"The World is Changing"... This Company Plans to Pour Billions to Save 'Mammoth' [Tech Talk]

Extinct Animal Restoration Startup 'Colossal'
Combining DNA of Extinct and Living Animals to Restore Embryos
No Significant Revenue in Four Years Since Founding
"Even Partial Use of Our Technology Can Change the World"

In 2021, two American entrepreneurs founded a startup with the goal of resurrecting extinct animals through genetic engineering. The company's name is 'Colossal Bioscience.' Since its inception, it has never properly generated revenue or even presented a solid business plan, yet investors continue to support Colossal.

Company Valued at 14 Trillion KRW Despite No Revenue

Frozen carcass fossil of a baby mammoth discovered in Hong Kong in 2012. Colossal extracted rare genetic samples of the mammoth from this fossil. Photo by Getty Images

Colossal successfully closed its Series C funding round last January, raising a total of $200 million (approximately 288 billion KRW). To date, Colossal's cumulative investment amounts to $435 million (about 627.4 billion KRW), with an estimated company valuation of $10.2 billion (approximately 14.69 trillion KRW).

Colossal was co-founded by George Church, a renowned American biotechnologist and professor at Harvard Medical School, and Ben Lamm, the CEO. This year marks the company's fourth anniversary. According to LinkedIn and other sources, Colossal currently employs around 170 people, has not released any products, and has no meaningful revenue. Instead, Colossal has a truly colossal goal: to restore extinct species such as the mammoth, the thylacine (a mammal extinct since 1936), and the dodo bird (a flightless bird extinct in the 17th century).

Editing Fossil DNA Samples to Restore Genomes

The two founders of Colossal Biosciences, Ben Lam (left) and Professor George Church of Harvard Medical School. Colossal Biosciences

So how does Colossal plan to bring extinct animals back to life?

They use DNA. Even for extinct animals, DNA samples can be obtained from bone fossils or specimens preserved in amber. Of course, these DNA samples alone cannot reconstruct the entire genetic map of ancient animals. Therefore, after acquiring ancient DNA, they refer to the genes of other organisms that are 'relatives' of the ancient species.

For example, mammoths share many genetic similarities with Asian elephants. At a press conference held at the Swiss Davos Forum in January this year, CEO Lamm stated, "Asian elephants and mammoths are 99.6% genetically identical," and claimed that by editing 0.4% of the Asian elephant genome with specific mammoth genes, a 100% mammoth genome can be created. This field of study, which compares genes to find evolutionary relationships between species, is called 'comparative genomics.' Colossal plans to utilize comparative genomics for restoring extinct animals.

The completed mammoth genome is converted into sperm and eggs through induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), which are then used to artificially fertilize mammoth embryos. iPSCs are stem cells capable of differentiating into any cell type. In March last year, Colossal announced the world's first successful cultivation experiment of elephant iPSCs. This technology will later be applied similarly to the mammoth genome.

The embryo is implanted into the uterus of a female elephant or an artificial womb, where it will be born as a baby mammoth. Colossal's ultimate goal is to release mammoths into the wild to restore ancient biological ecosystems. Other projects, such as restoring the thylacine and dodo bird, will follow similar processes and be released into nature.

"Even Partial Use of Our Mission Can Change the World"

Colossal's animal restoration project relies on technologies that are either in the experimental stage or only commercially available on a limited basis. For example, the restoration of extinct animal gene maps uses the gene-editing technology Cas-9. Colossal website

Colossal's roadmap for restoring extinct species spans multiple cutting-edge fields, including genetics and gene editing, computational biology (the study of biological information analysis using AI and computing), and synthetic biology (the design and creation of new biological systems). All of these are advanced and emerging scientific disciplines. For example, CRISPR (gene scissors) used in gene editing is still a technology with limited commercial application.

Because of this, Colossal attracts high expectations from tech investors but also faces skeptical scrutiny from experts. In fact, in 2022, Bertrand Jordan, a French molecular biologist, published a paper in the biotechnology journal 'M?decine/Sciences' analyzing Colossal's animal restoration project in detail.

At that time, Dr. Jordan pointed out that "the extinct animal cloning project under Dr. Church's supervision generally appears unfeasible." He especially highlighted that since the natural environments of ancient Earth and modern Earth are completely different, the claim that releasing extinct animals into nature can restore ecosystems is "highly unlikely." However, he also gave a positive assessment that if Colossal's substantial investment leads to biotechnological research and development, it "could trigger methodological advances in genetics in the future."

Despite experts' skeptical views, Colossal continues to secure successful investments. Regarding this, CEO Lamm emphasized in a statement after the January funding round, "Investors are impressed by the speed at which we are creating new technologies."

Although Colossal has not yet released any products, CEO Lamm argues that if they succeed in restoring extinct animals, the ripple effects will be enormous. He stated, "We are developing various technologies, including artificial wombs, to achieve our mission," and emphasized, "Even applying some of the technologies we are researching to the healthcare industry or agricultural technology could change the world."