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Colossal Biosciences in Talks to Raise Capital at $20B–$30B Valuation

De-extinction startup Colossal Biosciences is reportedly negotiating a new funding round that would value the company between $20 billion and $30 billion, just 16 months after its dire wolf announcement.

De-extinction startup Colossal Biosciences is reportedly negotiating a funding round at a $20 billion to $30 billion valuation, 16 months after announcing its dire wolf project. The five-year-old company has begun generating revenue through government technology sales and three spinout startups, while continuing to expand its species revival targets and artificial womb research.

Colossal Biosciences is no longer just a science experiment with a pitch deck. The Dallas-based de-extinction startup, which made global headlines last year by announcing it had "resurrected" the dire wolf from ancient DNA, is now reportedly in talks to raise new capital at a valuation between 20billionand20 billion and 30 billion.

The Numbers

The reported valuation, if confirmed, would represent one of the most dramatic value escalations in recent venture capital history. Colossal is only five years old. It is not clear who is leading the potential round or how much the company is seeking to raise. But according to the report, Colossal has begun generating revenue over the past year, a milestone that separates speculative science projects from actual businesses.

How a De-Extinction Company Makes Money

CEO Ben Lamm has laid out three revenue streams. First, the company sells its conservation and genetic technologies to governments, including the U.S. and the UAE, which recently invested in the company. Second, Colossal has spun out three startups: Breaking, which develops plastic-degrading enzymes; Form Bio, a computational biology platform that raised 30million;and∗∗Astromech∗∗,anAI−drivenbiologicalmodelingcompanyvaluedat30 million; and **Astromech**, an AI-driven biological modeling company valued at 1 billion as of March.

Third, and most speculative, Lamm has floated the idea of selling biodiversity credits, a market-based mechanism similar to carbon credits, if Colossal successfully reintroduces extinct species like the woolly mammoth and dodo bird to their native habitats.

The Pipeline

Colossal operates from a 55,000-square-foot facility in Dallas and continues to expand its target list. In April it added the saber-toothed cat as its sixth de-extinction target. Its nonprofit arm, the Colossal Foundation, recently partnered with the University of Tasmania to protect Tasmanian devils from a contagious facial cancer.

The company is also developing artificial animal womb technology, which Lamm says could be ready next year and may eventually have applications in human fertility treatment.

The Context

The fundraising effort arrives amid a broader boom in deep tech. Investors are pouring capital into longevity science, alternative energy, and other long-horizon bets that would have struggled to raise money five years ago. Colossal's ability to command a valuation in the tens of billions, whether it ultimately closes at that level or not, signals that the market believes genetic engineering and synthetic biology are moving from laboratory curiosity to industrial platform.

The controversy surrounding the dire wolf project, which some scientists argued produced wolf-dog hybrids rather than true genetic resurrections, has not slowed investor interest. If anything, the debate generated the kind of attention that venture capitalists value: proof that the technology is real enough to argue about.