock to decline substantially.

Numerous factors, many of which are outside our control, may cause or contribute to significant fluctuations in our quarterly and annual operating results. These fluctuations may make financial planning and forecasting difficult. In addition, these fluctuations may result in unanticipated decreases in our available cash, which could negatively affect our business and prospects. In addition, one or more of such factors may cause our revenue or operating expenses in one period to be disproportionately higher or lower relative to the others. As a result, comparing our operating results on a period-to-period basis might not be meaningful. You should not rely on our past results as indicative of our future performance. Moreover, our stock price might be based on expectations of future performance that are unrealistic or that we might not meet and, if our revenue or operating results fall below the expectations of investors or securities analysts, the price of our common stock could decline substantially.

Our operating results have varied in the past. As a result, our operating results could be unpredictable, particularly on a quarterly basis. In addition to other risk factors listed in this section, some of the important factors that may cause fluctuations in our quarterly and annual operating results are further described in “Risk factors—Risks relating to owning our stock.”

In addition, a significant portion of our operating expense is relatively fixed in nature, and planned expenditures are based in part on expectations regarding future revenue. Accordingly, unexpected revenue shortfalls will decrease our gross margins and could cause significant changes in our operating results from quarter to quarter. If this occurs, the trading price of our common stock could fall substantially.

If securities or industry analysts do not publish research or reports about our business or publish negative reports about our business, our share price and trading volume could decline.

The trading market for our common stock will depend on the research and reports that securities or industry analysts publish about us or our business and we will not have any control over such analysts. If one or more of the analysts who cover us downgrade our shares or change their opinion of our shares, our share price would likely decline. If one or more of these analysts cease coverage of our Company or fail to regularly publish reports on us, we could lose visibility in the financial markets, which could cause our share price or trading volume to decline.

Our actual operating results may differ significantly from our guidance.

From time to time, we may release guidance in our quarterly earnings conference calls, quarterly earnings releases, or otherwise, regarding our future performance that represents our management’s estimates as of the date of release. This guidance, which includes forward-looking statements, is based on projections prepared by our management. This guidance is not prepared with a view toward compliance with published guidelines of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) regarding projections or the SEC regarding forward-looking statements, and neither our independent registered public accounting firm nor any other independent expert or outside party compiles or examines the projections. Accordingly, no such person will express any opinion or any other form of assurance with respect to the projections.

Projections are based upon a number of assumptions and estimates that, while presented with numerical specificity, are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies, many of which are beyond our control and are based upon specific assumptions with respect to future business decisions, some of which will change. Our aim is to state possible outcomes as high and low ranges to provide a sensitivity analysis as variables are changed but are not intended to imply that actual results could not fall outside of the suggested ranges. The principal reason that we release guidance is to provide a basis for our management to discuss our business outlook with analysts and investors. We do not accept any responsibility for any projections or reports published by any such third parties.

Guidance is necessarily speculative in nature, and it can be expected that some or all of the assumptions underlying the guidance furnished by us will not materialize or will vary significantly from actual results. Accordingly, our guidance is only an estimate of what management believes is realizable as of the date of release. Actual results may vary from our guidance and the variations may be material. In light of the foregoing, investors are urged not to rely upon our guidance in making an investment decision regarding our common stock.

Any failure to successfully implement our operating strategy or the occurrence of any of the events or circumstances set forth in the “Risk factors” section in this Form 10-K could result in the actual operating results being different from our guidance, and the differences may be adverse and material.

We have in the past and may in the future be subject to short selling strategies that may drive down the market price of our common stock.

Short sellers have in the past and may attempt in the future to drive down the market price of our common stock. Short selling is the practice of selling securities that the seller does not own but may have borrowed with the intention of buying identical securities back at a later date. The short seller hopes to profit from a decline in the value of the securities between the time the securities are borrowed and the time they are replaced. As it is in the short seller’s best interests for the price of the stock to decline, many short sellers (sometime known as “disclosed shorts”) publish, or arrange for the publication of, negative opinions regarding the relevant issuer and its business prospects to create negative market momentum. Although traditionally these disclosed shorts were limited in their ability to access mainstream business media or to otherwise create negative market rumors, the rise of the Internet and technological advancements regarding document creation, videotaping and publication by weblog (“blogging”) have allowed many disclosed shorts to publicly attack a company’s credibility, strategy and veracity by means of so-called “research reports” that mimic the type of investment analysis performed by large Wall Street firms and independent research analysts. These short attacks have, in the past, led to selling of shares in the market. Further, these short seller publications are not regulated by any governmental, self-regulatory organization or other official authority in the U.S. and they are not subject to certification requirements imposed by the SEC. Accordingly, the opinions they express may be based on distortions, omissions or fabrications. Companies that are subject to unfavorable allegations, even if untrue, may have to expend a significant amount of resources to investigate such allegations and/or defend themselves, including shareholder suits against the company that may be prompted by such allegations. We have been and may in the future be the subject of shareholder suits that we believe were prompted by allegations made by short sellers.

Future sales and issuances of our common stock or rights to purchase common stock, including pursuant to our equity incentive plans, could result in additional dilution of the percentage ownership of our stockholders and could cause the stock price of our common stock to decline.

As we have in the past, we may sell common stock, convertible securities or other equity securities in one or more transactions at prices and in a manner, we determine from time to time. We have also issued and expect to issue common stock to employees and directors pursuant to our equity incentive plans. If we sell common stock, convertible securities or other equity securities in future transactions, or common stock is issued pursuant to equity incentive plans, investors may be materially diluted. New investors in such subsequent transactions could gain rights, preferences and privileges senior to those of holders of our common stock.

Claims for indemnification by our directors and officers may reduce our available funds to satisfy successful third-party claims against us and may reduce the amount of money available to us.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws provide that we will indemnify our directors and officers, in each case to the fullest extent permitted by Delaware law.

