CERE on NASDAQ

Ceres, Inc.

Former US energy crop seeds developer

Ceres, Inc. was a biotechnology company based in Thousand Oaks, California, United States that operated from 1996 to 2016, when it was acquired by Land O'Lakes. The company was a spinoff from UCLA researchers. Its ultimate commercial products were seeds of genetically modified crops used for biofuel production.³ Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

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Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

1996Founded¹

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TickerCERE on NASDAQ¹
Industrybiotechnology¹
HeadquartersThousand Oaks¹
Legal formDelaware corporation¹
Incorporated inDE⁵
Business address1535 Rancho Conejo Blvd., Thousand Oaks, Ca 91320⁵
Filer categorySmaller reporting company⁵
LEI5493003SR1FZ45ZNH311⁴
StatusActive⁴
LEI statusLapsed (not renewed)⁴
Registered addressC/O National Registered Agents, Inc., 19904 Dover, United States⁴

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What it owns

What Ceres, Inc. reports owning in its annual reports to the SEC: buildings, land and equipment, real estate and locations, investments, intangible assets and inventory, at the end of its latest fiscal year and a year before.

Property and equipment

Item	Latest	A year before	Change
Property and equipment, before depreciation	$17.8M⁷ Aug 31, 2015	$20.7M⁷ Aug 31, 2014	−14.1%
Accumulated depreciation	$16.6M⁷ Aug 31, 2015	$17.8M⁷ Aug 31, 2014	−6.7%
Property and equipment, net	$1.3M⁷ Aug 31, 2015	$3.0M⁷ Aug 31, 2014	−58.0%

Investments

Item	Latest	A year before	Change
Cash and cash equivalents	$8.1M⁷ Aug 31, 2015	$3.4M⁷ Aug 31, 2014	+136.5%
Marketable securities, current	$24.6M⁷ Aug 31, 2014	$21.6M⁸ Aug 31, 2013	+13.6%

Inventory

Item	Latest	A year before	Change
Inventory, total	$84.0K⁷ Aug 31, 2014	$20.0K⁸ Aug 31, 2013	+320.0%
Work in process	$20.0K⁷ Aug 31, 2014	$20.0K⁸ Aug 31, 2013	0%
Finished goods	$64.0K⁷ Aug 31, 2014	$577.0K⁹ Aug 31, 2012	−88.9%

The story

The company was founded in 1996 by UCLA professor Bob Goldberg and corporate partners with an initial capital of $50 million and an off-campus laboratory site overlooking Malibu, CA.

In 2002, the company signed a $137 million licensing agreement with Monsanto for their technology.

Richard Flavell was Chief Scientific Officer from 1998 until the 2012 public offering.

From its 2012 initial public offering that raised $65 million until its acquisition, it was listed on the NASDAQ exchange.

In 2012, the largest shareholders were Artal Luxembourg, Warburg Pincus, Ambergate Trust, and Oxford Bioscience, while biotechnology company Monsanto had 4.8% stake. The company's president and CEO was Richard Hamilton.

A second public offering in 2014 raised an additional $20 million at $1 per share compared to the 2012 IPO at $13.

On June 21, 2016, Ceres was acquired by Land O'Lakes for $17.2 million.

From Wikipedia’s article on Ceres, Inc., shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.⁶

Leadership

Who has led Ceres, Inc., and when. Pick a name to see everywhere that person has worked.

200020052010201520202025

Chief executive officerRichard William Hamilton Feb 21, 2012 to Aug 3, 2016¹⁰
PresidentRichard William Hamilton Feb 21, 2012 to Aug 3, 2016¹⁰
Chief financial officerPaul Kuc Feb 21, 2012 to Aug 3, 2016¹¹

Board members and other officers (31)

