Ceres, Inc. was a biotechnology company based in Thousand Oaks, California, United States that operated from 1996 to 2016, when it was acquired by Land O'Lakes. The company was a spinoff from UCLA researchers. Its ultimate commercial products were seeds of genetically modified crops used for biofuel production.[1][2] In addition to its operations in the United States, Ceres had a subsidiary in Brazil called Ceres Sementes do Brasil.[3]
| Company type | Public |
|---|---|
| Nasdaq: CERE | |
| Industry | Biotechnology |
| Founded | 1996 |
| Headquarters | , United States |
Key people | Richard Hamilton (president and CEO) |
| Products | Seeds of energy crops |
| Parent | Land O'Lakes |
| Subsidiaries | Ceres Sementes do Brasil |
| Website | ceres |
History
editThe company was founded in 1996 by UCLA professor Bob Goldberg and corporate partners with an initial capital of $50 million and an off-campus laboratory site overlooking Malibu, CA.[4] In 2002, the company signed a $137 million licensing agreement with Monsanto for their technology.[5]
Richard Flavell was Chief Scientific Officer from 1998 until the 2012 public offering.[6] From its 2012 initial public offering that raised $65 million until its acquisition, it was listed on the NASDAQ exchange.[7][1][8] In 2012, the largest shareholders were Artal Luxembourg, Warburg Pincus, Ambergate Trust, and Oxford Bioscience, while biotechnology company Monsanto had 4.8% stake.[1] The company's president and CEO was Richard Hamilton.[9]
A second public offering in 2014 raised an additional $20 million [6] at $1 per share compared to the 2012 IPO at $13.
On June 21, 2016, Ceres was acquired by Land O'Lakes for $17.2 million.[10]
Products and research
editA major early (2000) accomplishment was the full-length cDNA-sequencing of Arabidopsis thaliana in collaboration with Genset [11] with subsequent publication of the sequencies in TIGR and NCBI and submission to US PTO, and the characterization of Arabidopsis AFLP fragments in collaboration with Keygene NV. [12] In 2006, Ceres began a collaboration with the Noble Research Institute to develop switchgrass [13] Ceres sold sweet sorghum, switchgrass and high biomass sorghum seeds,[1] starting in 2009.[14] It tested biofuel production from switchgrass and miscanthus.[8] In 2010, Ceres started to cooperate with Novozymes to improve the enzyme cocktails for biorefinery switchgrass and sweet sorghum.[15] USAID funded Ceres' research on biotech traits and trait stacks in rice for Asia.[16]
References
edit- ^ a b c d Herndon, Andrew (2012-02-22). "Ceres Rises on First Trading Day for Biofuels Crop Company". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on June 28, 2013. Retrieved 2013-04-26.
- ^ Shah, Aman (2012-01-25). "Ceres Inc sees IPO priced at $21-$23/share". Reuters. Archived from the original on 2012-01-26. Retrieved 2013-04-26.
- ^ "Ceres to seed sorghum in Brazil". Ethanol Producer Magazine. 2010-09-23. Retrieved 2013-04-26.
- ^ JACOBS, PAUL (1999-12-31). "A Few Rush to Exploit New Biotech Crops". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2020-06-09.
- ^ "Monsanto to invest $137 million in Ceres collaboration, stake". St. Louis Business Journal. 2002-04-03. Retrieved 2023-03-03.
- ^ a b "Ceres from 10-K for 2015".
- ^ "Ceres Announces Fiscal Second Quarter 2012 Financial Results". 2012-04-12. Retrieved 2020-06-09.
- ^ a b Dickerson, Marla (2012-01-25). "California biofuel firm Ceres plans public offering". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2013-04-26.
- ^ "Ceres Unveils Switchgrass Seed Brand for Cellulosic Feedstock". Sustainable Business. 2008-01-05. Retrieved 2013-04-26.
- ^ "Land O'Lakes Acquires Ag Biotech Developer Ceres Inc". hayandforage.com. Retrieved 2016-06-22.
- ^ de Vries, G.E (2000-06-01). "Ceres and Genset milestone". Trends in Plant Science. Retrieved 2024-06-22.
- ^ DeFrancesco, Laura (2000-07-18). "Tour de force—near complete expression analysis of Arabidopsis genes". Bioprocess Online. Retrieved 2023-03-03.
- ^ "Ceres Noble Master Research Agreement".
- ^ Ann Hinch for Farmworld Online May 7 2008 Genome firm will sell biomass seeds for ’09 growing season
- ^ Zimmerman, Cindy (2010-05-20). "Novozymes and Ceres Partner on Biofuel Crops". Domestic Fuel. Retrieved 2013-04-26.
- ^ "Energy crop company Ceres receives additional $3.5M from USAID for trait stacks for rice". Green Car Congress. 2012-11-09. Retrieved 2013-04-26.
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