Colossal Raises $200 Million From Dodger Co-Owner, Hollywood Mega Producer – Forbes
(Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP) (Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images)Colossal Biosciences – the company behind an ambitious, Jurassic Park-style effort to revive extinct bird and mammal species such as the thylacine, dodo and woolly mammoth – said it had raised another $200 million through a Series C funding round led by TWG Global.TWG, in turn, was founded by Mark Walter – CEO of investing giant Guggenheim Partners, and also is part owner of MLB’s Los Angeles Dodgers and the English Premier League’s Chelsea club – and Thomas Tull, the former CEO and board chairman of Legendary Entertainment, whose productions and co-productions under his leadership included The 300, Watchmen, Inception, The Hangover and The Dark Knight. “Colossal is the leading company working at the intersection of AI, computational biology and genetic engineering for both de-extinction and species preservation,” said Walter, TWG’s CEO. “Colossal has assembled a world-class team that has already driven, in a short period of time, significant technology innovations and impact in advancing conservation, which is a core value of TWG Global.”Colossal already had attracted other notable Hollywood ties beyond that whiff of Jurassic Park-style scientific research that endeavors to revive prominent extinct bird and mammal species (but not dinosaurs), while also trying to prevent the extinction of some still (barely) surviving animals such as the northern white rhinoceros.Colossal’s private investors include Oscar winners Peter Jackson and wife/collaborator Fran Walsh (Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit), former top Amazon executive Jeff Wilke, and video game pioneer Richard Garriott (the Ultima franchise). Others include Robert Nelsen, Ric Edelman, Brandon Fugal, Paul Tudor Jones, Giammaria Giuliani, Sven-Olof Lindblad, Victor Vescovo, and Jeff Wilke.The TWG Global investment values Colossal at $10.2 billion after raising $435 million in total funding. The company said it would use the new capital “to continue to advance its genetic engineering technologies while pioneering new revolutionary software, wetware and hardware solutions, which have applications beyond de-extinction including species preservation and human healthcare.”Ben Lamm, CEO and co-founder of Colossal BiosciencesColossal CEO and co-founder Ben Lamm said investors “have been bullish in their desire to help us scale as quickly and efficiently as possible. 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.”The company operates its own labs in Dallas, Boston and Melbourne, and partners with labs at 16 universities around the world. The company’s researchers and partners have also worked on projects such as helping preserve the very last northern white rhinoceros, and helped fund related outside research on areas such as preserving endangered Australian bird species.Colossal’s other investors include USIT, Animal Capital, Breyer Capital, At One Ventures, In-Q-Tel, BOLD Capital, Peak 6, and Draper Associates.One Community. Many Voices. Create a free account to share your thoughts. Our community is about connecting people through open and thoughtful conversations. We want our readers to share their views and exchange ideas and facts in a safe space.In order to do so, please follow the posting rules in our site’s Terms of Service. We’ve summarized some of those key rules below. Simply put, keep it civil.Your post will be rejected if we notice that it seems to contain:User accounts will be blocked if we notice or believe that users are engaged in:So, how can you be a power user?Thanks for reading our community guidelines. Please read the full list of posting rules found in our site’s Terms of Service.
