Berkeley Lights (PhenomeX)
- 🦄Became a unicorn2020
- 📈Peak valuation$5 Billion ’20
- 💔Became a Unitard2022
- 💸Last valuation~$100M
How it happened
Berkeley Lights sold pricey lab platforms that use light to manipulate and analyze single cells for drug discovery, and its July 2020 IPO turned into a sensation — shares ran from $22 to $103 by December, valuing it above $5B. A 2021 short-seller report alleging misleading claims, plus a brutal market for unprofitable biotech-tools companies, sent the stock into freefall. Glassdoor reviews from the decline consistently praised the technology while faulting leadership for lacking a clear commercial direction, and described constant reorganizations, shifting managers, and repeated layoffs that drained morale. The company merged with IsoPlexis to form PhenomeX, and in 2023 Bruker bought it for $108M — $1.00 a share, a fraction of its peak.
Employee accounts paraphrase anonymous, unverified reviews posted publicly on Glassdoor ↗. See our methodology.
Source: GenomeWeb / Pharmaceutical Technology / SEC (IPO July 2020 at $22, peaked $103 Dec 2020, market value above $5B; class action over misleading claims 2021; merged with IsoPlexis as PhenomeX; Bruker acquisition $108M, $1.00/share, closed Oct 2 2023)
