Twist Bioscience Corp

Twist Bioscience Corporation operates in the synthetic biology industry, which is expected to have a $2-4 trillion global impact by 2030-2040, with synthetic DNA recognized as a critical choke point in many supply chains by the National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology. The company has developed a disruptive DNA synthesis platform that pioneers a new method of manufacturing synthetic DNA by writing DNA on a silicon chip, miniaturizing traditional chemical DNA synthesis reactions to write over 1,000,000 pieces of DNA up to 500 bases through direct synthesis on each silicon chip, reducing by 99.8% the amount of chemicals estimated to be used per gene as compared to plate-based synthesis. The industry is intensely competitive, characterized by price competition, technological change, international competition, product turnaround time, and manufacturing yield problems.

The company faces competition from a broad range of providers of core synthetic biology products such as GenScript Biotech Corporation, GENEWIZ (owned by Azenta Life Sciences), 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, OriGene Technologies, Inc., Eurofins Genomics Blue Heron, Elegen Corporation, Ansa Biotechnologies, Inc., Telesis Bio, Inc. and others. In the NGS sample preparation market, competitors include Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., Illumina, Inc., Integrated DNA Technologies, Inc., Roche Holding AG, New England Biolabs, Inc., Watchmaker Genomics, Inc. and Agilent Technologies, Inc. In the antibody discovery market, competitors include contract research organizations such as Curia Global, Inc., GenScript Biotech Corporation, and Genovac, and antibody discovery biotechnology companies such as FairJourney Biologics S.A/IONTAS Limited, Adimab, LLC, Distributed Bio (owned by Charles River Laboratories International, Inc.), Ablexis, LLC, Specifica Inc., OmniAb, Inc., Alloy Therapeutics, Inc. and AbCellera Biologics Inc. The company believes its technology is superior to the product offerings of its competitors, and its competitive advantages include its silicon-based DNA writing technology combined with proprietary software, scalable commercial infrastructure, and an e-commerce platform.

The company generates revenue through the sale of synthetic biology tools, such as synthetic genes, oligo pools, NGS tools, DNA libraries, and biopharma services for antibody discovery, optimization and development. Revenue is generated from a global customer base of more than 3,800 customers across a broad range of industries including healthcare, chemicals/materials, food/agriculture, and academic research. The company employs 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, with business development and sales representatives for biopharma solutions as well. The company generally does not have long-term contracts with its customers requiring them to purchase any specified quantities.

The company's product portfolio consists of two primary product lines, synthetic biology tools and NGS tools, as well as a biopharma service offering. Synthetic biology products include synthetic genes and gene fragments, with genes manufactured up to 5,000 base pairs in length, an error rate for gene fragments of 1:7500 nucleotides, and Express Genes offering a turnaround time of 5 business days at a premium price. Oligo pools are offered ranging from a few hundred oligos to over one million, with oligonucleotides of up to 500 nucleotides in length and an error rate of 1:3000 nucleotides. The company also offers IgG proteins with standard and Express turnaround times in both CHO and HEK293 cell lines. NGS tools include library preparation kits, human exome kits, fixed and custom panels, Alliance panels, a methylation detection kit for cancer, rare and inherited disease study, a fast hybridization solution (FastHyb), and full RNA sequencing workflows. Synthetic controls are offered for quality control measures. Biopharma services offer the discovery trifecta of in vivo, in vitro and in silico antibody discovery, providing comprehensive discovery services including library generation, screening, developability assays and antibody expression and characterization. In fiscal year 2025, the company reported $376.6 million in revenue, including $215.1 million in revenue from the healthcare sector, $93.2 million from the chemicals/materials sector, $65.9 million from the academic research sector, and $2.4 million from the food/agriculture sector. Revenue by product for fiscal year 2025 was $113.6 million from synthetic genes, $20.2 million from oligo pools, $11.2 million from DNA libraries, $23.5 million from antibody discovery, and $208.1 million from NGS tools.

In May 2025, the company completed the spin out of its DNA data storage application to a new independent company, Atlas Data Storage, with $155.0 million in seed financing round from third-party investors, receiving 73.0 million shares of Series Seed-1 Preferred Shares of Atlas, upfront cash consideration of $2.5 million, promissory notes of $2.0 million, contingent manufacturing and commercial milestone payments of up to $75.0 million, and royalty payments based on a percentage of Atlas sales. In October 2024, the company entered into an agreement with XOMA Royalty under which they paid Twist $15.0 million cash in exchange for 50% of future milestone and royalty payments from existing collaborations. The company also introduced Express Genes in November 2023, expanded its Express product portfolio in fiscal year 2024, and introduced IVDR-compliant Precision Dx products for whole exome sequencing in February 2024. As of September 30, 2025, the company had signed 442 revenue-generating partnerships, with 1,182 completed programs and 84 active programs, with 82 of the programs including milestones and/or royalties. The company employed 979 employees as of September 30, 2025, including 91 in research and development, 278 in sales, marketing and customer support, 198 in general and administrative, and 412 in operations and manufacturing.

For fiscal year 2025, the company reported revenue growth of 20% to $376.6 million from $313.0 million in fiscal year 2024, primarily due to growth in NGS tools and synthetic genes. Gross margin increased to 50.7% from 42.6%, mainly due to an increase in revenues and holding fixed manufacturing costs relatively flat and driving additional cost savings through continuous process improvement initiatives. Loss from operations decreased to $(136.3) million from $(220.8) million, primarily due to an increase in both revenues and gross profit and impairment of long-lived assets recognized in fiscal year 2024. Net loss was $77.7 million for fiscal year 2025, compared to $208.7 million for fiscal year 2024. Net cash used in operating activities decreased to $47.6 million from $64.1 million. The company recognized a gain on the sale of its DNA digital data storage business of $48.8 million.

