Twist Bioscience Corporation (TWST): Business Model Canvas [Dec-2025 Updated]

You're trying to get a clear handle on Twist Bioscience Corporation's current engine after the Atlas Data Storage spin-out, and frankly, it's a complex machine to model. As a seasoned analyst, I can tell you the core value is still their proprietary silicon platform, which drove the shipment of $\mathbf{938,000}$ genes in FY2025, feeding $\mathbf{\$208.1}$ million in Next-Generation Sequencing revenue and $\mathbf{\$145.0}$ million from Synthetic Biology. Defintely look closely at the $\mathbf{\$247.0}$ million in Selling, General, and Administrative expenses against those revenue streams, plus the $\mathbf{84}$ active Biopharma programs that form a key part of their value proposition. This canvas lays out the entire structure, from their key resources like their Portland facility to the specific customer segments driving growth, so you can see the whole picture right now.

Twist Bioscience Corporation (TWST) - Canvas Business Model: Key Partnerships

You're looking at the ecosystem Twist Bioscience Corporation (TWST) has built around its core DNA synthesis platform. These aren't just casual agreements; they are strategic alignments that secure revenue, expand market reach, and validate the platform's technology across different verticals. Here's the breakdown of the key players as of late 2025.

Atlas Data Storage for DNA data storage commercialization

The spinout of the DNA data storage business into Atlas Data Storage was a major move, allowing both entities to focus. Atlas debuted with a significant capital infusion to push commercialization.

• Atlas Data Storage secured $155 million in seed funding.
• Twist Bioscience received an upfront cash payment and a secured promissory note from Atlas.
• Twist retains a minority ownership interest and rights to revenue-sharing and future technology/commercial milestone payments from Atlas products.
• Twist Bioscience projects achieving adjusted EBITDA breakeven by the end of fiscal year 2026.

Element Biosciences for NGS workflow integration and exclusivity

The partnership with Element Biosciences centers on integrating Twist Bioscience's library preparation and target enrichment workflows directly onto Element's AVITI sequencing systems and Trinity flowcells. This deep integration locks in a key revenue stream for Twist's NGS segment.

• Twist Bioscience has been named the exclusive partner for developing additional library preparation and target enrichment workflows compatible with Element's Trinity sequencing technology.
• The expanded collaboration aims to streamline end-to-end workflows from library prep through sequencing on the AVITI platform.
• Twist Bioscience's Biopharma revenue for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025 was $6.4 million, growing 22% year-over-year, supported by these advanced solutions.

Ginkgo Bioworks for synthetic biology collaboration and IP

The renegotiated agreement with Ginkgo Bioworks ensures a steady, prepaid revenue stream for Twist Bioscience's core synthetic biology offering while securing valuable intellectual property.

• The revised agreement is a three-year deal valued at $15 million.
• Ginkgo Bioworks prepays annually for Twist's DNA products, with no required minimum purchase volume to receive preferential pricing.
• Twist Bioscience received licenses and assignments for certain long DNA technology and related reagents to complement its synthesis portfolio.

Biopharma companies for antibody discovery programs

The Biopharma Solutions segment relies heavily on partnerships to drive its antibody discovery and optimization services. The pipeline activity here is a key indicator of future licensing and milestone revenue potential.

Here's a look at the scale of the Biopharma pipeline activity as of the reporting period:

To be fair, the Q3 FY25 presentation showed 111 active programs, so the 84 in Q4 FY25 suggests a slight pipeline churn or shift in reporting focus, but the overall engagement remains high.

Channel partners and distributors for global market reach

Twist Bioscience uses a network of distributors to ensure its products, like NGS panels and gene synthesis tools, are accessible globally. This network is critical for maintaining the 23% year-over-year growth in NGS revenue, which hit $208.1 million for fiscal 2025.

