A biotechnology startup that promises to resurrect woolly mammoths is now the first ¡°de-extinction unicorn,¡± with a valuation said to be over a $1 billion before bringing back a single lost species. Colossal Biosciences, the Dallas-based startup, is making public a new round of investment this week that will help fund its effort to bring back perhaps the most famously extinct animal of them all: the dodo.
Reintroducing mammoths to Alaska or dodos to Mauritius sounds unrealistic, even silly, and has drawn skepticism from paleo-geneticists and other experts who worry that the effects of de-extinction would be unpredictable. Yet Colossal has continued to draw support from investors, including celebrities, and on Tuesday announced another $150 million for a total of $225 million since 2021. A person familiar with the company said with the latest round the startup is valued at about $1.5 billion.
For some investors, a live dodo is less important than the scientific breakthroughs generated in the push to de-extinction. ¡°Along the lines of being able to bring a species back, we¡¯re going to learn things we can¡¯t learn in a wet lab,¡¯ said Thomas Tull, a tech investor who produced the movie ¡°Jurassic World¡± and made money investing in scrubs company Figs. His United States Innovative Technology Fund led the latest round. ¡°When you¡¯re doing big things like this, who knows what you¡¯re going to discover along the way.¡±
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