In addition, as permitted by Section 145 of the DGCL, our amended and restated bylaws and our indemnification agreements that we have entered into with our directors and officers provide that:

• we will indemnify our directors and officers for serving us in those capacities or for serving other business enterprises at our request, to the fullest extent permitted by Delaware law, which provides that a corporation may indemnify such person if such person acted in good faith and in a manner such person reasonably believed to be in or not opposed to the best interests of the registrant and, with respect to any criminal proceeding, had no reasonable cause to believe such person’s conduct was unlawful;
• we may, in our discretion, indemnify employees and agents in those circumstances where indemnification is permitted by applicable law;
• we are required to advance expenses, as incurred, to our directors and officers in connection with defending a proceeding, except that such directors or officers shall undertake to repay such advances if it is ultimately determined that such person is not entitled to indemnification;
• we will not be obligated pursuant to our amended and restated bylaws to indemnify a person with respect to proceedings initiated by that person against us or our other indemnitees, except with respect to proceedings authorized by our board of directors or brought to enforce a right to indemnification;
• the rights conferred in our amended and restated bylaws are not exclusive, and we are authorized to enter into indemnification agreements with our directors, officers, employees and agents and to obtain insurance to indemnify such persons; and
• we may not retroactively amend our amended and restated bylaw provisions to reduce our indemnification obligations to directors, officers, employees and agents.

Evolving expectations around corporate responsibility practices, specifically related to environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) matters, may expose us to reputational and other risks.

Investors, stockholders, customers, suppliers and other third parties are increasingly focusing on ESG and corporate social responsibility endeavors and reporting. Certain institutional investors, investment funds, other influential investors, customers, suppliers and other third parties are also increasingly focused on ESG practices. Companies that do not adapt to or comply with the evolving investor or stakeholder expectations and standards, or which are perceived to have not responded appropriately, may suffer from reputational damage and result in the business, financial condition and/or stock price of a company being materially and adversely affected. Further, this increased focus on ESG issues may result in new regulations and/or third-party requirements that could adversely impact our business, or certain stockholders reducing or eliminating their holdings of our stock. Additionally, an allegation or perception that we have not taken sufficient action in these areas could negatively harm our reputation.

Cybersecurity Risk Management and Strategy

Processes Used to Assess, Identify, and Manage Material Risks from Cybersecurity Threats

Risk Assessment and Management

We have implemented and maintain various information security processes designed to identify, assess and manage material risks from cybersecurity threats to our critical computer networks, third-party hosted services, communications systems, hardware and software, and our critical data, including, among other things, intellectual property, trade secrets, confidential information that is proprietary, strategic or competitive in nature, and personal data.

Our Chief Information Officer (“CIO”) together with our Senior Director of IT Infrastructure, Security and Compliance and other members of the Information and Business Technology (“IBT”) Security team, are responsible for establishing and implementing cybersecurity policies and procedures, which includes developing and updating our Security Incident Response Policy (“IRP”), managing incident response, and overseeing any policy exceptions and potential compensating controls.

Our cybersecurity program is based on the International Organization for Standardization (“ISO”) 27001 security controls. We maintain an ISO 27001:2022 certification and we undergo routine audits by an independent, certified accreditation body to maintain this certification. We also provide annual, mandatory cybersecurity training for employees to equip our workforce with the knowledge to identify and respond to cybersecurity threats, such as phishing attempts.

Our process for assessing, identifying, and managing material risks from cybersecurity threats is integrated into our overall enterprise risk management process. As part of our overall enterprise risk management process, we have a cybersecurity risk management strategy based on National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Special Publication. 800-30 “Guide for Conducting Risk Assessments” that provide guidelines and principles for information technology security risk management.

Incident Response

We have a dedicated Information Security team within the IBT team responsible for managing and coordinating incident response efforts. This team collaborates closely with other teams within the company, including Legal and Finance, in identifying, analyzing, and responding to cybersecurity incidents, which includes tracking cybersecurity incidents to help identify any related incidents. When cybersecurity incidents are identified, our practice is to respond to and address them utilizing incident classifications and escalation protocols, in accordance with applicable governmental regulations and other legal requirements.

We have an IRP to prepare for and respond to cybersecurity incidents. The process is tested in annual tabletop exercises to help identify strengths and areas for improvement.

Engagement of Third Party Advisors

We engage third party advisors, including assessors, cybersecurity consultants, and auditors to assess, validate, and enhance our cybersecurity program. We benefit from engaging third parties to provide specialized skills, knowledge, tools, and resources. These third parties also help reduce costs, increase efficiency, improve quality, mitigate risks, and review cybersecurity strategy, trends, and threat landscape. We refine and mature our cybersecurity roadmap and strategy based on findings and their risk standing.

Third-Party Service Provider Risk Management

We have a process in place to oversee and identify risks from cybersecurity threats associated with our use of key third-party service providers during the course of engagement. The company maintains a formal risk management program to identify, assess, monitor and mitigate risks associated with third-party relationships, including cybersecurity risks. Our vendor security assessment process evaluates key vendors and, where appropriate, assesses vendor’s controls for IT security, privacy, business continuity, and other third-party risks. Following an evaluation, the company determines and prioritizes risks based on their potential impact, which help inform the appropriate level of additional due diligence and ongoing compliance monitoring.

Material Risks from Cybersecurity Threats

We have not identified risks from known cybersecurity threats, including as a result of any previous cybersecurity incidents, that have materially affected us, including our business strategy, results of operations or financial condition, but we face certain ongoing cybersecurity risks threats that, if realized, are reasonably likely to materially affect us. For additional information regarding these risks, please refer to Item 1A, “Risk Factors,” “If we, or our partners or suppliers, experience a significant disruption in, or breach in security of, information technology systems, or fail to implement new systems and software successfully, our business could be adversely affected. Cyberattacks and security vulnerabilities could lead to reduced revenue, increased costs, liability claims, or harm to our reputation or competitive position” in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Cybersecurity Governance

Board Oversight of Risks from Cybersecurity Threats

The Board oversees management’s processes for identifying and mitigating risks, including cybersecurity risks, to help align our risk exposure with our strategic objectives. Our CIO regularly briefs the Board on cybersecurity matters. We have procedures led by our CIO which govern our assessment, response and notification of internal and external parties upon the occurrence of a cybersecurity incident. Depending on the nature and severity of an incident, this process provides for escalating notification to our executive team, to evaluate the overall impact and appropriate or required external notifications. Based on its nature and severity, the Board would be informed of an incident by our executive team.

Management’s Role in Assessing and Managing Materials Risks from Cybersecurity Threats

Under the IRP, cybersecurity incidents are escalated based on a defined incident severity to management as appropriate. Management, including the CIO, is involved in assessing and managing our cybersecurity risks. Our CIO has 13 years of experience managing information technology in complex environments. As noted above, the company’s IRP includes standard processes for escalating significant cybersecurity incidents to management, including the CIO, who then informs the Board based on the nature and severity of the incident. The company’s incident response team also coordinates with external legal advisors, cybersecurity forensic firms, communication specialists, and other outside advisors and experts, as appropriate.

