When start-up Colossal Biosciences revealed last year that it was trying to “resurrect” the wolf using genetic material found in fossils.we discussed that, despite the controversy surrounding the project, the company was developing valuable technologies that justified its $10.2 billion assessment.
Now, about 16 months later, the startup is in talks to raise new funding worth $20 billion to $30 billion. Axios reported.
It is not clear who will lead the new round, nor how much capital the five-year-old company is seeking to raise. But we do know from the report that Colossal started generating revenue in the last year.
Colossal co-founder and CEO Ben Lamm told TechCrunch last year that the company saw three revenue streams for the company.
The company has proposed its preservation technology to the U.S. government and the United Arab Emirates, which recently invested 60 million dollars in the company, according to Wired.
Colossal has created three startups, including Breaking, a company that helps break down plastics; Form Bio, a computational biology platform that secured $30 million in funding; and Astromech, an AI-driven predictive modeling company focused on biology and life sciences, valued at 2 billion dollars in March.
The company, which operates 55,000 square feet of land headquarters in Dallasalso continues to find new applications for its fundamental science. At the end of April, he added the blue antelope as its sixth target species, while late last month its non-profit conservation arm, the Colossal Foundation, entered into a partnership with the University of Tasmania to help protect Tasmanian devils from a contagious facial cancer.
Lamm told TechCrunch last year that the company also plans to develop its artificial uterus technology for animals, which could have applications for human fertility treatment. In May he said rolling stone that the technology should be ready next year.
If the company succeeds in reintroducing extinct animals, including the woolly mammoth and the dodo, to their native habitats, it could potentially generate revenue through the sale of biodiversity credits, a market-based mechanism similar to carbon credits, according to Lamm.
This new fundraising effort comes amid a boom in longevity technology, alternative energy and other high-tech sectors.
Colossal did not respond to our request for comment.
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Marina Temkin is a venture capital and startups reporter at TechCrunch. Before joining TechCrunch, she wrote about venture capital for PitchBook and Venture Capital Journal. Earlier in her career, Marina was a financial analyst and earned her CFA designation.
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