What Are Keith Kohl’s “Biofacturing” & “Hyperautomation” Picks?

This must be the week for Angel Publishing because today I’m looking into yet another stock teaser from this company, and this time, it’s a presentation by Keith Kohl.

What’s it all about?

In short, Keith Kohl talked about how tech stocks are selling off due to a “once-in-a-generation shift.” One where “tech giants have become too big and bloated to innovate,” and wealthy investors are “moving to the next generation of tech.”

Specifically, the presentation centered around three emerging technologies that Kohl is bullish on: “biofacturing,” “hyperautomation,” and Web3. And he teased three companies that are supposedly “sitting at the center of this $42 trillion wealth explosion.”

This was probably one of the most hyped-up teasers I’ve seen in a while.

But I was curious to know what companies Kohl was spruiking.

So I looked into his clues anyway.

And long story short, I managed to uncover his “biofacturing” (synthetic biology) pick pretty easily, and have a reasonably close match on his “hyperautomation” (artificial intelligence) pick. As for his Web3 (AKA shiny buzzword) pick, I’m not sure what that one is because Kohl didn’t say much about it.

Nevertheless, with that said, let’s look at his first pick…

“The Little-Known Massachusetts Upstart at the Center of the $4 Trillion Biofacturing Revolution”

The first company Keith Kohl teased in the presentation is in an industry he refers to as “biofacturing,” which he claims is “set to change the face of the Earth.”

“Biofacturing is set to change the face of the Earth.

And my research has uncovered the company with the potential to catch a windfall from the coming revolution…”

As you may have guessed, there’s no such thing as “biofacturing,” this is literally something Keith Kohl made up for the presentation.

And it appears as though what he’s actually referring to is synthetic biology (SynBio), a branch of science that involves numerous disciplines, including genetic engineering, DNA sequencing, and biotechnology (among others). And it centers around creating new products and improving existing ones based on what is found in nature.

The examples of biofacturing that Kohl used in the presentation related to textiles, healthcare, clean energy, and food, which could all potentially benefit from this tech.

I’ve written about numerous SynBio-related stock teasers, and while some of these presentations are overhyped, the technology itself is super interesting.

As for his pick, here’s a summary of the clues Kohl shared:

“Because this Boston upstart is the company programming the biofacturing ‘factories’ that will produce the materials of the future.”

[…]

“This sub-$5 company ALREADY has partnerships with some of the biggest multibillion-dollar companies in biotech…”

[…]

“Bayer, with a market cap of $56.3 billion, has a joint venture with this company to take over the $170 billion fertilizer market… by creating a product 50–100 times stronger than anything else on Earth.

And $307 billion pharmaceutical giant Roche has partnered with this company to pioneer the ‘world’s next generation of antibiotics’… a market worth $46 billion.

Cronos Group, a pioneer in the soon-to-be $111 billion marijuana market, has partnered with it too.

And so have Biogen, Moderna, and Synlogic — all outright leaders in modern medicine.”

Based on those clues, it looks like Kohl is teasing Ginkgo Bioworks (ticker: DNA).

Here’s why I say that:

• Bioworks is a Boston-based biotech company that specializes in genetic engineering, and it’s building a platform to enable its customers to program cells.
• Second, its stock is currently trading at around $3 per share (July 2022).
• And third, the companies Kohl mentioned above are all listed in Ginkgo Bioworks’ Q1 2022 earnings report presentation in a section about the company’s “customer programs.”

This one was pretty easy to uncover because, as mentioned earlier, I’ve written about several stock teasers related to SynBio on this blog. And three of them teased Ginkgo, so I had an inkling that this was the company Kohl was teasing, and the clues confirmed it.

That said, this is ultimately just a guess. And Keith Kohl shares his pick in a report called “The Little-Known Massachusetts Upstart at the Center of the $4 Trillion Biofacturing Revolution.”

The only way to access that report, however, is to join Technology and Opportunity, which is a paid service Kohl runs for Angel Publishing.

I’ll explain more about that shortly, but first, let’s discuss his second pick.

“The Amazon of Hyperautomation”

Keith Kohl’s second pick is all about “hyperautomation,” which he describes as “the next platform of machines and software.”

“Hyperautomation is the next platform of machines and software that will forever change industries across the planet.”

As with biofacturing, hyperautomation isn’t a real thing. But based on what Kohl said in the presentation, he appears to be referring to artificial intelligence (AI).

I say this mostly because when you check out the quotes he shared about hyperautomation, they are all referring to AI. At least, the ones I checked were.