Our principal facilities are described below:

The Company believes its existing facilities are in good operating condition and are suitable for the conduct of its business.

For a description of material pending legal proceedings, see Note 9 “Commitments and Contingencies - Legal Proceedings” of the Notes to Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, which is incorporated herein by reference. In addition, we are subject to various legal proceedings and claims arising in the ordinary course of business. Although occasional adverse decisions or settlements may occur, management believes that the final disposition of such matters will not have a material adverse effect on our business, financial position, results of operations or cash flows.

The following Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations (MD&A) is intended to promote understanding of the results of operations and financial condition. The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and the related notes to those statements included elsewhere in this Form 10-K. In addition to historical financial information, the following discussion and analysis contains forward-looking statements that involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Our actual results and timing of selected events may differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of many factors, including those discussed under “Risk factors” and elsewhere in this Form 10-K. The last day of our fiscal year is September 30, and we refer to our fiscal year ended September 30, 2022 as fiscal year 2022 or 2022, September 30, 2023 as fiscal year 2023 or 2023 and our fiscal year ended September 30, 2024 as fiscal year 2024 or 2024.

Overview

We are a leading, rapidly growing synthetic biology company that has developed a disruptive DNA synthesis platform to industrialize the engineering of biology. The core of our platform is a proprietary technology that pioneers a new method of manufacturing synthetic DNA by “writing” DNA on a silicon chip. We have combined our silicon-based DNA writing technology with proprietary software, scalable commercial infrastructure and an e-commerce platform to create an integrated technology platform that enables us to achieve high levels of quality, precision, automation, and manufacturing throughput at a significantly lower cost than our competitors We have applied our unique technology to manufacture a broad range of synthetic DNA-based products, including synthetic genes, tools for next generation sequencing, or NGS, sample preparation, and antibody libraries for drug discovery and development, all designed to enable our customers to conduct research more efficiently and effectively. Leveraging our same technology, we have expanded our footprint beyond DNA synthesis to manufacture synthetic RNA as well as antibody proteins to disrupt and innovate within larger market opportunities, in addition to discovery partnerships for biologic drugs and developing completely new applications for synthetic DNA, such as digital data storage.

We believe our products enable a broad range of applications that may ultimately improve health and the sustainability of the planet across multiple industries including healthcare, chemicals/materials, food/agriculture, academic research, and technology. We sell our synthetic DNA and synthetic DNA-based products to a customer base of approximately 3,562 customers annually across a broad range of industries. In order to address this diverse customer base, we employ a multi-channel strategy comprised of a direct sales force targeting synthetic DNA customers, a direct sales force focusing on the NGS market and an e-commerce platform that serves both commercial channels We employ business development and sales representatives for our biopharma solutions as well. Our easy-to-use e-commerce platform allows customers to design, validate, and place on-demand orders of customized DNA online, and enables them to receive real-time customized quotes for their products and track their order status through the manufacturing and delivery process. This is a critical part of our strategy to address our large markets and diverse customer base, as well as drive commercial productivity, enhance the customer experience, and promote loyalty.

We currently generate revenue through our synthetic biology and NGS tools product lines as well as biopharma services for antibody discovery, optimization and development. We generated revenues of $313.0 million in the year ended September 30, 2024, $245.1 million in the year ended September 30, 2023 and $203.6 million in the year ended September 30, 2022, while incurring net losses of $208.7 million, $204.6 million and $217.9 million in the years ended September 30, 2024, 2023 and 2022, respectively. Since our inception, we have incurred significant operating losses and have accumulated a net deficit of $1,241.9 million. Our ability to generate product revenue sufficient to achieve profitability will depend heavily on the success of our existing products and the development and commercialization of additional products in the synthetic biology, biologic drug and data storage industries as well as leveraging our investment in our manufacturing facility in Wilsonville, Oregon.

Highlights from fiscal year 2024 compared with fiscal year 2023 include:

• Revenue growth of 28% to $313.0 million from $245.1 million, primarily due to order growth in NGS tools and synthetic genes;
• Gross margin increased to 42.6% from 36.6%;
• Net cash used in operating activities for the year ended September 30, 2024 decreased to $64.1 million from $142.5 million for the year ended September 30, 2023.

Financial highlights

The following table summarizes certain selected historical financial results:

(in thousands)

See “Results of Operations” below for discussion of our results for the periods presented.

Key business metrics

We regularly review the following key business metrics to evaluate our business, measure our performance, identify trends affecting our business, formulate financial projections and make strategic decisions. We believe that the following metrics are representative of our current business. However, we anticipate these will change or may be substituted for additional or different metrics as our business grows.

Product shipments including synthetic genes

We believe that the number of genes shipped serves as a direct indicator of our operational efficiency and market demand. This metric is crucial for assessing our performance in meeting customer demand and generating revenues. Shipments of number of genes in years ended September 30, 2024, 2023 and 2022 were as follows:

(in thousands)

Number of customers

We believe that the number of customers who have purchased from us since inception is representative of our ability to drive adoption of our products. We define a customer as a unique "Bill To" account where a single customer may have many "Ship To" locations and may have many unique points of contact within a single "Bill To" customer. In 2024, 2023 and 2022 the number of customers who purchased products from us were approximately 3,562, 3,450 and 3,300 customers, respectively.

Percentage of revenue from repeat customers

We believe that the percentage of revenue that we generate from both new and repeat customers is an indicator of our ability to drive adoption of our products amongst existing customers while also generating a robust pipeline of new customers. We define a repeat customer as any customer who has purchased products or services from us more than once in the current fiscal year.

Value of orders received

We believe that the value of orders we receive is a leading indicator of our ability to generate revenue in subsequent quarters, although there can be no assurance orders will translate into revenue. We define an order as a contract with a customer or purchase order from a customer, which outlines the promised goods at an agreed upon-price. In some cases, we receive a blanket purchase order from our customers, which includes pricing, payment and other terms and conditions, with quantities defined at the time each customer subsequently issues periodic releases against the blanket purchase order. We regularly assess trends relating to the value of orders we receive, including with respect to our customer concentration.

