Azenta Acquires SynPlexity and Licenses Elegen DNA Technology

Azenta, Inc. (AZTA ) announced on October 30, 2026, two strategic investments intended to advance the next phase of growth for its GENEWIZ business: an exclusive licensing agreement with Elegen Corp., a developer of advanced cell-free DNA manufacturing technology, and the acquisition of SynPlexity Inc., a synthetic biology company providing high-throughput gene libraries for biological discovery. The Burlington, Massachusetts-based company did not disclose purchase prices or other financial terms for either transaction in its investor-relations announcement.

Licensed and Acquired Technologies

According to Azenta, the Elegen license brings into the GENEWIZ portfolio a cell-free DNA synthesis platform designed to improve DNA quality, delivery speed, and manufacturing scalability. The company said the platform’s capabilities include sequence-verified DNA constructs and templates to simplify preparation for downstream experiments, including antibody discovery, and that its compact production workflows enable regional capacity to be added close to customers to respond to demand as needed. Azenta’s announcement describes Elegen as using proprietary cell-free technologies to build longer, higher-quality DNA on a faster timeline for agricultural, chemical, healthcare, and pharmaceutical industries.

On its website, Elegen states that its ENFINIA DNA is produced from proprietary cell-free DNA production technology, is shipped in six to eight business days at up to 7 kb in length, and arrives NGS-verified with 99.999% per-base accuracy, or a 1:70,000 base-pair error rate, ready for immediate use without cloning. Elegen also describes its GEN II offering as a directed split-pool microfluidic synthesizer using its patented cell-free cloning technology. Elegen was founded by its chief executive officer, Matthew Hill.

Through the SynPlexity acquisition, Azenta adds pooled gene assembly technology that provides thousands of full-length gene variants in a single library. Azenta said these capabilities address the increasing scale of biological design by enabling researchers to efficiently build and test large numbers of candidates, including AI-generated designs. Azenta describes SynPlexity as a DNA assembly technology company providing products and services centered on large, multiplexed libraries for functional screening, drug discovery, therapeutics, and other applications.

On its website, SynPlexity describes its DropSynth microreactor technology, which uses tiny droplets to enable large-scale synthesis while reducing costs and materials, with in-house quality control by next-generation sequencing. The site lists library sizes from 500 to more than 25,000 fragments, a minimum library size of 500 fragments, yield above 400 nanograms, and turnaround time under 14 business days. Estimated per-fragment pricing ranges from $2.00 to $9.80 in U.S. dollars as of February 2026, with a 400 base-pair fragment listed at $7.60 per fragment in a 500-fragment library and $2.00 per fragment in a 5,000-fragment library, and a 700 base-pair fragment listed at $9.80 and $2.80, respectively. SynPlexity lists applications including protein engineering, biological AI models, parallel reporter assays, drug discovery, and functional screening.

“These strategic investments strengthen the competitive position of GENEWIZ by expanding the products and capabilities we can bring to customers and are key to accelerating our growth,” said Trey Martin, President of Azenta’s Multiomics business. Martin said combining the licensed and acquired technologies with Azenta’s global infrastructure and its existing gene-to-antibody portfolio would create a differentiated platform for biologics discovery and development.

Azenta said GENEWIZ was founded in New Jersey in 1999 and has built a global sequencing and gene synthesis business, and that the new investments extend that foundation into higher-growth applications across synthetic biology, protein engineering, and AI-enabled drug discovery.

Martin joined Azenta in April 2026, when the company appointed him President of Multiomics effective April 6, 2026, reporting to President and Chief Executive Officer John Marotta. Azenta said the appointment was aimed at accelerating execution of its Multiomics long-range plan, outlined at its December 2025 Investor Day, with a continued focus on scaling global synthesis capabilities. Ginger Zhou, who stepped down from the Multiomics president role, continues to support the company in an advisory capacity through November 2026. Martin previously served as chief executive officer and a board member of Maravai Life Sciences and, before that, as Senior Vice President, Genomic Medicines at Danaher Corporation (DHR ) and President of Integrated DNA Technologies, joining Danaher through its 2018 acquisition of IDT.

Multiomics Financial Context

In its third quarter fiscal 2026 report, covering the period ended June 30, 2026, Azenta reported Multiomics revenue of $73 million, up 10% year over year, with organic revenue up 8%, primarily driven by higher revenue in Next Generation Sequencing and Gene Synthesis, partially offset by lower Sanger Sequencing revenue. Total revenue from continuing operations was $161 million, up 12% year over year. As of that report, Azenta expected full-year fiscal 2026 revenue from continuing operations of approximately $613 million to $618 million and Multiomics organic revenue of approximately between down 1% and flat. The company ended the June quarter with $529 million in cash, cash equivalents, restricted cash, and marketable securities.

Azenta said additional details on the transactions will be provided during its fourth quarter fiscal 2026 earnings call. According to an October 28, 2026 notice, the company will release fiscal fourth quarter and full-year 2026 results, for the period ended September 30, 2026, on Tuesday, November 10, 2026, after the market closes, and will host a conference call and live webcast on Wednesday, November 11, 2026, at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time. A replay will be available beginning November 12, 2026.