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Colossal Biosciences Secures $200 Million in Series C Funding
Colossal Biosciences, a de-extinction company, recently announced a significant milestone in its funding journey. The company secured $200 million in a Series C funding round led by TWG Global, with joint leadership from Mark Walter and Thomas Tull.
Aside from TWG Global, Colossal’s strategic investors include prominent funds such as USIT, Animal Capital, Breyer Capital, and others. Private investors like Robert Nelsen, Peter Jackson, and Jeff Wilke also contributed to this funding round. With this latest infusion of capital, Colossal has raised a total of $435 million since its inception in September 2021. This funding round catalyzed the company’s valuation to reach $10.2 billion.
Utilizing Capital for Innovation and Advancement
The latest funding injection will empower Colossal to further advance its genetic engineering technologies. The company aims to pioneer innovative software, wetware, and hardware solutions that extend beyond de-extinction. These technologies have diverse applications in species preservation and human healthcare.
Currently, Colossal employs over 170 scientists and collaborates with labs in Boston, Dallas, and Melbourne, Australia. The company also sponsors more than 40 full-time postdoctoral scholars and research programs at 16 partner labs in renowned universities worldwide. With a scientific advisory board comprising over 95 top scientists in various disciplines, Colossal tackles complex biological challenges, such as mapping genotypes to traits, understanding developmental pathways, and developing cutting-edge genome engineering tools.
Advancing Conservation Efforts
In addition to its core operations, Colossal launched the Colossal Foundation in October 2024. This non-profit organization focuses on overseeing the deployment of Colossal-developed science and technology innovations. The foundation supports 48 conservation partners globally, including organizations like Re:wild, Save The Elephants, and Biorescue.
One of the primary objectives of the Colossal Foundation is to advance conservation efforts through innovative technologies. By developing and deploying genetic rescue and de-extinction technologies, the foundation aims to combat the biodiversity extinction crisis effectively.
De-extinction Projects at Colossal
Colossal’s core focus lies in de-extinction projects, with significant progress made across multiple flagship species. The company’s methodologies involve recovering and analyzing preserved genetic material to identify core genomic components of extinct species. With renowned experts like Dr. Beth Shapiro on board as the Chief Science Officer, Colossal has made substantial advancements in ancient DNA research and genome engineering.
Woolly Mammoth Project Milestones
One of Colossal’s key projects is the woolly mammoth de-extinction project. The team has achieved several milestones, including generating chromosome-scale reference genomes for related species, deriving pluripotent stem cells for Asian elephants, and demonstrating multiplex gene editing at high-impact gene sites associated with mammoth traits.
Thylacine De-extinction Project Progress
Colossal’s thylacine team has also made significant strides in their de-extinction efforts. Achievements include creating high-coverage ancient genomes for thylacines, deriving pluripotent stem cells in marsupials, and identifying genetic regions linked to unique traits like craniofacial shape.
Dodo De-extinction Project Updates
The Colossal Avian Genomics Group is dedicated to the Dodo de-extinction project, focusing on avian genome engineering. Key accomplishments include generating complete genomes for the dodo and related species, developing gene-editing targets for restoring unique bill morphology, and hatching chimeric chicks from edited PGCs.
Key Quotes
“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. 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 thing of the past.” – CEO and co-founder of Colossal Ben Lamm
“Colossal is the leading company working at the intersection of AI, computational biology and genetic engineering for both de-extinction and species preservation. 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.” – Mark Walter, CEO of TWG Global
“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.” – George Church, Ph.D, Colossal Co-founder