The global reach is evidenced by the established partners in key markets:

• Australia: Decode Science.
• Japan: AS ONE Corporation.
• China: Shanghai Jianyun Biological Technology Co., Ltd.
• Europe (e.g., Ireland): MyBio (exclusive distributor agreement signed previously).
• South America (e.g., Brazil): INDUSLAB and Interprise Brasil.

Finance: draft 13-week cash view by Friday.

Twist Bioscience Corporation (TWST) - Canvas Business Model: Key Activities

High-throughput, automated synthetic DNA manufacturing is central to Twist Bioscience Corporation's operations, leveraging a proprietary semiconductor-based synthetic DNA manufacturing process on a silicon platform. This approach enables cost-effective, rapid, and precise synthesis. The company shipped approximately 237,000 genes during the third quarter of fiscal 2025. Twist Bioscience Corporation manufactures 100% of its products in the USA, mitigating tariff impacts. The platform supports high-throughput synthesis, sequencing, and therapeutics discovery.

The scale of execution is reflected in customer reach and volume:

• Shipped products to approximately 2,484 customers in the third quarter of fiscal 2025.
• The Express Genes portfolio is a key component for rapid turnaround, synthesizing custom DNA sequences as fast as four to seven business days.

The core business segments show significant activity:

Research and development to improve the silicon platform remains a dedicated activity. Research and development expenses were $80.3 million in FY2025. For comparison, Research and development expenses for the third quarter of fiscal 2025 were $18.0 million, compared to $22.5 million for the same period of fiscal 2024. Research and development expenses for the second quarter of fiscal 2025 were $23.9 million.

Commercial execution and expanding customer adoption in SynBio and NGS drives the top line. Full-year fiscal 2025 revenue guidance was raised to $372 million to $379 million. The NGS segment, in particular, saw strong growth, supported by expanded collaborations, such as the one with Element Biosciences, enabling additional Twist library preparation and target enrichment workflows.

Antibody discovery and optimization services (Biopharma) is a growing area of focus. The Biopharma revenue guidance for fiscal 2025 was set at $23 million. In the third quarter of fiscal 2025, Biopharma revenue was $5.6 million, representing a 10% year-over-year growth. The Biopharma business encompasses 406 partners with 95 active programs and 82 milestones/royalties.

Operational efficiency initiatives to drive gross margin expansion is a clear financial priority. The company achieved a gross margin of 53.4% in the third quarter of fiscal 2025, exceeding the internal target of exceeding 50% by the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025 ahead of schedule. The current gross margin stands at 49.24%, with a projection to exceed 52% by fiscal year 2026. Initiatives supporting this include cost-saving efforts related to plastic tips and enzyme development. The gross margin for the second quarter of fiscal 2025 was 49.6%.

Key financial metrics related to operational performance for the nine months ended June 30, 2025, include:

Finance: draft 13-week cash view by Friday.

Twist Bioscience Corporation (TWST) - Canvas Business Model: Key Resources

You're looking at the core assets that power Twist Bioscience Corporation's operations as of late 2025. These aren't just line items; they are the engines driving their synthetic biology and NGS revenue streams.

Proprietary silicon-based DNA Synthesis Platform (core IP)

The foundation of Twist Bioscience Corporation is its proprietary technology, which allows for the 'writing' of DNA on a silicon chip. This platform is what enables the massive parallelization of synthesis.

• The core technology allows the printing of up to 1 million oligos on a single silicon chip.
• This platform is leveraged to construct high-diversity libraries, with Combinatorial Variant Libraries capable of yielding over 10¹⁰ variants.

Global manufacturing facility (e.g., Portland, Oregon)

Twist Bioscience Corporation has expanded its physical footprint to scale production beyond its South San Francisco headquarters. This expansion is key to meeting increasing customer demand.

The second major production site is the 'Factory of the Future' in Wilsonville, Oregon, near Portland. This facility is designed for assembly-line style production.

