Dallas-based Colossal Biosciences has become the first company in Texas to be valued at more than $10 billion.
With its Series C funding round complete, Colossal was valued at a monumental $10.2 billion, ranking the company as the Lone Star State’s first so-called ‘decacorn,’ a 10x multiple of the already elusive ‘unicorn’ status.
Colossal Biosciences is not any ordinary company. Its primary focus is working to bring back extinct species, like the northern white rhino, the dodo, and even the woolly mammoth.
“Combining the science of genetics with the business of discovery, we endeavor to jumpstart nature’s ancestral heartbeat. To see the Woolly Mammoth thunder upon tundra once again. To advance the economies of biology and healing through genetics. To make humanity more human. And to reawaken the lost wilds of Earth. So we, and our planet, can breathe easier,” reads a description on Colossal’s website.
The recent $10 billion-plus valuation comes after the de-extinction company secured $200 million in new funding. TWG Global led the Series C round alongside other investors. Since its inception, Colossal has locked down $435 million in funding.
“Colossal is a revolutionary genetics company making science fiction into science fact,” said George Church, Ph.D, Colossal co-founder and professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School and Health Sciences and Technology at Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Colossal CEO and co-founder Ben Lamm says the work his company is doing extends beyond de-extinction and helps promote advances in other areas, like healthcare and agriculture. He says the latest funding will allow the company to pursue its ambitious goals aggressively.
“This funding will grow our team, support new technology development, expand our de-extinction species list, while continuing to allow us to carry forth our mission to make extinction a thing of the past,” he added.
According to Colossal, over 50% of the world’s animal species may be extinct by 2050. Today, around 27,000 species go extinct yearly, compared to the natural rate of just 10 to 100 species annually.