Colossal Biosciences

Colossal Biosciences is a Dallas, Texas-based genetic engineering company founded on September 13, 2021 by entrepreneur Ben Lamm and Harvard geneticist George Church, working to bring back traits of extinct species through gene editing, alongside conservation and biotechnology applications. The company calls itself the world's first "de-extinction" company and has targeted the woolly mammoth, the dodo, the Tasmanian tiger (thylacine), the dire wolf, the South Island giant moa, and the bluebuck antelope.

In April 2025 Colossal announced it had bred three gray wolf pups -- Romulus, Remus and Khaleesi -- carrying 20 precision germline gene edits intended to reproduce dire-wolf traits, drawing both wide press coverage and scientific criticism that the animals are gene-edited gray wolves rather than a resurrected species.

The company reached a $10.2 billion valuation in a $200 million Series C round led by TWG Global (led by Mark Walter and Thomas Tull) in January 2025, later extended by $120 million in September 2025 at a $10.32 billion valuation, making it Texas's first "decacorn." As of July 2026, Colossal was reportedly in talks to raise new capital at a $20 billion to $30 billion valuation.

The company has spun out several ventures, including AI-driven computational biology company Form Bio, and has partnered with filmmaker Sir Peter Jackson and New Zealand's Ngāi Tahu on giant moa de-extinction work.