SVP & Gen. Counsel & SecretaryAssche Wilfriede Margareta Maria Van Feb 21, 2012 to Aug 3, 2016¹²
VP of Breeding and GenomicsJoseph Jefferson Gwyn Feb 21, 2012 to Mar 26, 2014¹³
Vice President of OperationsMichael Francis Stephenson Feb 21, 2012 to May 8, 2013¹⁴
Chief Scientific OfficerRichard Bailey Flavell Feb 21, 2012 to Jul 9, 2012¹⁵
VP of Trait DevelopmentRoger Ivan Pennell Feb 21, 2012 to Sep 16, 2014¹⁶
Board memberAflalo Sousa Guimaraes Dec 16, 2014 to Mar 16, 2015¹⁷
Board memberDaniel Glat Jun 21, 2013 to Mar 16, 2015¹⁸
Board memberCheryl P. Morley Feb 21, 2012 to Aug 3, 2016¹⁹
Board memberDe Vezin Edmund Martin Olivier Feb 21, 2012 to Dec 24, 2013²⁰
Board memberDouglas James Suttles Feb 21, 2012 to Mar 25, 2013²¹
Board memberLogi Walter Kamiel Marie De Feb 21, 2012 to May 21, 2014²²
Board memberPascal Brandys Feb 21, 2012 to Aug 3, 2016²³
Board memberRaymond Debbane Feb 21, 2012 to Mar 11, 2014²⁴
Board memberRichard Bailey Flavell Feb 21, 2012 to Aug 3, 2016¹⁵
Board memberRichard William Hamilton Feb 21, 2012 to Aug 3, 2016¹⁰
Board memberRobert Bruce Goldberg Feb 21, 2012 to Aug 3, 2016²⁵
Board memberThomas Kiley Feb 21, 2012 to Mar 16, 2015²⁶
Board memberSteven Elliot Koonin Aug 24, 2012 to Mar 16, 2015²⁷
Board memberAdministratiekantoor Westend Stichting Nov 13, 2012 to Mar 12, 2014²⁸
Board memberInternational Sca Artal Nov 13, 2012 to Mar 12, 2014²⁸
Board memberLuxembourg S. A. Artal Nov 13, 2012 to Mar 12, 2014²⁸
Board memberPascal Minne Nov 13, 2012 to Mar 12, 2014²⁸
Board memberSa Westend Nov 13, 2012 to Mar 12, 2014²⁸
Board memberBradley E. Cooper Jan 4, 2006 to Jul 7, 2006²⁹
Board memberJames Joseph Ritchie Jan 4, 2006 to Jul 7, 2006³⁰
Board memberLynn C. Miller Jan 4, 2006 to Jul 7, 2006³¹
Board memberMichael A. Cavataio Jan 4, 2006 to Jul 7, 2006³²
Board memberRobert A. Spass Jan 4, 2006 to Jul 7, 2006³³
Board memberRoland Baker Jan 4, 2006 to Jul 7, 2006³⁴
Board memberSusan S. Fleming Jan 4, 2006 to Jul 7, 2006³⁵
Board memberWilliam J. Ruh Jan 4, 2006 to Jul 7, 2006³⁶

Products and brands

A major early (2000) accomplishment was the full-length cDNA-sequencing of Arabidopsis thaliana in collaboration with Genset with subsequent publication of the sequencies in TIGR and NCBI and submission to US PTO, and the characterization of Arabidopsis AFLP fragments in collaboration with Keygene NV.

In 2006, Ceres began a collaboration with the Noble Research Institute to develop switchgrass. Starting in 2009, Ceres sold sweet sorghum, switchgrass and high biomass sorghum seeds. It tested biofuel production from switchgrass and miscanthus. In 2010, Ceres started to cooperate with Novozymes to improve the enzyme cocktails for biorefinery switchgrass and sweet sorghum. USAID funded Ceres' research on biotech traits and trait stacks in rice for Asia.

From Wikipedia’s article on Ceres, Inc., shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.⁶

Former names

CERES INCSep 21, 2007 to Sep 21, 2007⁵

Timeline

Feb 21, 2012New chief executive Richard William Hamilton becomes CEO¹⁰
1996Founded Founded¹

SEC filer profile

How Ceres, Inc. is registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission, from its EDGAR record and the cover page of its latest annual report.

