Filed Chapter 11 (March 2025), converted to Chapter 7; common stock declared worthless; assets sold via credit bid.
The rise & fall
9 moments · 2012–2025
The key moments, with employee sentiment along the way.
2012
🌱
2012
Founded in St. Louis
Crop genetics plus data science, aimed at building a better soybean.
Wikipedia
Sep 2021
📈
Sep 2021
The peak: a $2B SPAC debut$2B
Merges with Star Peak Corp II and lists on the NYSE, backed by GV, BlackRock and Bunge — unicorn status and peak in one stroke.
AgFunderNews
2022
💔
2022
Slips out of the club
Barely a year after the SPAC debut, persistent operating losses drag the market cap below $1B.
Macrotrends
2022–24
💬
From the inside · Glassdoor reviews, 2022–24
Insiders saw it coming: Glassdoor reviews counted recurring layoff rounds — three in a single year, by some accounts — carried out with little transparency from leadership, while startup perks and once-unlimited PTO were quietly pared back and departing experts left knowledge gaps behind.
2023–24
2023–24
Selling the plants to stay alive
Persistent losses force the sale of processing facilities.
AgFunderNews
Jul 2024
Jul 2024
A 1-for-35 reverse split
The stock has fallen so far that only a 35-to-1 share consolidation keeps it listed.
AgFunderNews
Mar 2025
🪦
Mar 2025
Chapter 11 — joins the Unitard Club 💔
Weighed down by losses, the soybean-genetics company files for bankruptcy protection.
Food Dive
2025
2025
Converted to Chapter 7; the stock is declared worthless
Liquidation replaces reorganization, and common shareholders get nothing.
Court filing
2025
2025
Assets sold to Confluence Genetics
The genetics platform goes out the door in a credit-bid sale.
AgFunderNews
$2Bof peak value erased · 10 years
💬 entries paraphrase anonymous, unverified reviews posted publicly on Glassdoor ↗; dated facts carry their source.
How it happened
Benson Hill used data science and crop genetics to develop better soybeans and went public in September 2021 via a $2B SPAC merger with Star Peak Corp II, backed by GV, BlackRock and Bunge. Persistent operating losses forced it to sell processing plants and execute a 1-for-35 reverse split. In March 2025 it filed Chapter 11, converted to Chapter 7 liquidation, and the stock was declared worthless.
Source: Food Dive / AgFunderNews / elevenflo (~$2B SPAC merger with Star Peak Corp II, Sept 2021, backed by GV, BlackRock, Bunge; 1-for-35 reverse split July 2024; Chapter 11 March 2025, converted to Chapter 7, stock declared worthless; assets sold to Confluence Genetics)
Where they went
Matt Crisp
Co-founder & CEO (2012-June 2023, before the bankruptcy)
