The Trump administration likes a few things, according to Colossal Biosciences CEO and cofounder Ben Lamm: “They like technology, they like to make money, they like to save money—and they also really like to take exciting wins.”
That’s how Colossal convinced an administration that hasn’t exactly been friendly to conserving land and wildlife to support an initiative to gather DNA samples from endangered species, Lamm told attendees at WIRED World Fair on Wednesday. Lamm’s company has garnered plenty of press for claiming to bring back dire wolves and creating wooly mice using gene editing as part of a greater effort to revive the wooly mammoth.
Colossal raised $230 million in its Series C last year at a valuation of $10.2 billion. The company is looking to raise a new round that would value it at between $20 billion and $30 billion, according to reporting from Axios earlier this year. The startup has spun out multiple companies, including one that uses microbes to destroy plastic. Colossal also has a stake in Warhound, a startup Lamm developed with Anduril CEO Palmer Luckey that plans to create genetically enhanced dogs for the military, law enforcement, and first responders.
But it’s the biobanking efforts that Lamm says are more important as climate change and habitat destruction puts more pressure on wildlife. (Lamm said the company is using a similar approach with Warhound with the goal of reducing dependence on what he called “puppy mills” churning out working dogs in Europe.)
Colossal has been criticized by conservationists for distracting from efforts to protect endangered species. Promising to de-extinct species in the future could increase the odds of policies today that lead more animals to go extinct, a criticism that was leveled when Colossal began working with the Trump administration earlier this year on its biobank. Lamm defended the company’s effort, saying that the dire forecasts for biodiversity mean “you don’t put your head in the sand” for four years.
Colossal has also come under fire from critics for overselling its results. The genome of the dire wolves Colossal created, for example, is very similar to gray wolves. Critics say the company’s announcements of bringing back these and other creatures are more style than substance. At the time of the dire wolf announcement, Clemson University professor David Jachowski told WIRED that there’s “inherently some subjectivity” when it comes to defining species.
The company is also going to miss its initial 2028 deadline for creating a wooly mammoth, though Lamm said Colossal has made headway with 130 edits to mammoth genes. He said he’s fine if you want to call the company’s creations gene-edited gray wolves or any future wooly mammoths Colossal creates “hairy elephants.”
While Colossal has made plenty of splashy announcements, Lamm said the company has “undersold” its gene-editing efforts and that there will be more “surprise and delight moments for the world.”
One thing that’s not coming, though, is working on extinct ocean predators like the megalodon. While Lamm said the company has received plenty of interest about a meg, it’s not happening.
“The ocean is already scary,” he added.