Orders may never convert into actual revenue and the timing of delivery of our orders and recognition of revenue, if any, may vary based on the nature of the order, and there can be no assurance that orders will result in recognized revenue. The following table lists the value of orders received during the periods indicated:

(in thousands)

Results of operations

Comparison of the years ended September 30, 2024, 2023 and 2022

Revenues

We generate revenue from sales of synthetic genes, oligo pools, NGS tools, DNA libraries and antibody discovery services. Our ability to increase our revenues will depend on our ability to further penetrate the domestic and international markets, generate sales through our direct sales force, distributors, and over time, from our e-commerce digital platform and the launch of new products.

(in thousands, except percentages)

Revenues by geography

We have one reportable segment from the manufacturing of synthetic DNA products. The following table shows our revenues by geography, based on our customers’ shipping addresses. Americas consists of United States, Canada, Mexico and South America; EMEA consists of Europe, Middle East and Africa; and APAC consists of Japan, China, South Korea, India, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand, Thailand and Taiwan.

Revenues by products

The table below sets forth revenues by products:

49

Revenues by industry

The table below sets forth revenues by industry:

Revenues increased 28% to $313.0 million in the year ended September 30, 2024, as compared to $245.1 million in the year ended September 30, 2023. The increase in revenue primarily reflects growth in NGS tools revenue of $45.4 million and growth in synthetic genes revenue of $19.1 million, including the Express Genes offering, which is primarily attributable to increase in revenues from our customers in the healthcare, industrial chemicals/materials and academic research industries and an increase in the number of customers. The number of our genes shipped in the year ended September 30, 2024, increased to approximately 772,000 genes, compared to approximately 634,000 genes in the year ended September 30, 2023, an increase of 22%.

Revenues increased from $203.6 million to $245.1 million in the year ended September 30, 2023, which was an increase of $41.5 million, or 20%, as compared to the same period in 2022. The increase in revenue was primarily due to the increase in revenue from NGS tools, which grew from $99.3 million in 2022 to $123.7 million in 2023, an increase in revenue from synthetic genes, which grew from $61.5 million in 2022 to $73.5 million and an increase in revenue from DNA libraries revenue, which grew from $6.1 million in 2022 to $10.2 million. The growth in NGS tools revenue is primarily attributable to an increase in revenue from our top customers and the adoption of our product by a larger customers base. Our synthetic genes revenue grew mainly from our top customers and growth in the healthcare and academic research industries as well as an improved turnaround time. In the year ended September 30, 2023, we shipped approximately 634,000 genes compared to approximately 558,000 genes in the year ended September 30, 2022, an increase of 14%. Changes in our synthetic gene pricing, while favorable, had a minimal impact on our results of operations period-over-period. Our DNA libraries revenue grew year over year as a result of increased customers, mainly in the healthcare and academic research industries.

A discussion of our revenues for the year ended September 30, 2022 as compared to the year ended September 30, 2021 can be found on page 54 of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2023 filed with the SEC on November 21, 2023, or our 2023 Annual Report.

Cost of revenues

Cost of revenues reflects the aggregate cost incurred in the production and delivery of our products and consists of production materials, personnel costs, cost of expensed equipment and consumables, laboratory supplies, consulting costs, depreciation, production overhead costs, information technology (“IT”), maintenance and facility costs. Personnel costs consist of salaries, employee benefit costs, bonuses, and stock-based compensation expenses. In addition, cost of revenue includes royalty costs for licensed technologies included in the Company’s products and provisions for slow-moving and obsolete inventory. We expect that our cost of revenues will vary with changes in our revenues and our revenue mix.

(in thousands, except percentages)

Cost of revenues increased 16% to $179.6 million in the year ended September 30, 2024, as compared to $155.4 million in the year ended September 30, 2023. The increase is primarily attributable to an increase in material costs of $19.0 million, due to higher sales volume, and an increase in depreciation and amortization expense of $3.2 million primarily due to the capital investment to increase manufacturing capacity in prior years. The remaining increase is attributable to an increase in lab supplies and facilities costs of $1.4 million. Gross margin increased 600 basis points to 42.6% for the year ended

September 30, 2024 as compared to 36.6% for the year ended September 30, 2023 mainly due to increase in revenue and the fixed costs being spread over larger revenue base resulting in an increase in gross margin.

Cost of revenues increased from $119.3 million in the prior year to $155.4 million in the year ended September 30, 2023, an increase of $36.1 million, or 30%. The material costs increase by $14.7 million due to higher volume. Payroll, including stock-based compensation, increased $9.9 million, which included $7.4 million of savings related to the 2023 restructuring plan. Depreciation and amortization increased by $11.9 million associated with the capital investment to increase capacity. The increase in payroll costs and depreciation expenses was primarily due to the build out of the second manufacturing facility located in Wilsonville, Oregon.

A discussion of our cost of revenues for the year ended September 30, 2022 as compared to the year ended September 30, 2021 can be found on page 54 of our 2023 Annual Report.

Research and development expenses

Research and development expenses consist primarily of costs incurred for the development of our products, which include personnel costs, laboratory equipment and supplies, consulting costs, depreciation, rent, IT, maintenance and facility costs. Personnel costs consist of salaries, employee benefit costs, bonuses, and stock-based compensation expenses. We expense our research and development expenses in the period in which they are incurred.

(in thousands, except percentages)

Research and development expenses decreased 15% to $90.9 million for the year ended September 30, 2024, as compared to the $106.9 million for the year ended September 30, 2023. The decrease is primarily due to a decrease in personnel costs of $9.3 million, including stock-based compensation expense of $2.7 million due to the reduction of headcount related to the 2023 restructuring plan. The remaining decrease is attributable to decreases in outside services costs of $2.2 million, depreciation expenses of $1.0 million and lab supplies costs of $6.1 million. These decreases are partially offset by a lack of grant reimbursement in 2024 where we received $2.7 million in 2023, which are netted against the research and development expenses.

Research and development expenses decreased by $13.4 million to $106.9 million for the year ended September 30, 2023, as compared to the same period 2022. The decrease is primarily due to the deconsolidation of Revelar in fiscal year 2022, which contributed to a decrease of $14.1 million. Excluding the impact of Revelar, research and development expenses increased $0.7 million. The increase is primarily due to increases in lab supplies of $1.5 million, outside services of $0.7 million, and depreciation of $0.6 million. Additionally, grant reimbursements, which are netted against our research and development expenses, were $1.6 million lower during the year ended September 30, 2023 than the prior year. The increase was partially offset by a $4.0 million decrease in payroll, which consists of a $1.6 million increase in payroll, offset by a decrease of $5.6 million in stock-based compensation.

