A few years ago, bringing back the woolly mammoth sounded like the kind of idea that belonged in a movie script, not a venture-backed biotech company. Today, with Ben Lamm‘s efforts, it sits at the centre of one of the most unusual bets in modern science.
Colossal Biosciences, led by entrepreneur Ben Lamm, is trying to use genetic engineering to create mammoth-like animals from the DNA of Asian elephants. The company has not produced a living mammoth. It does not yet make money from its de-extinction work. Yet it has reached a valuation of about $10.2 billion, turning Lamm into a billionaire on paper and placing the company at the heart of a debate that stretches far beyond one extinct animal.
At its simplest, Colossal is selling a future. That future is built on the belief that the tools developed for de-extinction could also reshape conservation, climate research and biotechnology. Whether that promise becomes science, business or hype is the question now following the company.
Ben Lamm: From Tech Founder to De-Extinction CEO
Ben Lamm did not come from the world of ancient DNA. Before Colossal, he built and sold technology companies, including Hypergiant, an AI-focused software firm that was acquired by Thrive Capital in 2023 for an undisclosed amount.
The mammoth idea came through Harvard geneticist George Church, whose work on ancient DNA and mammoth genetics had been developing long before Colossal existed. Church had been studying how fragments of mammoth genomes preserved in Arctic remains could help scientists understand the traits that allowed the animals to live in extreme cold.
That research had largely lived in academic circles. Lamm saw something bigger: a company built not just around one extinct species, but around the genetic engineering systems needed to attempt such a project.
Colossal was founded in 2021 with about $15 million in seed funding. Since then, the company has raised roughly $435 million. In 2025, it raised around $200 million in a round led by TWG Global, placing its valuation near $10.2 billion. Lamm’s paper net worth has been estimated at about $3.7 billion.
What Colossal Biosciences Is Actually Trying to Build
Despite the headlines, Colossal is not trying to recreate a perfect woolly mammoth. The plan is more complicated, and more cautious, than that.
The company is working with Asian elephant DNA and introducing genetic traits associated with woolly mammoths. These traits include features linked to cold adaptation, such as hair growth, fat distribution and other physical characteristics that may help an animal survive in colder environments.
The result, if successful, would not be a true mammoth brought back exactly as it once existed. It would be an elephant-based animal carrying mammoth-like traits.
Colossal’s early work has involved multiplex gene editing across more than 20 genomic sites. The company is also exploring artificial womb research, partly because elephant reproduction presents major practical challenges. Elephants have long gestation periods and complex reproductive biology, making traditional breeding an extremely slow route for experimentation.
A Business Built Before the Breakthrough
The striking part of Colossal’s story is not only the science. It is the business model forming around science that has not yet reached its defining milestone.
The company has no commercial product tied directly to de-extinction and no revenue from creating mammoth-like animals. Instead, parts of its work have already been spun out into separate ventures. Form Bio, launched in 2022, focuses on computational biology. Breaking, formed in 2024, works in biological recycling.
That structure gives Colossal a path beyond the mammoth. The company’s bet is that tools developed for gene editing, computational biology and conservation could produce value even before any mammoth-like animal exists.
In other words, the mammoth is the headline. The platform may be the business.
Supporters of the mammoth project argue that the animal is not just a symbol of lost prehistory. Mammoths once shaped northern landscapes through movement, grazing and their effect on grasslands and soil.
Some researchers believe mammoth-like animals could one day influence grassland preservation and permafrost conditions. That idea remains debated, but it is central to Colossal’s broader pitch: genetic engineering could become a tool for conservation, not just a spectacle.
The company has also said it is in discussions with two governments about possible biodiversity-related contracts, including one island nation. One potential project involving an endangered species could cost around $350 million over decades using conventional conservation methods. Colossal has suggested that genetic tools could shorten such timelines, though outcomes remain uncertain.
The Doubts Are Serious
The criticism around Colossal is not coming only from people uncomfortable with futuristic science. It also comes from scientists and conservation experts asking practical questions.
Can an engineered animal restore an ecosystem that has changed since the mammoth disappeared? Would such animals survive in environments already affected by warming temperatures? What happens if genetically modified animals are released into open landscapes before the ecological risks are fully understood?
Karl Flessa, a professor of geosciences at the University of Arizona, has questioned the idea of bringing back mammoth-like animals, warning about ecological mismatch and uncertain climate benefits.
Even inside the broader conservation conversation, the question is not simply whether the science can work. It is whether it should be used this way, at this scale, and in environments where the consequences may be difficult to reverse.
Colossal’s chief science officer Beth Shapiro has acknowledged the uncertainty, while arguing that traditional conservation methods may not be enough at a time when environmental change is moving quickly. Around 46,300 species are currently considered threatened with extinction by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
The Real Story Behind the Mammoth
Ben Lamm’s rise with Colossal Biosciences is not just a profile of a founder chasing an ancient animal. It is a window into a new kind of biotech ambition, where extinct species, climate anxiety, conservation urgency and venture capital meet in the same room.
The company has turned one of science’s boldest ideas into a multibillion-dollar startup story. But for now, its biggest achievement is not a mammoth walking through snow. It is convincing investors that the road to that moment could produce valuable science along the way.
That leaves Colossal in a rare position. It is both a serious laboratory effort and a public test of how far private capital is willing to go in pursuit of biology’s most dramatic promises.
The mammoth has not returned. The debate around it already has.
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