Ginkgo Bioworks Q1 2025 Results While Waiting for Q2 Next Month - Are They Turning Things Around?

Court: N.D. California

Case: 4:21-cv-08943

As you might remember, Ginkgo DNA reported a solid quarter last May, though headline numbers require some context.

Revenue hit $48M, which is a 27% jump from last year. That said, $7M of that was non-cash revenue tied to a canceled customer agreement, so the “real” revenue growth was closer to 8% .

Losses are narrowing, too. GAAP net loss came in at $91M (improving the $166M from last year), and adjusted EBITDA improved a lot too— from negative $117M to just negative $47M. Definitely a step in the right direction.

They’re leaning hard into government work now, with 28 active U.S. projects in cell engineering and biosecurity — around $180M in contracted + potential backlog. They also locked in a $29M contract from ARPA-H to work on decentralized medicine manufacturing using wheat germ systems.

Cost-cutting is still front and center. They’ve shaved $205M off their annual run rate so far and are aiming for $250M. Site consolidation is pretty much done too.

For the full year, they’re guiding revenue in the $167M–$187M range and say they’re on solid ground heading into the rest of 2025.

The quarter reflects meaningful progress — operational efficiencies are kicking in, government momentum is building, and losses are narrowing. Still, some top-line growth was inflated by non-cash items, and the path to sustained profitability remains a work in progress.

With next quarter’s results due in August, all eyes will be on whether revenue growth can hold without one-time boosts and whether margin improvements continue to trend in the right direction. Continued traction in government contracts and tighter cost control will be key signals to watch.

Lastly, Ginkgo is still paying out a $17M settlement to investors over claims related to the Scorpion Capital short report and its reliance on related-party revenue. Affected investors can still file a late claim.