Name on EDGARCeres, Inc.²
CIK0000767884
Filer statusSmaller reporting company²
Incorporated inDelaware²
Fiscal year endsAugust 31²
Industry code (SIC)0100 Agricultural Production-Crops²
Business address1535 Rancho Conejo Blvd., Thousand Oaks, CA 91320²
Phone805-376-6500²
Shares outstanding27,822,338 as of Jul 4, 2016³⁷
Public float$11.5M as of Feb 28, 2015⁷
On EDGAR sinceSep 21, 2007²
Filings401 in all: 4 (143), 8-K (54), 3 (24), CORRESP (23), S-1/A (17), 10-Q (14), SC 13G (13), UPLOAD (12)²
All 43 form types
SC 13G/A (10), 424B3 (8), EFFECT (8), SC 14D9/A (6), DEF 14A (5), FWP (5), S-3/A (5), 10-K (4), CT ORDER (4), D (4), PRE 14A (4), SC TO-T/A (4), ARS (3), POS AM (3), S-1 (3), 424B1 (2), 424B2 (2), S-3 (2), S-8 (2), S-8 POS (2), 15-12B (1), 25-NSE (1), 3/A (1), 424B4 (1), 8-A12B (1), 8-K/A (1), AW (1), CERTNAS (1), REGDEX (1), SC 13D (1), SC 13D/A (1), SC 14D9 (1), SC TO-C (1), SC TO-T (1), SC14D9C (1)
Latest filingsAnnual report (10-K) Nov 23, 2015
Quarterly report (10-Q) Jul 15, 2016
Proxy statement (DEF 14A) Mar 4, 2016
Latest 8-K (8-K) Aug 1, 2016

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

1
WikidataCeres, Inc. on Wikidata
2
SEC EDGARCeres, Inc. filings on SEC EDGAR
3
WikipediaCeres, Inc. on Wikipedia
4
GLEIFCeres, Inc. LEI record (5493003SR1FZ45ZNH311)
5
SEC EDGARCeres, Inc. filings on SEC EDGAR
6
WikipediaCeres, Inc. on Wikipedia (revision used)
7
SEC EDGARCeres, Inc. 10-K for fiscal 2015
8
SEC EDGARCeres, Inc. 10-K for fiscal 2013
9
SEC EDGARCeres, Inc. 10-K for fiscal 2012
10
SEC EDGARRichard William Hamilton, Chief executive officer
11
SEC EDGARPaul Kuc, Chief financial officer
12
SEC EDGARAssche Wilfriede Margareta Maria Van, SVP & Gen. Counsel & Secretary
13
SEC EDGARJoseph Jefferson Gwyn, VP of Breeding and Genomics
14
SEC EDGARMichael Francis Stephenson, Vice President of Operations
15
SEC EDGARRichard Bailey Flavell, Chief Scientific Officer
16
SEC EDGARRoger Ivan Pennell, VP of Trait Development
17
SEC EDGARAflalo Sousa Guimaraes, Board member
18
SEC EDGARDaniel Glat, Board member
19
SEC EDGARCheryl P. Morley, Board member
20
SEC EDGARDe Vezin Edmund Martin Olivier, Board member
21
SEC EDGARDouglas James Suttles, Board member
22
SEC EDGARLogi Walter Kamiel Marie De, Board member
23
SEC EDGARPascal Brandys, Board member
24
SEC EDGARRaymond Debbane, Board member
25
SEC EDGARRobert Bruce Goldberg, Board member
26
SEC EDGARThomas Kiley, Board member
27
SEC EDGARSteven Elliot Koonin, Board member
28
SEC EDGARAdministratiekantoor Westend Stichting, Board member
29
SEC EDGARBradley E. Cooper, Board member
30
SEC EDGARJames Joseph Ritchie, Board member
31
SEC EDGARLynn C. Miller, Board member
32
SEC EDGARMichael A. Cavataio, Board member
33
SEC EDGARRobert A. Spass, Board member
34
SEC EDGARRoland Baker, Board member
35
SEC EDGARSusan S. Fleming, Board member
36
SEC EDGARWilliam J. Ruh, Board member
37
SEC EDGARCeres, Inc. 10-Q filed Jul 15, 2016: shares outstanding