Ben Lamm is an American serial entrepreneur and the co-founder and CEO of Colossal Biosciences, a company focused on de-extinction and genetic engineering, the same people who say they brought the dire wolf back from extinction. Here’s a closer look at Lamm’s net worth and how he made his money.
Lamm’s net worth is estimated to be $3.7 billion as of early April 2025. This valuation comes after his company, Colossal Biosciences, achieved a valuation of $10.2 billion following a recent funding round.
Born on December 4, 1981, in Austin, Texas, he graduated from Baylor University, and Lamm has made most of his money as a serial entrepreneur.
In the past, Lamm also led or co-founded Simply Interactive, an E-learning and interactive marketing service acquired by Agile, and Hypergiant, an enterprise AI software firm acquired by Trive Capital.
Other former Lamm enterprises include Conversable, a conversational intelligence platform acquired by LivePerson; Chaotic Moon Studios, a creative technology company acquired by Accenture; and Team Chaos, a gaming company acquired by Zynga.
De-extinction or genetic trickery?
George R.R. Martin holds the first new dire wolf born in 10,000 years pic.twitter.com/5JPepJK8k1
— Winter is Coming (@WiCnet) April 8, 2025
Lamm has been in the news over claims his company has successfully brought back the dire wolf. Colossal Biosciences has produced living wolves with genetic modifications to resemble the dire wolf, but according to some, it is more accurate to say they have genetically engineered wolves with dire wolf traits rather than truly resurrecting the extinct species in its entirety.
Scientists at Colossal Biosciences extracted ancient DNA from dire wolf fossils. They then used CRISPR technology to edit the genes of living gray wolves to incorporate specific genetic variants associated with dire wolf traits like a larger size, a broader head, and a thicker, lighter-colored coat. Three pups, two males named Romulus and Remus and a female named Khaleesi were born through surrogacy using domestic dogs.
The scientific community is still debating the implications and the accuracy of the term “de-extinction” in this context. Still, Lamm’s company has forged on its stated goal to de-extinction the wooly mammoth by 2028, or create a cold-resistant elephant with woolly mammoth traits – sometimes referred to as a “mammophant” – that can thrive in the Arctic tundra.
To do so, they are again using CRISPR gene-editing technology to edit the genes of Asian elephants (the closest living relative of the woolly mammoth) to incorporate key mammoth traits like a thick layer of insulating fat, five different types of shaggy hair, smaller ears to tolerate cold weather.
In March 2025, Colossal announced the creation of genetically engineered “woolly mice.” These mice have gene edits inspired by woolly mammoths, resulting in long, shaggy, tawny-toned fur and altered fat metabolism similar to mammoths. This is considered a significant milestone, proving their ability to introduce multiple mammoth-like traits into a living model organism.
Published: Apr 8, 2025 03:56 pm