From Semafor, January 12:
The Scene
When Colossal Biosciences made a splash in 2021 with its goal of resurrecting the woolly mammoth from extinction, it raised many scientific and ethical issues.
While it has attracted big name investors like Jim Breyer, Tim Draper, and the CIA’s In-Q-Tel, how it would make money from its de-extinction mission was also a question. It turns out that Colossal has a talent for spawning new ventures as advances in AI create breakthroughs in genetics.
Its first spun-out company, Form Bio, raised more than $30 million in an oversubscribed, first round of funding. It’s now generating seven figures in annual recurring revenue, according to Colossal CEO Ben Lamm.
Another Colossal-gestated company just closed a round of financing (Lamm declined to provide further details) in what’s becoming a core part of the firm’s business model. But it’s still in the early stages of figuring out how to bring in revenue, as it’s added the Tasmanian tiger and dodo to the list of animals it wants to bring back from the dead.
The company also brought on a Hollywood filmmaker to build content, which could draw interest from museums and zoos. In the edited conversation below, we talked to Lamm about how close they are in bringing back the mammoth and how Colossal could make money from it....
....MUCH MORE
