‘You Don’t Put Your Head in the Sand for 4 Years’: Colossal CEO Ben Lamm on Working With Trump

Colossal Biosciences chief executive Ben Lamm defended working with the Trump administration on collecting and storing DNA from endangered species, arguing that urgent threats to wildlife make engagement worthwhile. The initiative has drawn criticism from conservationists, who say de-extinction projects could distract from protecting living species or weaken support for conservation policies.

Colossal raised $230 million last year at a $10.2 billion valuation and is reportedly seeking a new round at $20 billion to $30 billion. Lamm said the company has made 130 gene edits towards its mammoth project, though it will miss its original 2028 target; critics argue its dire wolves are genetically very similar to grey wolves and that its claims overstate what it has achieved. Colossal also has ventures in plastic-degrading microbes and genetically enhanced working dogs, while Lamm ruled out developing a megalodon.