How Colossal Biosciences Turned De-Extinction Into a Multibillion-Dollar Science Movement

Astromech, an AI company valued at over $2 billion, was gestated at Colossal Biosciences, the Texas-based de-extinction company that has become the launch point for a growing ecosystem of deep-science ventures. Alongside computational biology platform Form Bio and plastic-degradation company Breaking, Astromech reflects how Colossal’s core synthetic biology platform has extended well beyond its original mission to bring back extinct species.

When Ben Lamm co-founded Colossal Biosciences alongside Harvard geneticist George Church, the goal was straightforward: resurrect extinct species. Five years later, that mission is still active, but it has also generated something its founders say they always expected: an ecosystem of entirely new companies built on the same synthetic biology platform.

Colossal Biosciences Has De-Extinction Efforts on Nearly Every Continent

Colossal Biosciences now has de-extinction efforts spanning almost every continent on Earth. The company recently announced progress on efforts to bring back the bluebuck, a southern African antelope that vanished in the early 18th century. The bluebuck joins a slate that already includes the woolly mammoth, dire wolf, dodo, moa, and thylacine, and its announcement is what pushes Colossal’s reach across nearly every continent.

Astromech Was Gestated at Colossal Biosciences and Reached Unicorn Status in Nine Months

Astromech, an AI-led predictive modeling company for biology, was gestated at Colossal Biosciences and reached a valuation of over $2 billion within nine months of operation. Its models are built to predict evolutionary shifts, disease risks, and biological weak points before they emerge. The company takes its name from the astromech droids of Star Wars, the automated mechanic droids that keep starships running. Its rapid ascent to unicorn status is unusual by any measure, and rarer still outside publicly traded companies.

“We started out assuming the technologies we are building to bring back extinct species would also be fundamental to solving other problems.”

— Ben Lamm, co-founder, Colossal Biosciences and Astromech

How Colossal’s De-Extinction Thesis Generated Multiple Companies

Colossal Biosciences has produced multiple new companies by applying its core synthetic biology platform to adjacent problems. Building several distinct ventures from within a single private company is unusual, and exceptionally rare outside publicly traded corporations. The pattern reflects a deliberate thesis from Lamm and Church: that the technology required for de-extinction would have applications well beyond the original mission.

“George and I knew that by focusing on a challenge as big as de-extinction, we would build a synthetic biology platform that would extend far beyond mammoths. Each of those big challenges, we knew, could also lead to the creation of entirely new companies and market segments.”

— Ben Lamm, co-founder, Colossal Biosciences and Astromech

International Partnerships Extend Colossal’s Scientific Reach

Colossal Biosciences has forged novel international partnerships. One of the most prominent is a collaboration with the UAE, through which Colossal launched the Colossal BioVault, a large-scale genetic storage initiative. Lamm and Church are also working on active species preservation partnerships with other governments worldwide.

This story is based on original reporting by Connor McCrory for Inc. Read the full feature on Inc. →