Dentsu Inc. (Tokyo: 4324; ISIN: JP3551520004; President & CEO: Toshihiro Yamamoto; Head Office: Tokyo; Capital: 74,609.81 million yen) announced today that Dentsu Ventures Global Fund I (hereinafter "Dentsu Ventures"), the Company's corporate venture capital fund, has made an investment in Twist Bioscience Corporation (Head Office: San Francisco; CEO: Emily LeProust (hereinafter, "Twist Bioscience"), a U.S. company providing high-throughput DNA synthesis for multiple industries.

Twist Bioscience has developed proprietary technologies that enable DNA synthesis to be performed in a highly efficient manner, more quickly and at lower cost than conventional production processes, and provides DNA in response to a variety of client needs. Rather than conventional plastic plates, Twist Bioscience synthesizes DNA on silicon plates it has developed in house. This approach achieves breakthrough increases in efficiency, speed and quality of DNA production, compared with conventional DNA synthesis processes. The company serves customers in an array of markets including drug discovery, new materials production, agriculture, academia and medical diagnosis. Going forward, the company plans to utilize its DNA synthesis technology to expand into the data storage business, leveraging its efforts in the drug discovery and development business.

Dentsu Ventures plans to support Twist Bioscience's partnership strategy for developing potential technologies utilized on a variety of fronts, from pharmaceutical production to biocomputing. By forming alliances with Dentsu Group clients and partner companies, Dentsu Ventures will support Twist Bioscience's innovative business development.

Profiles of Twist Bioscience and Dentsu Ventures are provided below.

Profile of Twist Bioscience
Company Name:     Twist Bioscience Corporation
Location:    San Francisco, California, U.S.A.
Representative:     Emily LeProust (CEO)
Line of Business:     Providing High-Throughput DNA Synthesis for Multiple Industries
URL:    https://twistbioscience.com

Profile of Dentsu Ventures
Name:     Dentsu Ventures Global Fund I
Total Fund Capital:     10.0 billion yen
Date of Establishment:    April 2015
Period of Operation:     Slated for 10-year period, through March 2025
Investment Regions:    Global investments with a focus on the U.S., Europe Japan and Asia
Investment Stages:    Balanced, wide-ranging investments with the focus on seed and early stage investments, but also including mid-stage and later-stage investments
Investment Areas:
(1) Areas that can change the marketing and communication business in a broad sense
(2) New areas other than the above that have a high potential for innovation
URL:    http://dentsu-v.com/en/

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