SEC Charges Zymergen Inc. With Misleading IPO Investors About Company’s Market Potential and Sales Prospects

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced settled charges against Zymergen Inc., an Emeryville, California-based biotechnology company, for misleading IPO investors about its overall market potential, revenue prospects, and customer pipeline for its only commercially available product, an electronics film named Hyaline. Zymergen raised approximately $530 million through its IPO in April 2021 and filed for bankruptcy in 2023. Zymergen agreed to pay a $30 million civil penalty to resolve the SEC’s charges. According to the SEC’s order, Zymergen claimed that it had a $1 billion electronics display market opportunity for Hyaline, but the estimate was based on flawed and unreasonable assumptions that included product markets that were poor fits for Hyaline’s technical characteristics and unsupported premium pricing.