Super creepy new technology that should alarm us
Anyone that watched Jurassic Park knows that bringing back ancient species that have gone extinct is a really bad idea. But now a company called Colossal BioSciences plans to do exactly that.
Colossal BioSciences has raised $200 million in a new round of funding to bring back extinct species like the woolly mammoth.
Dallas and Boston-based Colossal is making strides in the scientific breakthroughs toward “de-extinction,” or bringing back extinct species like the woolly mammoth, thylacine and the dodo.
We could be remiss if we did not know the plot of the novel and movie Jurassic Park, where scientists used the DNA found in mosquitoes preserved in amber to bring back the Tyrannosaurus Rex and other dinosaurs. The consequences were dire.
The big investor this time is TWG Global, a diversified holding company with operating businesses and investments in technology/AI, financial services, private lending and sports and media. The investor is jointly led by Mark Walter and Thomas Tull.
Since launching in September 2021, Colossal has raised $435 million in total funding. This latest round of capital places the company at a $10.2 billion valuation. Colossal will leverage this latest infusion of capital to continue to advance its genetic engineering technologies while pioneering new software, wetware and hardware solutions, which have applications beyond de-extinction including species preservation and human so-called healthcare with AI solutions.
“Our recent successes in creating the technologies necessary for our end-to-end de-extinction toolkit have been met with enthusiasm by the investor community. TWG Global and our other partners have been bullish in their desire to help us scale as quickly and efficiently as possible,” said CEO Colossal Ben Lamm, in a statement. “This funding will grow our team, support new technology development, expand our de-extinction species list, while continuing to allow us to carry forth our mission to make extinction a story of the past.”
Colossal employs over 170 scientists and partners with labs in Boston, Dallas, U.S. and Melbourne, Australia. In addition, Colossal sponsors over 40 full time postdoctoral scholars and research programs in 16 partner labs at some of the most prestigious universities around the globe.
Colossal’s scientific advisory board has grown to include over 95 of the top scientists working in genomics, ancient DNA, ecology, conservation, developmental biology, and paleontology. Together, these teams are tackling some of the hardest problems in biology, including mapping genotypes to traits and behaviors, understanding developmental pathways to phenotypes like craniofacial shape, tusk formation, and coat color patterning, and developing new tools for multiplex and large-insert genome engineering.
“Colossal is the leading company working at the intersection of AI, computational biology and genetic engineering for both de-extinction and species preservation,” said Mark Walter, CEO of TWG Global, in a statement. “Colossal has assembled a world-class team that has already driven, in a short period of time, significant technology innovations and impact in advancing conservation, which is a core value of TWG Global. We are thrilled to support Colossal as it accelerates and scales its mission to combat the animal extinction crisis.”
“Colossal is a revolutionary genetics company making science fiction into science fact. We are creating the technology to build de-extinction science and scale conservation biology particularly for endangered and at-risk species. I could not be more appreciative of the investor support for this important mission,” said George Church, Colossal cofounder and a professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School and professor of Health Sciences and Technology at Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
In October 2024, the Colossal Foundation was launched, focused on overseeing the deployment and application of Colossal-developed science and technology innovations. The organization currently supports 48 conservation partners and their global initiatives around the world.
This includes partners like Re:wild, Save The Elephants, Biorescue, Birdlife International, Conservation Nation, Sezarc, Mauritian Wildlife Foundation, Aussie Ark, International Elephant Foundation, Saving Animals From Extinction. Currently the Colossal Foundation is focused on supporting conservation partners who are working on new innovative technologies that can be applied to conservation and those who benefit from the development and deployment of new genetic rescue and de-extinction technologies to help combat the biodiversity extinction crisis.
It may all sound “good” on paper, but bringing horror movies to reality was never a good idea. And while the public is charmed by the company’s and its foundation’s sweet talk, we may just wake up in a nightmare.
yogaesoteric
February 17, 2025
