Open source: An NC Triangle tech company is on the verge of disappearing
I’m Brian Gordon, tech reporter for The News & Observer, and this is Open Source, a weekly newsletter on business, labor and technology in North Carolina.
Research Triangle Park is a hub for life sciences firms, but the area may soon have one less.
This week, the agricultural tech firm AgBiome warned the North Carolina Department of Commerce it could “potentially” lay off all 123 of its employees, including the company’s two CEOs and other top executives. By law, companies that seek to close a plant of this size must give staff at least 60 days’ notice.
The layoffs would go into effect Dec. 15. Yesterday, the company said it was still trying to find investors to keep operating but that it “wanted to ensure that our extraordinary employees have an opportunity to immediately explore other alternatives.”
The company blamed its tenuous future on a tough venture capital market. It raised $116 million back in the free-flowing, low-interest rate days of 2021, but 2023 offers a rougher landscape.
“Companies that successfully raised money in their Series A funding rounds a couple of years ago are now facing challenges in securing fresh capital,” the industry outlet BioSpace wrote in August.
Biotech booms and downturns particularly impact the Triangle; most lists of the largest U.S. life science markets place Raleigh-Durham in the top 10, if not top 5.
AgBiome makes pesticides, and the company said it is confident growers will continue to use its two most popular fungicides, called Howler and Theia, “for many years to come.”
It seems more likely than not that these products will outlive the company that made them.
Onto the rest of this week’s news:
VinFast has a (mostly) crummy week in the market and media
On Monday, VinFast CEO Le Thi Thu Thuy told Bloomberg, “We don’t really watch the share price as much because we focus a lot on execution and what we have ahead of us.”
It might be best she doesn’t look. The stock price of the NC-bound Vietnamese automaker VinFast continued to nosedive this week, dropping to $5.70 a share. For a brief moment in August, the stock sold for $93.
Something Thuy said during her Bloomberg interview seemed to spook investors.
She acknowledged her company will look to raise “a lot of capital” to fund its expansion in Asia. VinFast has already raised (and spent) billions to expand its new fleet of all-electric SUVs to drivers in more than 50 markets worldwide.
Crucial to the company’s success in the United States is its planned $4 billion vehicle and battery plant in North Carolina’s Chatham County.
To raise more money, VinFast plans to release more stock, but analysts point out this could further depress its share price. Financing from VinFast’s chairman should sustain the company for the next 18 months, Thuy said, but the combination of this funding plus selling shares might not be enough.
Just this morning however, VinFast announced it had inked an option deal to sell $1 billion in stock to the investment fund Yorkville Advisors.
Adding to the company’s up-and-down week were several stories that examined why VinFast cars aren’t selling that well in their home country.
“’Long way to go’: Vietnam’s first EV firm struggles to gain traction in domestic market,” read a headline in the South China Morning Post. “Vietnam’s VinFast battles reliability concerns on home turf,” said another in the outlet Euronews.
In her interview with Bloomberg, Thuy reiterated VinFast’s goal of selling 40,000 to 50,000 EVs this year. She shared her belief that the company’s stock will rebound once the automaker hits these milestones.
For now at least, the market seems dubious.
Catching up with Pendo
Yesterday, I interviewed Pendo CEO Todd Olson at his company’s annual Pendomonium conference in downtown Raleigh. He shared his thoughts on the software provider, the industry overall, and even why he chose his company’s brand to be pink.
I also asked about Pendo’s staff in Israel in the context of the ongoing war. Pendo has an office north of Tel Aviv with around 60 employees, and a little more than 10% of them have been called up for reserve duty.
“We’re fortunate so far that no one has been directly affected (by the violence),” he said.
And the top Triangle tech hirer is...
Tech job postings fell by half in the Triangle in the past year, according to localized data provided by the North Carolina Technology Association. Last month, there were 5,671 area IT openings. Likely not all are being actively filled.
According to the data, the Triangle’s top tech hirer in September was First Citizens Bank, which purchased the remains of Silicon Valley Bank earlier this year. The Raleigh-based First Citizens Bank has quarterly earnings coming up next week. Will be interested to see how it discusses incorporating former SVB into its future plans.
Short Stuff: Duke patent party
The music distribution platform Bandcamp cuts half its staff after Cary-based Epic Games divested the company last month.
Pactiv Evergreen will expand its Raleigh warehouse and hire around 100 employees, the Triangle Business Journal reports. The company is notorious in Western North Carolina after it laid off more than 900 workers at a paper mill in the town of Canton.
Duke University received $102.5 million from commercializing its research this fiscal year, a record for the school.
National Tech Happenings
Amazon will begin testing medication deliveries by drone.
Overcoming a fierce FTC challenge, Microsoft received approval to purchase video game maker Activison Blizzard.
The U.S. tightened restrictions on chip exports from China. China is displeased as the chip trade war between the two nations intensifies. For a good read on the topic, check out “Chip War” by Chris Miller.
Thanks for reading!
Open Source
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