Initial shipments from this site began in early 2023, starting with Twist Oligo Pools and Gene Fragments, designed to double manufacturing capacity. That's a big step up in throughput.

Extensive library of synthetic DNA and antibody sequences

The output of the platform is a vast, controllable library of sequences used across their business segments, including Synthetic Biology (SynBio) and Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) applications.

• Oligo pools for synthesis can range in size from 20 bp to 300 bp.
• Gene fragments and clonal genes are offered in lengths between 300 bp and 5,000 bp.
• Site Variant Libraries can achieve up to 10⁸ diversity.

Cash, cash equivalents, and short-term investments of $232.4 million (Sept 30, 2025)

This is the liquidity position you need to watch. As of the end of fiscal year 2025, the balance sheet shows a solid cushion to fund operations while driving toward adjusted EBITDA breakeven, which is targeted for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2026.

The company reported a full-year fiscal 2025 revenue of $376.6 million, up 20% year-over-year, which helps fund these resources.

Highly specialized scientific and engineering talent

The human capital is essential for operating the complex synthesis platform and developing the next generation of products, like the MRD express product set for early 2026 commercial launch.

Twist Bioscience Corporation had 979 total employees as of September 30, 2025. That represents an increase of 56 employees, or 6.07%, compared to the prior year. Some external estimates place the count around 1.2K employees as of October 2025.

Finance: draft 13-week cash view by Friday.

Twist Bioscience Corporation (TWST) - Canvas Business Model: Value Propositions

You're looking at the core reasons customers choose Twist Bioscience Corporation over others; it's all about speed, quality, and cost efficiency delivered through their silicon-based platform.

High-quality, high-fidelity synthetic DNA and oligo pools at scale

• Lowest industry error rate of 1:7500 for Gene Fragments.
• Full fiscal year 2025 revenue reached $376.6 million.
• Shipped approximately 227,000 genes during the second quarter of fiscal 2025.
• Approximately 2,484 customers shipped products to in the third quarter of fiscal 2025.

Rapid turnaround time for clonal genes (e.g., Express Genes in 5 business days)

Twist Bioscience Corporation accelerated its Express turnaround time for all Gene Fragments, with a turnaround time starting at two business days for both adapters off and adaptors on configurations as of July 2025. For personalized cancer monitoring, they are promising manufacturing and shipping in as little as 12 hours after receiving sequence data.

Cost-effective DNA synthesis due to miniaturized, chip-based chemistry

Pricing for Twist Gene Fragments starts from seven cents per base pair for all configurations, with no additional fees for removing adaptors. The efficiency gains are reflected in the gross margin improvement to 50.7% for fiscal 2025, up from 42.6% in fiscal 2024.

Comprehensive NGS tools for target enrichment and library preparation

The NGS segment generated $208.1 million in revenue for the full fiscal year 2025, a 23% growth year-over-year. More than 600 customers adopted the company's NGS products in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024 alone. The company expanded collaboration with Element Biosciences to enable its AVITI systems with additional library preparation and target enrichment workflows.

End-to-end antibody discovery and optimization services

The Biopharma segment revenue for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025 was $6.4 million, representing 22% growth year-over-year. Twist Bioscience Corporation launched a humanized transgenic mouse model to expand and complement its antibody discovery services offering.

Finance: draft 2026 cash flow projection by Monday.

Twist Bioscience Corporation (TWST) - Canvas Business Model: Customer Relationships

You're looking at how Twist Bioscience Corporation (TWST) manages its interactions with its diverse customer base as of late 2025. The approach clearly segments based on the customer type, moving from high-touch engagement for large strategic partners to high-volume digital interaction for research use.

Dedicated sales force and field application scientists for Biopharma/Enterprise

For the higher-value Biopharma segment, the relationship is clearly more direct and consultative. This segment is critical, contributing to a full fiscal year 2025 revenue of $23.5 million, which was a 15% increase over fiscal year 2024's $20.3 million. The fourth quarter of fiscal 2025 saw Biopharma revenue hit $6.4 million, up 22% year-over-year. This suggests a dedicated, high-touch sales effort is driving significant dollar growth from these enterprise clients.

