Colossal Biosciences reportedly in talks for a $20B-$30B valuation

De-extinction startup Colossal Biosciences is in talks to raise new capital at a $20 billion to $30 billion valuation, Axios reported, roughly 16 months after the company drew controversy for revealing its attempt to “resurrect” the dire wolf from genetic material found in fossils — around the same time it was last valued at $10.2 billion. It is not clear who is leading the new round or how much capital the five-year-old company is looking to raise, but Colossal has started generating revenue over the past year, according to the report.

Colossal co-founder and CEO Ben Lamm told TechCrunch last year that the company sees three revenue streams for the business. The company has offered its conservation technology to the U.S. government and the United Arab Emirates, which recently invested $60 million in Colossal, according to Wired. Colossal has also spun out three startups: Breaking, which helps break down plastics; Form Bio, a computational biology platform that secured $30 million in funding; and Astromech, an AI-driven predictive modeling company focused on biology and life sciences, valued at $2 billion in March.

The company, which operates out of a 55,000-square-foot headquarters in Dallas, keeps finding new applications for its core science. In late April it added the bluebuck antelope as its sixth target species, and late last month its nonprofit conservation arm, the Colossal Foundation, struck a partnership with the University of Tasmania to help protect Tasmanian devils from a contagious facial cancer. Lamm has also said the company plans to spin off its artificial-womb technology, which could have applications for human fertility treatment; in May he told Rolling Stone the technology is expected to be ready next year.

Lamm has said that if Colossal manages to reintroduce extinct animals, including the woolly mammoth and the dodo bird, to their native habitats, the company may eventually generate revenue by selling biodiversity credits, a market-based mechanism similar to carbon credits. The new fundraising talks come amid a broader boom in longevity tech, alternative energy, and other deep-tech sectors. Colossal did not respond to a request for comment.

Why it matters

A valuation near $30 billion, up from $10.2 billion roughly 16 months ago, would make Colossal one of the most highly valued private biotech companies, testing whether de-extinction science can translate into the kind of recurring revenue investors expect from a deep-tech bet.