The company's growth strategy includes maintaining and expanding its position as the provider of choice for high-quality, affordable synthetic DNA, RNA and proteins to customers across multiple industries, expanding antibody and protein production as well as the array of characterization assays to support customers conducting therapeutics discovery projects, becoming a leading supplier of NGS sample preparation products for a wide range of applications including liquid biopsy tests, MRD, agricultural genomics and population genomics, conducting biopharma services for current customers and future partners, and expanding its global presence. The company is also working with industry partners to create new markets for its products by leveraging its platform. The company intends to increase its shipments to leverage its production capacity through its e-commerce platform and express offerings, which it believes will expand both its market opportunity and its customer base. The company is pursuing research and development projects with respect to process development for highest quality oligos, developing proprietary enzymes to optimize SynBio and NGS products and workflows, evaluating and implementing AI applications to potentially optimize services for customers, expanding 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, developing new products including mRNA and proteins, and expanding capabilities for antibody and protein production to support multiple formats and provide a wide array of characterization assays.

The company's gross margin increased to 50.7% in fiscal year 2025 from 42.6% in fiscal year 2024, mainly due to an increase in revenue, holding fixed manufacturing costs relatively flat, and driving additional cost savings through continuous process improvement initiatives. The company expects its cost of revenues will vary with changes in its revenues and its revenue mix. The company expects its selling costs will continue to increase in absolute dollars, primarily driven by efforts to expand its commercial capability, with an increased presence both within and outside the United States, and to expand its brand awareness and customer base through targeted marketing initiatives.

The company currently manufactures all of its products and multiple sub-assemblies at its manufacturing facilities in South San Francisco, California and Wilsonville, Oregon, and also outsources some sub-assemblies to third party manufacturers. The company has consolidated all synthetic biology production in Wilsonville, and its Express product line is manufactured solely in Wilsonville. The company still manufactures a significant portion of its NGS products at its South San Francisco facility. The company has the capacity to make many millions of high-quality oligos per day. The company intends to increase its shipments to leverage its production capacity. As of September 30, 2025, the company employed 412 people in its manufacturing and operations team. The company's manufacturing process for NGS tools is highly flexible given the efficiency of its production capability, and it has automated the entire workflow using proprietary and over-the-counter laboratory equipment. The company has built dedicated production capabilities for its NGS products.

The company's research and development expenses were $80.3 million for fiscal year 2025, a decrease of 12% from $90.9 million in fiscal year 2024. The company had $17.5 million in commitments for capital expenditures as of September 30, 2025. Net cash provided by financing activities was $28.5 million in fiscal year 2025, which consisted of $15.0 million from XOMA for the sale of future revenue, $9.3 million from the exercise of stock options, and $4.2 million from proceeds from issuance of shares under the employee stock purchase plan. The company has never declared or paid any dividends on its common stock and does not intend to pay any dividends in the foreseeable future.

The company faces headwinds including adverse global economic conditions and U.S. policy changes, such as significant new tariffs on imports and retaliatory actions by affected countries, which could result in macroeconomic uncertainty, cyberattacks, supply chain disruptions, higher costs, and changes to foreign exchange rates and financial markets. The administration's halt on certain federal research grants may negatively impact the industry, and any prolonged reductions in such funding could slow innovation, delay collaborations, and limit the adoption of new technologies. The company also faces risks from rapidly changing technology and extensive competition in synthetic biology, which could make its products obsolete or non-competitive unless it continues to develop and manufacture new and improved products and pursue new market opportunities. The company's customers' spending on research and development impacts its sales and profitability, and their budgets are based on a wide variety of factors including the allocation of available resources, funding from government sources, funding from research grants, changes in government programs, spending priorities, political climate or macroeconomic conditions, 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.

The company has incurred net losses in every period to date, with net losses of $77.7 million ¹, $208.7 million ², and $204.6 million ³ for fiscal years 2025, 2024, and 2023 respectively, and an accumulated deficit of $1,319.6 million ⁴ as of September 30, 2025, and may never achieve profitability. The company is substantially dependent on the success of its synthetic DNA products, as substantially all revenue generated to date is from these products. The company operates in a highly competitive industry and faces competition from a broad range of providers, and increased competition is likely to result in continued pricing pressures. The company depends on one single-source supplier for a critical component for its DNA synthesis process, and the loss of this supplier or its failure to supply the necessary component on a timely basis could cause delays and adversely affect the business. The company's revenue, results of operations, and cash flows may suffer upon the loss of a limited number of large customers, as a significant portion of revenues is derived from a limited number of large customers.

Management's message emphasizes that the company is working in service of customers who are changing the world for the better in fields such as health care, food/agriculture, industrial chemicals/materials and academic research, and that the company believes it is uniquely positioned to help accelerate their efforts. Key themes include the strategic connection between the SynBio and Biopharma groups tightening as the company moves further up the value chain from fragments to genes to preps to proteins and beyond, with more customers now leveraging both products and services to accelerate discovery and identify breakthrough therapeutics, reinforcing the company's unique position to serve the full spectrum of innovation in discovery. The company's growth strategy focuses on maintaining and expanding its position as the leading provider of synthetic DNA and related solutions worldwide, expanding antibody and protein production, becoming a leading supplier of NGS sample preparation products, conducting biopharma services, and expanding its global presence. The company's financial highlights from fiscal year 2025 compared with fiscal year 2024 include revenue growth of 20% to $376.6 million from $313.0 million, gross margin increasing to 50.7% from 42.6%, loss from operations decreasing to $(136.3) million from $(220.8) million, net cash used in operating activities decreasing to $47.6 million from $64.1 million, and a gain on the sale of its DNA digital data storage business of $48.8 million.