Ben Lamm is an American serial entrepreneur best known for partnering with George Church on the idea for de-extinction and founding a venture capital-backed startup known as Colossal to support Church's work in the development of genetic engineering and reproductive technology.[1]
Ben Lamm | |
|---|---|
 Ben Lamm at studio 2017 | |
| Born | Benjamin Edward Lamm December 4, 1981 Austin, Texas, U.S. |
| Alma mater | Baylor University |
| Occupation | Serial entrepreneur |
| Known for | Founding: |
History
editIn 2019, Lamm used $15 million in seed funding to apply genetic technology such as "clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats" (CRISPR) for Colossal's work on conservation biology.[2][3] At its launch in 2021, he received media attention for claiming that Colossal would "bring back the wooly mammoth" within the next decade. Lamm secured investments from public figures such as Paris Hilton, Thomas Tull, Tom Brady, Peter Jackson, and Chris Hemsworth, and has raised more than $235 million as of October 2024.[4][5][6][7]
During the 2022 South by Southwest festival, Lamm was on a panel moderated by Richard Garriott that made the case for de-extinction.[8]
Lamm founded his first company when he was a senior at Baylor University.[9] He sold ventures such as Simply Interactive, an e-learning software company (acquired by Agile in 2010), Chaotic Moon Studios, a mobile app company (acquired by Accenture in 2015), Team Chaos, a digital gaming company (acquired by Zynga in 2016), Conversable, a SaaS conversational bot technology (acquired by LivePerson in 2018), and Hypergiant Industries, a machine-learning artificial intelligence (acquired by Thrive Capital in 2023),[10] for undisclosed sums upon each company's acquisition.[11][12][13]
In late 2022, Lamm co-founded Form Bio, a software company spun out of Colossal Biosciences. The company aims to develop software to improve the working efficiency of scientists. Form Bio was funded through a $30 million investment deal involving Thomas Tull.[14]
Lamm launched Breaking, a plastic degradation and synthetic biology startup, in April 2024. Gestated at Colossal, Breaking discovered X-32, a microbe that is capable of breaking down various plastics in as little as 22 months while leaving behind carbon dioxide, water and biomass.[15]
In October 2024, Lamm launched The Colossal Foundation, a 501(c)(3) that utilizes Colossal Biosciences-developed technology for conservative efforts globally. Biobanking is one of its key focuses.[16][17]
Lamm currently is a member of the Board of Trustees for The Explorers Club.[18]
External links
editReferences
edit- ^ Heid, Jason. "How One Texas Entrepreneur Aims to Transform the World With Artificial Intelligence". Texas Monthly.
- ^ Wolf, Marin (13 September 2021). "Dallas entrepreneur Ben Lamm embarks on a new adventure: bringing back the woolly mammoth". The Dallas Morning News.
- ^ Brown, Mike (March 3, 2020). "Ben Lamm and Hypergiant Want to Bring Space Back to the Future". Inverse.
- ^ Zimmer, Carl (September 13, 2021). "A New Company With a Wild Mission: Bring Back the Woolly Mammoth". New York Times.
- ^ Carlson, Kara (9 March 2022). "Austin entrepreneur's startup lands $60 million as it tries to bring back the woolly mammoth". Austin American-Statesman.
- ^ Isabella Ware (October 3, 2024). "'Lord of the Rings' Director Piles $10 Million Into Dodo De-Extinction Startup". Bloomberg.
- ^ Stephen Pastis (October 3, 2024). "Peter Jackson Puts $10 Million Toward Resurrecting The Dodo—Joining Other Celebrities And Business Leaders". Forbes.
- ^ Murphy, J. Kim (18 January 2022). "SXSW Reveals Additions to Line-Up of Featured Speakers for 2022 Festival". Variety.
- ^ Abril, Danielle (27 February 2018). "Ben Lamm Has An Unconventional Approach to Business, And It Somehow Works". D Magazine.
- ^ Aria Alamalhodaei (August 22, 2023). "AI company Hypergiant Industries snapped up by PE firm Trive Capital". Tech Crunch.
- ^ De Luce, Ivan (10 June 2019). "This 37-year-old serial entrepreneur's new startup is using AI to explore space — and mix cocktails". Business Insider.
- ^ Clifford, Catherine (6 December 2020). "This 39-year-old tech exec has built 5 companies, but there's a price to his ambition". CNBC.
- ^ Angell, Melissa (January 24, 2022). "Why Creating a Company to Resurrect the Woolly Mammoth Makes Perfect Sense for Ben Lamm". Inc.
- ^ Elias, Paul (September 27, 2022). ""De-Extinction" Company Colossal Launches Form Bio to Maximize Tech". Biospace.
- ^ "Greentech Company Breaking Launches From Colossal Biosciences". Built in Boston. April 17, 2024.
- ^ Lance Murray (October 1, 2024). "Colossal Launches The Colossal Foundation with $50M for 'BioVault' Biobanking, Genetic Rescues, and More". Dallas Innovates.
- ^ Rachael Funnell (October 1, 2024). "Colossal Biosciences Launches $50 Million Foundation To Halt Extinction Crisis". IFL Science.
- ^ Mike Snedegar (October 2, 2024). "Colossal Is The Real Life Blockbuster of 'Jurassic Park' and 'Indiana Jones' With Celebs Like Tom Brady Behind It". Newsweek.