Ginkgo Reaffirms $125 Million to $150 Million Cash Burn and Sells First Autonomous Lab to Novo
Key Facts
Ginkgo Bioworks said total expected cash burn for fiscal 2026 would remain between $125 million and $150 million, and announced its first deal to sell an autonomous lab to Novo Nordisk at the company’s new research and development site in Waltham, Massachusetts. In its earnings statement, Ginkgo said it was “reaffirming” its annual cash burn range, with no change to its previously issued forecast. The company did not disclose the value of the lab deal. The developments combine continued cash investment expected by the company this year with a new commercial deal with a major pharmaceutical company. Ginkgo shares closed at $9.96 on November 5, down 14.51% in the session, while Novo shares closed at $40.3 the same day.
Revenue in the third quarter of 2026 was about $28 million, compared with $29 million in the same period of 2025, a year-over-year decline of 6%, according to the company’s statement. But it rose from $20 million in the second quarter of 2026, putting the quarter’s performance on a better track than the immediately preceding period, even as it remained below the prior-year level. The second-quarter decline was steeper, with revenue falling 48% to $20 million from $39 million a year earlier. Ginkgo attributed that decline at the time mainly to program rationalization as part of restructuring activities. The comparison shows that the quarter-to-quarter improvement has not yet erased the annual revenue decline.
Meanwhile, net loss from continuing operations under GAAP narrowed to $41 million in the third quarter, from $73 million in the same quarter of 2025. Adjusted EBITDA loss also improved to $22 million, compared with a loss of $53 million a year earlier, according to the earnings statement. The company recorded cash burn of $27 million in the third quarter. Cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities totaled $285 million on September 30, 2026. The figures highlight narrower losses year over year, alongside continued quarterly cash consumption and an unchanged annual cash burn forecast.
The Novo deal is part of Ginkgo’s efforts to expand the commercial business for its autonomous lab services, with 22 customers signing up for its ADME service in the third quarter, 20 of them new to the company, according to its statement. The company also announced a subcontract worth up to $17.5 million under the ARPA-H program to bring RAC and Catalyst systems into RNA drug manufacturing for the first time. These contracts and customers provide specific indicators of the business’s scale, but do not disclose the value of the lab deal with Novo. In August, management said the Nebula lab had more than 100 robots capable of running experiments around the clock for Cloud Lab, Datapoints and Solutions services. In a company statement at the time, Jason Kelly described AI-powered labs as part of a shift in experimentation beyond the traditional lab and said Ginkgo was helping build that infrastructure.
Ginkgo reaffirmed the same annual cash burn range in statements accompanying its first-quarter results in May and second-quarter results in August, before repeating it in its November statement. That keeps the 2026 estimate stable across quarterly disclosures, while third-quarter revenue remains below the year-earlier level. On real estate costs, the company said in its annual report that most facility consolidation actions were completed in 2025, but it continues to seek opportunities to sublease unused or partially used space. It added that these efforts may extend beyond 2026 or may not bear fruit before lease expirations, depending on market conditions. This context remains part of the restructuring plan that the company linked to program rationalization in its earlier explanation of the revenue decline.
Revenue recognition on lab sales depends on the timing of equipment installation; equipment revenue is recorded upon installation, according to operational details in the earnings materials. The Novo deal alone therefore does not disclose the timing or value of revenue, as Ginkgo did not announce the financial consideration for the transaction. The company said it would provide an update to its 2027 guidance in February. That date follows its current reaffirmation of the 2026 cash burn outlook, with next year’s guidance set to be the next specific update mentioned by the company.