Texas de-extinction startup Colossal secures $200M
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Texas-based Colossal Biosciences, a biotech startup that made headlines for its goal to bring back the long-extinct woolly mammoth, announced this week that it has raised $200 million in Series C funding, bringing its total valuation to $10.2 billion.
Why it matters: The latest funding round makes Colossal Texas' first "decacorn" — a private company with a valuation of $10 billion or more.
Zoom in: This gives the company more runway to sign contracts with governments that are seeking to protect or replenish their biodiversity, while also letting it expand its de-extinction efforts into more species.
- Colossal co-founder Ben Lamm, an Austin native, said the latest infusion of capital will help the company continue to scale its genome engineering tools, grow its employee count and expand its "de-extinction species list."
- Colossal is based in Dallas and also has employees in Austin. Its spin-off company, Form Bio, a software product aimed at assisting with genomics research, is based in Austin.
Catch up quick: Colossal launched with the mission to respond to an "extinction crisis," which the company says will have cascading impacts on human health and food insecurity.
- "The real promise lies not just in the technology, but also in how we might apply these tools to protect and restore endangered species and ecosystems," Beth Shapiro, chief scientific officer at the company, said in a statement.
- Colossal officials say they've continued to make advancements on their mammoth, Thylacine (Tasmanian tiger), and Dodo de-extinction projects.
Follow the money: The latest Series C funding round was led by TWG Global, a holding company with investments in AI, financial services, private lending, sports and media, jointly led by Mark Walter and Thomas Tull.