COLOSSAL PLANS, COLOSSAL STAKES: WHO’S FUNDING THE DE-EXTINCTION INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX?

The billionaire biotech startup that brought back quasi-dire wolves isn't just a science fair for nerds with a god complex. It's backed by venture capital, boosted by celebrity branding, and building

You may have heard of Colossal Biosciences because they just unveiled three gene-edited wolf pups named Romulus, Remus, and Khaleesi. They’re fluffier, whiter, and bigger than the average gray wolf, bred with spliced-in traits from the extinct Canis dirus — the legendary dire wolf.

But behind the fur and fandom lies something stranger. Colossal isn’t just a de-extinction startup. It’s a synthetic biology juggernaut with nearly half a billion in funding, an elite investor list that includes pop icons and defense-tied billionaires, and a plan to rewrite what it means to be “natural.” These aren’t just wolves. They’re proof-of-concept prototypes. And the company’s real product? Control over life’s building blocks.