Twist Bioscience Corporation, a company that provides high-quality synthetic DNA using its silicon platform, has acquired iGenomX, a company offering multiplex library preparation tools for next-generation sequencing (NGS) workflows. The acquisition is expected to enhance Twist’s capabilities to support multiplex sequencing preparations across multiple markets and to accelerate Twist’s conversion of customers from static microarray platforms to genotyping by sequencing workflows.
“The iGenomX team built a robust PCR-like workflow for ultra-high throughput library construction that will further enable customers to convert from SNP microarray to an NGS-based approach,” says Emily M. Leproust, PhD, CEO and co-founder of Twist.
Leproust continues: “Already adopted by a number of agricultural, synthetic biology and healthcare customers, we anticipate this technology, together with our leading NGS product line and worldwide commercial infrastructure, will drive adoption of Twist NGS workflow solutions into fields that run large volumes of samples with shallow sequencing.”
iGenomX was founded in 2012 to develop and commercialize a high-throughput rapid library preparation that facilitates large sample volume with a simple workflow at enabling price points. The resulting commercial library construction maximizes laboratory capacity for many applications including population genetics, agrigenomics, microbiome, and synthetic biology.
The total purchase consideration was $35 million, including an initial $500,000 cash payment and $29.5 million in Twist stock, as well as a contingency consideration of $5 million in Twist shares upon completion of certain milestones, no sooner than six months post-close.
“We expect the financial impact of the acquisition on our burn rate to be minimal for both fiscal 2021 and 2022, with revenue of approximately $4-6 million materializing in fiscal 2023,” says Jim Thorburn, CFO of Twist.
