Amyris

Thesis

Amyris filed Chapter 11 in August 2023 with $1.15B in debt and equity was wiped. The company attempted to build a bio-based chemicals and consumer products platform but failed to achieve profitability despite raising enormous amounts of capital. Amyris was the largest single failure in the synthetic biology graveyard, alongside Bolt Threads (dead) and Zymergen (acquired then liquidated). Together, these three companies killed at least $1.1B in investor capital and created deep skepticism about the entire bio-materials thesis. The Amyris failure demonstrates the core risk in synbio. The science can work in the lab but the economics of scaling biological production to compete with petroleum-derived chemicals are brutally difficult. The company had real technology but could not bridge the gap between lab-scale and commercial-scale production economics. No investable action. Equity was wiped in Chapter 11. Included as a graveyard entry for sector context.

Catalysts

• +None. Company filed Chapter 11, equity wiped
• +Bankruptcy proceedings may yield some IP value for acquirers
• +Validates thesis that survivor companies are stronger post-shakeout

Risks

• -Chapter 11 filed August 2023 with $1.15B debt. Equity wiped
• -No recovery expected for equity holders
• -Largest single failure in the synbio sector

Common questions