High-touch, collaborative relationships for Biopharma programs

The collaborative nature of the Biopharma segment is evidenced by the depth of their partnerships. As of the second quarter of fiscal 2025, Twist Bioscience was engaged with 406 partners, supporting 95 active programs, and holding 82 milestones/royalties across their Biopharma Solutions offerings. These relationships are structured around discovery and optimization, which require deep technical integration, unlike the transactional nature of the self-service platform.

Digital e-commerce platform for self-service ordering (SynBio/NGS)

The bulk of the customer base relies on the digital platform for Synthetic Biology (SynBio) and Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) products. The company shipped products to approximately 2,484 customers in the third quarter of fiscal 2025, up from approximately 2,300 customers in the third quarter of fiscal 2024, showing broad platform adoption. The NGS business, which heavily utilizes the platform for library prep and target enrichment, is a major revenue driver, bringing in $55.3 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2025.

The reliance on a few key accounts in the NGS space is notable, indicating that while the platform serves many, a few large users drive a significant portion of that revenue stream:

Focus on customer retention and expanding product adoption

The strategy clearly emphasizes increasing the value derived from the existing customer base. The total number of shipped genes grew from approximately 212,000 in Q3 fiscal 2024 to approximately 237,000 in Q3 fiscal 2025. This indicates that existing customers are ordering more volume, which is also reflected in the average number of genes shipped per customer rising to 92 in Q3 fiscal 2024. The CEO noted that landing smaller customers remains critical, as these accounts have the potential to become large accounts in the future.

Customer support for technical and ordering assistance

The company supports its platform users through ongoing service enhancements. For instance, they expanded the Express turnaround time for all Gene Fragments, offering a time starting at two business days for both adapters off and adaptors on configurations. This focus on speed and reliability is a core component of maintaining customer satisfaction across the self-service segments.

The overall customer base growth is evident across the fiscal year 2025 reporting:

• Shipped products to approximately 2,431 customers in Q2 fiscal 2025, up from approximately 2,253 in Q2 fiscal 2024.
• Shipped products to approximately 2,484 customers in Q3 fiscal 2025, versus approximately 2,300 in Q3 fiscal 2024.
• Full fiscal year 2025 revenue grew 20% compared to the prior year, driven by meeting customer needs.

Twist Bioscience Corporation (TWST) - Canvas Business Model: Channels

Twist Bioscience Corporation's fiscal 2025 total revenues reached $376.6 million. This revenue base is supported by a customer base that served approximately 2,484 customers in the third quarter of fiscal 2025.

The company shipped approximately 938,000 genes during the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025.

Direct sales team for enterprise and Biopharma customers

The Biopharma Solutions segment, which relies heavily on direct engagement for enterprise customers, generated $23.5 million in revenue for fiscal 2025. In the second quarter of fiscal 2025, the company supported 89 active Biopharma programs. The direct sales efforts also target academic institutions, which contributed $16.5 million in revenue in the second quarter of fiscal 2025 alone.

E-commerce platform for SynBio and NGS product ordering

The SynBio Write segment, which includes standard product ordering, generated $39.5 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025. The NGS Read segment, also utilizing the platform for library prep and target enrichment workflows, brought in $53.0 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025. The platform supports the ordering of products like Gene Fragments and Clonal Genes.

Global network of channel partners and distributors

Twist Bioscience Corporation maintains a worldwide commercial organization that includes distributors. This network spans multiple geographic areas for sales and support.