A discussion of our research and development expenses for the year ended September 30, 2022 as compared to the year ended September 30, 2021 can be found on page 55 of our 2023 Annual Report.

Selling, general and administrative expenses

Selling expenses consist of personnel costs, customer service expenses, direct marketing expenses, educational and promotional expense, market research and analysis. General and administrative expenses are incurred for executive, finance and accounting, legal and human resources functions and consist of personnel costs, audit and legal expenses, consulting costs, depreciation, insurance costs, travel expenses, rent, IT, maintenance and facility costs. Personnel costs consist of salaries, employee benefit costs, bonuses, commissions and stock-based compensation expenses. We expense all selling, general and administrative expenses as incurred. We expect our selling costs will continue to increase in absolute dollars, primarily driven by our efforts to expand our commercial capability, with an increased presence both within and outside the United States, and to expand our brand awareness and customer base through targeted marketing initiatives.

(in thousands, except percentages)

51

Total selling, general and administrative expenses increased 15% to $218.4 million for the year ended September 30, 2024, as compared to $189.7 million for the year ended September 30, 2023. The increase is primarily due to an increase in personnel costs of $37.7 million, including an increase in stock-based compensation expense of $24.2 million. The increase in stock-based compensation expense is primarily due to a reversal of $15.9 million in the first quarter 2023 because of employee stock forfeitures related to an acquisition performance condition not being met and the remaining increase is due to stock-based awards granted to existing and new employees during fiscal year 2024. Further, the increase is attributable to increases in outside service costs of $1.1 million, facilities costs of $2.3 million, marketing costs of $3.4 million, IT services costs of $2.9 million and depreciation and amortization expense of $0.9 million. These increases are partially offset by the decrease in the Wilsonville manufacturing facility pre-commercialization costs of $19.3 million, which was completed when the Wilsonville manufacturing facility began shipping product in January 2023.

For the year ended September 30, 2023, selling, general and administrative expenses decreased by $23.2 million to $189.7 million, compared to the same period for 2022. The decrease is primarily attributable to a decrease in stock-based compensation of $43.0 million due to employee stock forfeitures related to an acquisition performance condition not being met and changes to the probability of achieving future performance conditions. The decrease was partially offset by increases in pre-commercialization Factory of the Future costs of $4.4 million, facility costs of $6.5 million, payroll costs of $5.3 million and IT-related services costs of $5.1 million.

A discussion of our selling, general and administrative expenses for the year ended September 30, 2022 as compared to the year ended September 30, 2021 can be found on page 55 of our 2023 Annual Report.

Restructuring and other costs

(in thousands, except percentages)

We recognized restructuring and other costs of $9.4 million resulting from the 2023 restructuring plan during the year ended September 30, 2023. Refer to Note 16 to the consolidated financial statements for further details.

Change in fair value of contingent considerations and holdbacks

(in thousands, except percentages)

There was no change in fair value of contingent consideration and holdbacks for the year ended September 30, 2024, as the contingent consideration and holdbacks liabilities were settled in the prior year. During the year ended September 30, 2023, we recognized a change in the fair value of contingent consideration and holdbacks of $5.5 million and $0.4 million related to the acquisitions of Abveris and iGenomX, respectively. The changes were the result of not achieving the Abveris revenue target for calendar year 2022 and a change in fair value of our stock price.

A discussion of our change in fair value of contingent considerations and holdbacks for the year ended September 30, 2022 as compared to the year ended September 30, 2021, can be found on page 56 of our 2023 Annual Report.

Impairment of long-lived assets

(in thousands, except percentages)

We recognized impairment of intangible assets and property and equipment of $44.9 million related to the Biopharma asset group during the year ended September 30, 2024 (see discussion in critical accounting policies and estimates — impairment of long-lived assets below), as compared to impairment of property and equipment of $6.8 million during the year ended September 30, 2023, related to write-off of lab equipment and leasehold improvements for decommissioned labs and computer software.

Interest and other income (expense), net

Other income (expense), net consists of realized foreign exchange gains and losses, loss on disposal of property and equipment and impairment of equity investments.

(in thousands, except percentages)

Interest income increased 7%, to $15.3 million in the year ended September 30, 2024, as compared to $14.4 million for the year ended September 30, 2023, resulting from our cash and cash equivalents and short-term investments balance. Other income (expense) was $2.7 million in fiscal year 2024, as compared to $0.7 million in fiscal year 2023, mainly due to fiscal year 2024 impairment losses on an equity investment.

A discussion of our interest and other income (expense), net for the year ended September 30, 2022 as compared to the year ended September 30, 2021, can be found on page 56 of our 2023 Annual Report.

Gain on deconsolidation of a subsidiary

(in thousands, except percentages)

Gain on deconsolidation of a subsidiary represents the gain associated with the deconsolidation of a variable interest entity, Revelar, on September 30, 2022.

Income tax expense

(in thousands, except percentages)

We recorded income tax provision of $0.6 million and $1.2 million for the year ended September 30, 2024 and 2023, respectively. We recorded income tax benefit of $10.4 million in 2022 mainly as a result of the business acquisition of Abveris.

Liquidity and capital resources

Sources of liquidity

To date, we have financed our operations principally through public equity raises, private placements of our convertible preferred stock, borrowings from credit facilities and revenue from our commercial operations. As of September 30, 2024, we had a balance of $226.3 million of cash and cash equivalents and $50.1 million in short-term investments.

Capital resources

Our primary cash needs are for operating expenses, working capital and capital expenditures to support the growth in our business. As of September 30, 2024, we had cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments of $276.4 million.

We believe that our existing cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments are sufficient to fund our operating expenses, capital expenditure requirements and debt service payments for the next 12 months. In the future, we may still need to obtain additional financing to fund operations beyond this period, and there can be no assurance that we will be successful in raising additional financing on terms which are acceptable to us. In addition, our operating plans may change as a result of factors currently unknown to us, and we may need to seek additional funds sooner than planned. Such financing may result in dilution to stockholders, imposition of debt covenants and repayment obligations, or other restrictions that may adversely affect our business. In addition, we may seek additional capital due to favorable market conditions or strategic considerations even if we believe we have sufficient funds for our current or future operating plans. Our future capital requirements will depend on many factors. See “Risk factors—We will require additional financing to achieve our goals, and a failure to obtain this necessary capital when needed on acceptable terms, or at all, could force us to delay, limit, reduce or terminate our product manufacturing and development and other operations.”