For example, the following quote, where Kohl was talking about hyperautomation, appears to have been taken from this brookings.edu article:

“The Brookings Institution says, ‘Whoever leads [it] in 2030… will rule the world.'”

So, my point is that we’re looking for an AI company.

And according to Kohl, the “upstart” he’s bullish on is creating a “patent-protected online platform” that lets companies access hyperautomation software “off the shelf.”

“But now this upstart is changing everything…

Creating the only patent-protected online platform…

That lets companies access hyperautomation software ‘off the shelf’ — with virtually no coding.

This means companies, hospitals, and small businesses can simply buy their software without spending millions in R&D funding or hiring an army of computer programmers…

And tap into a whole new world of innovation!”

What other clues did he share?

Well, aside from that, the presentation discussed the company’s customers:

“It ALREADY Has Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and Intel as Customers…

Shell PLC, Raytheon, $40 Billion Healthcare and Pharmaceutical Companies…

In the last few months it also signed a deal with the U.S. Department of Defense…

Worth a half a billion dollars.”

The first thing I did was Google what AI companies have signed a $500 million deal with the DoD since that was the most specific clue Kohl shared.

And that led me to a December 2021 press release on businesswire.com that talks about a $500 million agreement between the DoD and C3.ai, Inc.

The DoD has agreements with other AI tech providers, too. But C3.ai is the only company I could find that matches Kohl’s clue about deal “worth half a billion dollars.”

As for the other clues, it’s a mixed bag.

On the one hand, this page on the company website suggests that the companies Keith Kohl mentioned (above) are either customers or partners with C3.ai.

And the company site’s home page states that C3 AI has a “comprehensive Enterprise AI application development platform” and “turnkey enterprise AI applications.”

I don’t know whether the platform is patented or not, as Kohl suggested, or how significant the company’s patents are since I’m not a patent expert. But Keith Kohl could potentially be referring to the patent described in this press release.

In any case, C3.ai is a pretty close match overall.

So it could be his pick.

However, I’m far from certain about this one given the following clue:

“And it should come as no surprise to you to hear Morgan Stanley, Tiger Global, and BlackRock have piled an incredible $443 million into this tiny $4 stock.”

Regarding the first part of the above clue, it seems as though BlackRock has a stake in the company, but it’s unclear to what extent, if any, the other two firms do.

And as for the second part, C3 AI’s stock is trading at just under $20 as of writing, so it doesn’t match Kohl’s “tiny $4 stock” clue.

So, in some ways, this company matches Kohl’s clues well. But in other ways, it doesn’t. It’s possible there’s a typo in the presentation or something, but without reading the report (called “The Amazon of Hyperautomation”), I have no way of knowing what his pick is for sure. So if you have any guesses on what it might be, drop a comment below.

Keith Kohl also talked about a Web3 company in the presentation, but he didn’t share many tangible clues about this one, so I’m not sure what it is.

Nevertheless, I’m confident my guess on his first pick is on the money. And if you want to find out what other companies he’s teasing, Kohl shares the details of his recommendations with subscribers of a service called Technology and Opportunity.

Overview of Technology and Opportunity

Technology and Opportunity is an investment research service headed up by Keith Kohl of Angel Publishing focused on tech and biotech companies.

According to Kohl, this is where he shares his “most transformative and cutting-edge technology investing research.”

“Technology and Opportunity is the tip of the spear. It’s where I share my most transformative and cutting-edge technology investing research. 

And every month, I share insights on barely known companies I uncover that are set to dominate the most transformational technologies of our era.”

As a subscriber, you get access to Keith Kohl’s latest recommendations and research each month via the monthly issues. You also get the research reports I mentioned earlier that detail his picks, updates on his picks, and other resources.

It depends on which page on the Angel Publishing website you join through (and when you sign up) as to how much the service costs. But it currently costs $99 to join Technology and Opportunity for one year as part of the presentation we’ve discussed.

And if you want to get a better idea of the types of companies he recommends before joining, the last Keith Kohl presentation I looked into (related to the Technology and Opportunity service) centered around a quantum computing company.

I’ve looked into numerous other stock teasers he’s released, too.

So be sure to check those out if you want to know more.

Bottom Line

There’s a lot of uncertainty in the markets right now, and while some stock picking “gurus” are suggesting we’re in the midst of a commodity supercycle, others (like Keith Kohl) are recommending emerging tech and biotech companies.

I guess time will tell what the best strategy is. And in the meantime, since nobody has a crystal ball, it might be wise to take some of these presentations with a grain of salt.

Anyway, that’s my take. Thanks for reading. And if you’d like to share your take on anything discussed in this post, feel free to comment below.