• Australia: Decode Science
• China, East China: Shanghai Jianyun Biological Technology Co., Ltd.
• Japan: AS ONE Corporation
• Canada: DMark Biosciences
• Brazil: INDUSLAB
• Spain / Portugal: Diagnostica Longwood

Scientific conferences and symposia (e.g., ESHG 2025)

Engagement through partnerships announced around this time demonstrates channel expansion and market reach. The company expanded its collaboration with Element Biosciences on May 22, 2025, to enable Element's AVITI systems with Twist library preparation workflows. A revised collaboration with Ginkgo Bioworks was entered into during fiscal 2025. A partnership with Curio Genomics to advance NGS adoption was announced on April 1, 2025.

Procurement integrations with large institutional customers

Twist Bioscience offers a PunchOut catalog to streamline purchasing with eProcurement systems. The integration partner has experience working with over 100 eProcurement platforms, making Twist entirely platform agnostic. A systemwide contract with the University of California, effective July 1, 2025, is projected to yield savings of $500k+ annually for the UC system. This contract includes oligo synthesis savings from 12%-60% and 10% off NGS products for the institution.

Twist Bioscience Corporation (TWST) - Canvas Business Model: Customer Segments

You're looking at the core groups Twist Bioscience Corporation serves as of late 2025, which is key to understanding their revenue generation. Honestly, the customer base is quite diverse, spanning from foundational academic work to large-scale commercial drug pipelines.

Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology companies (for drug discovery and therapeutics)

This segment is a major driver, especially with the focus on therapeutics discovery. For the full fiscal year 2025, revenue attributed to Biopharma Solutions was $23.5 million. In the second quarter of fiscal 2025, the Biopharma revenue specifically was $5.7 million. The fourth quarter of fiscal 2025 saw Biopharma deliver $6.4 million in revenue.

Academic and Government Research Institutions (approximately 2,431 customers in Q2 FY25)

The academic sector remains a foundational customer group for Twist Bioscience Corporation. They shipped products to approximately 2,431 customers in the second quarter of fiscal 2025. This segment contributed significantly to the company's overall performance, with Academic revenue showing a 20% increase year-over-year in Q2 FY25. The total number of customers served across all segments reached approximately 2,484 in the third quarter of fiscal 2025.

Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) labs for diagnostics and research

The NGS segment is a substantial revenue generator. For the full fiscal year 2025, NGS revenue reached $208.1 million. In the second quarter of fiscal 2025, NGS revenue was $51.1 million, representing a 25% year-over-year growth. By the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025, NGS revenue grew to $53 million. The top 10 NGS customers accounted for approximately 43% of NGS revenue in Q2 fiscal 2025.

Industrial and Applied Markets (agriculture, chemicals, defense)

Twist Bioscience Corporation serves these markets through its synthetic biology tools. Growth in synthetic gene revenue for the full year 2025 was $20.9 million. Higher sales to customers in the industrial chemicals/materials industry were a factor in the revenue increase from NGS tools. The company also noted a collaboration to accelerate NGS workflows in agrigenomics. You can see the revenue contribution from the broader SynBio segment (which includes industrial applications) below:

AI-driven drug discovery companies (orders grew over $25 million in FY2025)

This is a clear growth vector. Orders from customers working on AI discovery projects grew more than $25 million versus fiscal 2024 for the full year 2025. This growth was a driver in the SynBio and Biopharma segments. The company is definitely positioning itself as an enabler for this convergence. Here are some key financial achievements for the full fiscal year 2025:

• Total Revenues for FY2025: $376.6 million.
• Full Year Gross Margin for FY2025: 50.7%.
• Total Genes Shipped for FY2025: Approximately 938,000 genes.

The growth in these segments was driven by customers utilizing Twist Bioscience Corporation's platform for therapeutics discovery initiatives.

Twist Bioscience Corporation (TWST) - Canvas Business Model: Cost Structure

You're looking at the expenses that drive the engine at Twist Bioscience Corporation as of late 2025. For a company scaling complex biological manufacturing, the cost structure is heavily weighted toward operations and scaling infrastructure, which is what the numbers from fiscal year 2025 clearly show.