Inflation Risk

While we have experienced increased operating costs in recent periods, which we believe are due in part to the recent

growth in inflation, we do not believe that inflation has had a material effect on our business, financial condition or results

of operations. If our costs were to become subject to significant inflationary pressures, we may not be able to fully offset

such higher costs through price increases. Our inability or failure to do so could adversely affect our business, financial

condition and results of operations.

Operating capital requirements

Our primary uses of capital are, and we expect will continue to be for the near future, compensation and related expenses, manufacturing costs, laboratory and related supplies, legal and other regulatory expenses, and general overhead costs and the capital expenditures. We had $1.6 million in commitments for capital expenditures as of September 30, 2024.

Cash flows

The following table summarizes our sources and uses of cash and cash equivalents:

(in thousands)

Operating activities

Net cash used in operating activities was $64.1 million in fiscal year 2024 and consisted primarily of a net loss of $208.7 million adjusted for non-cash items including depreciation and amortization expenses of $31.4 million, stock-based compensation expense of $50.9 million, impairment of long-lived assets of $44.9 million, non-cash lease expense of $0.9 million, and a change in operating assets and liabilities of $15.4 million. The change in operating assets and liabilities was mainly due to decreases in accounts receivable of $8.4 million, inventory of $8.0 million, prepaid and other current assets of $0.4 million, other non-current assets of $0.4 million, accounts payable of $11.8 million and other liabilities $2.3 million, offset by increases in accrued expenses of $4.4 million and accrued compensation of $7.9 million.

Net cash used in operating activities was $142.5 million in fiscal year 2023 and consisted primarily of a net loss of $204.6 million adjusted for non-cash items including depreciation and amortization expenses of $29.3 million, stock-based compensation expense of $30.3 million, impairment of property and equipment and other assets of $6.8 million, non-cash lease expense of $2.6 million, change in fair value of contingent consideration and holdbacks of $5.9 million and a change in operating assets and liabilities of $1.0 million. The change in operating assets and liabilities was mainly due to increases in accounts receivable of $4.3 million, prepaid and other current assets of $4.2 million and accrued expenses of $2.6 million, offset by decreases in inventory of $7.2 million, other non-current assets of $1.4 million, accounts payable of $2.5 million, accrued compensation of $1.1 million and other liabilities $0.1 million.

A discussion of net cash used in operating activities for the fiscal year 2022 can be found on page 58 of our 2023 Annual Report.

Investing activities

In fiscal year 2024, our net cash used in the investing activities was $3.1 million primarily as a result of the net result of purchases and maturity of investments of $2.0 million and purchases of laboratory property, equipment and computers of $5.1 million.

In fiscal year 2023, our net cash used in the investing activities was $50.6 million primarily as a result of the net result of purchases and maturity of investments of $78.4 million and purchases of laboratory property, equipment and computers of $27.8 million.

A discussion of net cash used in investing activities for the fiscal year 2022 can be found on page 59 of our 2023 Annual Report.

Financing activities

Net cash provided by financing activities was $6.9 million in fiscal year 2024, which consisted of $3.8 million from proceeds from issuance of shares under the 2018 ESPP and $7.1 million from the exercise of stock options, offset by $4.0 million in repurchases of common stock for income tax withholdings.

Net cash provided by financing activities was $0.9 million in fiscal year 2023, which consisted of $3.9 million from proceeds from issuance of shares under the 2018 ESPP and $1.4 million from the exercise of stock options, offset by $4.4 million in repurchases of common stock for income tax withholdings.

A discussion of net cash provided by financing activities for the fiscal year 2022 can be found on page 59 of our 2023 Annual Report.

Off-balance sheet arrangements

We do not have any off-balance sheet arrangements other than our indemnification agreements as described in Note 9 of the consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Form 10-K.

Contractual obligations and other commitments

As of September 30, 2024, our operating lease obligation was $85.0 million related to various operating lease arrangements for facilities. See Note 8, Leases, of the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements for further discussion relating to these lease obligations.

Critical accounting policies and estimates

The discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations are based upon our audited consolidated financial statements, which have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States. The preparation of these financial statements requires management to make estimates and judgments that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses, and related disclosures of contingent assets and liabilities. On an ongoing basis, management evaluates the reasonableness of its estimates. Management bases its estimates on historical experience and on various assumptions that are believed to be reasonable under the circumstances, the results of which form the basis for making judgments about the carrying values of assets and liabilities that are not readily available from other sources. Actual results may differ materially from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions.

We believe the following critical accounting policies require that we make significant judgments and estimates in preparing our consolidated financial statements.

Revenue recognition

Our revenue is generated through the sale of synthetic biology tools, such as synthetic genes, or clonal genes and fragments, oligonucleotide pools, or oligo pools, NGS tools, DNA libraries, and biopharma services for antibody discovery, optimization and development ("Biopharma").

Contracts with customers are in the written form of a purchase order or a quotation, which outline the promised goods and the agreed upon price. Such orders may be accompanied by a Master Supply or Distribution Agreement that establishes the terms and conditions, rights of the parties, delivery terms, and pricing. We assess collectability based on a number of factors, including past transaction history and creditworthiness of the customer.

We recognize revenue for synthetic biology tools, NGS tools, and DNA libraries when control of the products is transferred to the customer and at a transaction price that is determined based on the agreed upon rates in the applicable order or master supply agreement applied to the quantity of synthetic DNA that was manufactured and shipped to the customer. The transaction price is determined based on the agreed upon rates in the purchase order or master supply agreements applied to the quantity of all the products that were manufactured and shipped to the customer. Our contracts may include one or more ordered products, and the shipment of these products comprises the performance obligation(s) under the contract. Accordingly, all of the transaction price, net of any discounts, is allocated to the performance obligation (s). Our sales are primarily subject to Ex Works (as defined in Incoterms 2010) delivery terms and revenue, other than Biopharma revenue, is recorded at the point in time when products are picked up by the customer’s freight forwarder, as we have determined that this is the point in time that product control transfers to the customer. Therefore, upon shipment of the product, there are no remaining performance obligations. Our shipping and handling activities are performed before the customer obtains control of the goods and therefore are considered a fulfillment cost. Shipping and handling fees charged to our customers are recognized as product revenue in the period shipped and the related costs for providing these services are recorded as a cost of revenue. We have elected to exclude all sales and value added taxes from the measurement of the transaction price. We have not adjusted the transaction price for significant financing since the time period between the transfer of goods and payment is less than one year. We have elected the practical expedient of not disclosing the consideration allocated to remaining performance obligations and an explanation of when those amounts are expected to be recognized as revenue since the duration of our contracts is less than one year.