High cost of revenues, totaling $185.6 million in FY2025. This is the direct cost associated with producing and delivering the synthetic DNA and related products. It represents a significant portion of the total revenue base, though the gross margin improved to 50.7% for the full year 2025, up from 42.6% in fiscal 2024, suggesting better operational leverage is starting to kick in. The total Cost of Revenues for the twelve months ended September 30, 2025, was $185,570 thousand.

Significant Selling, General, and Administrative (SG&A) expenses ($247.0 million in FY2025). This category is the largest single operating expense bucket. The SG&A for fiscal 2025 totaled $246,976 thousand. This spend supports the commercial infrastructure, corporate overhead, and general business functions necessary to support the growing revenue base.

Here's a quick look at the major operating expense components for the full fiscal year 2025:

Ongoing capital expenditure for manufacturing capacity expansion. While a specific CapEx number for FY2025 isn't explicitly detailed in the top-line results, the need for ongoing investment is a structural cost driver. The company has been focused on expanding its DNA synthesis manufacturing capacity, which requires significant investment in equipment and facilities. This is a necessary cost to support future revenue growth targets, including the expectation to achieve adjusted EBITDA breakeven by the end of fiscal 2026.

Costs associated with maintaining and defending intellectual property. This cost is embedded within the operating expenses, primarily R&D and SG&A, but it is a distinct, non-trivial component for a technology-driven company like Twist Bioscience Corporation. The ability to maintain and enforce intellectual property protection is explicitly listed as a key business risk, implying continuous legal and administrative spending to secure its platform advantages.

Raw material and supply chain costs for DNA synthesis. These costs are the primary driver within the Cost of Revenues line item. The company has flagged risks related to:

• Dependence on one supplier for a critical component.
• Changes in U.S. trade policies and other trade actions that could result in increased costs and supply chain disruptions.

These external factors directly influence the variable costs associated with every unit of DNA synthesized and sold.

Twist Bioscience Corporation (TWST) - Canvas Business Model: Revenue Streams

You're looking at how Twist Bioscience Corporation actually brought in the money in fiscal year 2025. It's not just one thing; it's a mix of core synthetic biology products and services that feed into larger research and development pipelines. The total revenue for the full fiscal year 2025 hit $376.6 million, which was a solid 20% growth over fiscal 2024.

The bulk of that revenue comes from their two main product areas, Synthetic Biology and Next-Generation Sequencing tools. Here's the quick math on how those segments stacked up for the full fiscal year 2025:

The Synthetic Biology segment, which is where the core DNA synthesis platform drives revenue, saw its sales grow 17% year-over-year. This segment is heavily reliant on the volume of synthetic DNA products they ship out to researchers.

• Revenue from gene fragments, oligo pools, and clonal genes is a key driver within the SynBio category.
• Twist Bioscience Corporation shipped approximately 938,000 genes during fiscal 2025.

The Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) tools revenue was the largest contributor to the top line, growing 23% year-over-year for the fiscal year. This shows the increasing adoption of their library preparation products in areas like liquid biopsy and rare disease assays.

Also contributing to the revenue picture is the Biopharma services line, which brought in $23.5 million in fiscal 2025, marking a 15% increase from the prior year. This revenue stream is tied to specific service agreements and development work with biopharma customers.

Then there's the potential upside from the recent spin-out of their DNA data storage application into an independent company, Atlas Data Storage. Twist Bioscience Corporation retains an ownership stake in Atlas. What this means for future revenue is that they may participate in the upside through:

• Future technology milestone payments from Atlas Data Storage.
• Future commercial milestone payments from Atlas Data Storage.
• A revenue share through royalties on Atlas Data Storage's future sales of products and services.

If onboarding takes 14+ days, churn risk rises, but for now, the revenue streams are clearly diversified across these three core areas, plus that future royalty potential.