Our Biopharma revenue primarily consists of research and development agreements with third parties that provide for up-front and milestone-based payments. We also enter into research and development agreements that do not include up-front or milestone-based payments and recognize revenue on these types of agreements based on the timing of development activities. Our research and development agreements may include more than one performance obligation. At the inception of the agreement, we assess whether each obligation represents a separate performance obligation or whether such obligations should be combined as a single performance obligation. The transaction price for each agreement is determined based on the amount of consideration we expect to be entitled to for satisfying all performance obligations within the agreement. We assess the nature of the combined performance obligation to determine whether the combined performance obligation is satisfied over time or at a point in time and, if over time, the appropriate method of measuring progress for purposes of recognizing revenue. In agreements where we satisfy performance obligation(s) over time, we recognize development revenue typically using an input method based on our costs incurred relative to the total expected cost which determines the extent of our progress toward completion. As part of the accounting for these arrangements, we must develop estimates and assumptions that require judgment to determine the transaction price and progress towards completion. We review our estimate of the transaction price and progress toward completion based on the best information available to recognize the cumulative progress toward completion as of the end of each reporting period and make revisions to such estimates as necessary. Also, these research and development agreements may include license payments. We recognize revenue from functional license agreements when the license is transferred to the customer and the customer is able to use and benefit from the license. A functional license has significant standalone functionality because it can be used “as is” for performing a specific task.

We had contract assets of $2.0 million and contract liabilities of $2.1 million as of September 30, 2024. We had contract assets of $2.8 million and contract liabilities of $3.0 million as of September 30, 2023. For the years ended September 30, 2024, 2023 and 2022 the Company recognized revenue of $1.7 million, $2.8 million and $1.1 million, respectively, from the amount that was included in the contract liability balance at the beginning of each year. In addition, for all periods presented, there was no revenue recognized in a reporting period from performance obligations satisfied in previous periods. The aggregate amount of the transaction price allocated to the performance obligations that are unsatisfied as of September 30, 2024 was $8.6 million. We expect to recognize revenue over the next twelve months relating to performance obligations unsatisfied as of September 30, 2024.

Based on the nature of our contracts with customers which are recognized over a term of less than 12 months, we have elected to use the practical expedient whereby costs to obtain a contract are expensed as they are incurred.

We state our revenues net of any taxes collected from customers that are required to be remitted to various government agencies. The amount of taxes collected from customers and payable to governmental entities is included on the balance sheet as part of “Accrued expenses and other current liabilities.”

Stock-based compensation

We have granted stock-based awards, consisting of restricted stock and stock options, to our employees, certain non-employee consultants and certain members of our board of directors. We measure stock-based compensation expense for restricted stock and stock options granted to our employees and directors on the date of grant and recognize the corresponding compensation expense of those awards over the requisite service period, which is generally the vesting period of the respective award. We measure stock-based compensation expense for restricted stock and stock options granted to non-employee consultants on the date of grant and recognize the corresponding compensation expense of those awards over the period in which the related services are received. We adjust for actual forfeitures as they occur.

We have granted performance-based stock units (PSUs) and performance stock options (PSOs) to executive officers and senior level employees. We value PSUs using a grant date fair value equal to the closing share price of our common stock on the date of grant and the probability of the achievement of the performance condition.

We did not grant any options during the years ended September 30, 2024 and 2023.

Goodwill

Determining when to test for impairment, the reporting unit, the assets and liabilities of the reporting unit, and the fair value of the reporting unit requires significant judgment and involves the use of significant estimates and assumptions. We test goodwill for impairment in our fourth quarter each year, or more frequently if indicators of an impairment exist. Evaluating goodwill for impairment involves the determination of the fair value of our reporting unit in which goodwill is recorded using a qualitative or quantitative analysis. If the fair value of the reporting unit exceeds its carrying value, goodwill is considered not impaired. If the carrying value of the reporting unit exceeds its fair value, we would record an impairment loss up to the difference between the carrying value and implied fair value.

We have an unconditional option to bypass the qualitative assessment in any period and proceed directly to performing the first step of the goodwill impairment test. For 2024, we elected to proceed directly to the step-one assessment which indicated that the fair value of our reporting unit substantially exceeded the carrying value.

Restructuring costs

We recognize restructuring charges related to restructuring plans that have been committed to by management when liabilities have been incurred. In connection with these activities, we record restructuring charges at fair value for (a) contractual employee termination benefits when obligations are associated to services already rendered, rights to such benefits have vested, and payment of benefits is probable and can be reasonably estimated, (b) one-time employee termination benefits when management has committed to a plan of termination, the plan identifies the employees and their expected termination dates, the details of termination benefits are complete, it is unlikely changes to the plan will be made or the plan will be withdrawn and communication to such employees has occurred, and (c) contract termination costs when a contract is terminated before the end of its term.

One-time employee termination benefits are recognized in their entirety when communication has occurred and future services are not required. If future services are required, the costs are recorded ratably over the remaining period of service. Contract termination costs to be incurred over the remaining contract term without economic benefit are recorded in their entirety when the contract is canceled.

Valuation of long-lived assets

We recorded impairment charges totaling $44.9 million related to property and equipment and finite-lived intangible assets which are included in “Impairment of long-lived assets” on our condensed consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive loss for the year ended September 30, 2024.

During the year ended September 30, 2024, we identified an impairment indicator with respect to an asset group associated with our antibody discovery services product line (“Biopharma asset group”) due to lower than forecasted revenues. Therefore, we performed a recoverability test of long-lived assets by comparing the net book value of the Biopharma asset group, to the future undiscounted net cash flows attributable to such assets. We concluded that the carrying value of the asset group was not recoverable as it exceeded the future undiscounted cash flows the assets are expected to generate from the use and eventual disposition of the asset group.

To measure the impairment loss, we estimated the fair value of the Biopharma asset group by applying a discounted cash flow method. Calculating the fair value of an asset group involves making certain estimates and assumptions. These estimates and assumptions include, among others, the level and timing of revenues, operating expenses, working capital and discount rates, we believe to be consistent with the inherent risks associated with the Biopharma asset group, which was approximately 14%. Changes in these factors and assumptions used can materially affect the amount of impairment loss recognized in the period the asset group was considered impaired.

The implied allocated impairment loss to any individual asset within the long-lived asset group shall not reduce the carrying amount of that asset below its fair value. We estimated the fair value of the developed technology intangible asset and the customer relationships intangible assets using an excess earnings model (income approach). We estimated the fair value of the trade name intangible asset using a relief from royalty approach. Key assumptions include the level and timing of expected future revenue, conditions and demands specific to each intangible asset over its remaining useful life. The fair value of these intangible assets is primarily affected by the projected revenues, gross margins, operating expenses, and the anticipated timing of the projected income associated with each intangible asset coupled with the discount rates used to derive their estimated present values.

After consideration of the impairment charge recorded in the current quarter, the remaining carrying amount of long-lived assets within the Biopharma asset group is approximately $11.6 million, which primarily comprises of operating lease right-of-use assets.

Recently issued accounting pronouncements

For a description of accounting changes and recent accounting pronouncements, including the expected dates of adoption and estimated effects, if any, on our consolidated financial statements, see Note 2, “Summary of Significant Accounting Policies” in the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Interest rate sensitivity

We are exposed to market risk related to changes in interest rates. We had cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities of $276.4 million as of September 30, 2024, which consisted primarily of money market funds and marketable securities, largely composed of investment grade, short term fixed income securities.

The primary objective of our investment activities is to preserve capital to fund our operations. We also seek to maximize income from our investments without assuming significant risk. To achieve our objectives, we maintain a portfolio of investments in a variety of securities of high credit quality and short-term duration, according to our board-approved investment policy. Our investments are subject to interest rate risk and could fall in value if market interest rates increase. However, because of the short-term nature of the instruments in our portfolio, a sudden change in market interest rates would not be expected to have a material impact on our financial condition or results of operations. For example, a hypothetical 10% relative change in interest rates during any of the periods presented would not have a material impact on future interest income, fair values of portfolio of investments and related cash flows.

Foreign currency sensitivity

The majority of our transactions occur in U.S. dollars. However, we do have certain transactions that are denominated in currencies other than the U.S. dollar, primarily the Euro, Chinese Yuan, and British Pound, and we therefore are subject to foreign exchange risk. The fluctuation in the value of the U.S. dollar against other currencies affects the reported amounts of expenses, assets and liabilities primarily associated with a limited number of manufacturing activities.

We currently do not use derivative financial instruments for speculative trading purposes, nor do we hedge foreign currency exchange rate exposure in a manner that entirely offsets the effects of changes in foreign currency exchange rates. The counterparties to these forward foreign currency exchange contracts are creditworthy multinational commercial banks, which minimizes the risk of counterparty nonperformance. We regularly review our exposure and may, as part of this review, make changes to it.

Evaluation of disclosure controls and procedures

Under the supervision and with the participation of our management, including our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, we evaluated the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures (as that term is defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”)) as of September 30, 2024, which is the end of the period covered by this Annual Report. Based on this evaluation, our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer concluded that the Company’s disclosure controls and procedures were, in design and operation, effective at the reasonable assurance level as of September 30, 2024.

Management’s Annual Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

Our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting as such term is defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f). Internal control over financial reporting consists of policies and procedures that: (1) pertain to the maintenance of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of our assets; (2) are designed and operated to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of our financial reporting and our process for the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles and that our receipts and expenditures are being made only in accordance with authorizations of our management and directors; and (3) provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use or disposition of our assets that could have a material effect on the financial statements.

Our management evaluated the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting using the criteria set forth in Internal Control - Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (the "COSO Framework"). Based on our management’s evaluation, our management concluded that our internal control over financial reporting was effective as of September 30, 2024.

The effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as of September 30, 2024 has been audited by Ernst & Young LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm, as stated in their report included in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Remediation of Material Weakness

The material weakness previously reported has been remediated as of September 30, 2024. For a more comprehensive discussion of the material weakness existing as of September 30, 2023 and the remedial measures which were being undertaken to address these material weaknesses, or the remediation plan, refer to Part II, Item 9A, “Remediation of Prior Year Material Weakness” of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for fiscal year 2023. Management has since completed implementation of all of the remedial measures outlined in its remediation plan as well as testing of the applicable remediated controls in the last two quarters of fiscal year 2024.

Changes in Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

Except for the changes related to the remediation of the previously identified material weakness noted above, there was no change in our internal control over financial reporting identified in connection with the evaluation required by Rule 13a-15(d) and 15d-15(d) of the Exchange Act that occurred during the most recently completed fiscal quarter that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.

Limitations on Effectiveness of Controls and Procedures

Our disclosure controls and procedures are designed to provide reasonable assurance of achieving their objectives, as specified above. Our management recognizes that any control system, no matter how well designed and operated, is based upon certain judgments and assumptions and cannot provide absolute assurance that its objectives will be met.

Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

To the Stockholders and the Board of Directors of Twist Bioscience Corporation

Opinion on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

We have audited Twist Bioscience Corporation’s internal control over financial reporting as of September 30, 2024, based on criteria established in Internal Control—Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (2013 framework) (the COSO criteria). In our opinion, Twist Bioscience Corporation (the Company) maintained, in all material respects, effective internal control over financial reporting as of September 30, 2024, based on the COSO criteria.

We also have audited, in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB), the consolidated balance sheets of the Company as of September 30, 2024 and 2023, the related consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive loss, stockholders’ equity and cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended September 30, 2024, and the related notes and our report dated November 18, 2024, expressed an unqualified opinion thereon.

Basis for Opinion

The Company’s management is responsible for maintaining effective internal control over financial reporting and for its assessment of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting included in the accompanying Management's Annual Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company’s internal control over financial reporting based on our audit. We are a public accounting firm registered with the PCAOB and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audit in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether effective internal control over financial reporting was maintained in all material respects.

Our audit included obtaining an understanding of internal control over financial reporting, assessing the risk that a material weakness exists, testing and evaluating the design and operating effectiveness of internal control based on the assessed risk, and performing such other procedures as we considered necessary in the circumstances. We believe that our audit provides a reasonable basis for our opinion.

Definition and Limitations of Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

A company’s internal control over financial reporting is a process designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. A company’s internal control over financial reporting includes those policies and procedures that (1) pertain to the maintenance of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of the company; (2) provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, and that receipts and expenditures of the company are being made only in accordance with authorizations of management and directors of the company; and (3) provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use, or disposition of the company’s assets that could have a material effect on the financial statements.

Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. Also, projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.

/s/ Ernst & Young LLP

San Mateo, California

November 18, 2024