Ben Lamm

Last updated
Ben Lamm
Born
Benjamin Edward Lamm

(1981-12-04) December 4, 1981 (age 40)
Nationality American
Alma mater Baylor University
Occupation Serial entrepreneur
Known forFounding:

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]

History

In 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, Charles Hoskinson, and Thomas Tull and has raised more than $75 million as of March 2022. [4] [5] During the 2022 South by Southwest festival, Lamm was on a panel moderated by Richard Garriott that made the case for de-extinction. [6]

Lamm founded his first company when he was a senior at Baylor University. [7] He sold ventures such as Chaotic Moon Studios, a mobile app company, Conversable, a SaaS conversational bot technology, and Hypergiant Industries, a machine-learning artificial intelligence, for undisclosed sums upon each company's acquisition. [8] [9]

Related Research Articles

Mammoth Extinct genus of mammals

A mammoth is any species of the extinct elephantid genus Mammuthus, one of the many genera that make up the order of trunked mammals called proboscideans. The various species of mammoth were commonly equipped with long, curved tusks and, in northern species, a covering of long hair. They lived from the Pliocene epoch into the Holocene at about 4,000 years ago, and various species existed in Africa, Europe, Asia, and North America. They were members of the family Elephantidae, which also contains the two genera of modern elephants and their ancestors. Mammoths are more closely related to living Asian elephants than African Elephants.

George Church (geneticist) American geneticist

George McDonald Church is an American geneticist, molecular engineer, and chemist. He is the Robert Winthrop Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School, Professor of Health Sciences and Technology at Harvard and MIT, and a founding member of the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering. As of March 2017, Church serves as a member of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists' Board of Sponsors.

Alexander Muse is an American internet entrepreneur who has founded several internet companies including LayerOne, ShopSavvy, Architel, and ViewMarket. His most recent endeavor, Sumo Ventures, invests in early-stage startups.

Woolly mammoth Extinct species of mammoth from the Quaternary period

The woolly mammoth was a species of mammoth that lived during the Pleistocene until its extinction in the Holocene epoch. It was one of the last in a line of mammoth species, beginning with Mammuthus subplanifrons in the early Pliocene. The woolly mammoth began to diverge from the steppe mammoth about 800,000 years ago in East Asia. Its closest extant relative is the Asian elephant. DNA studies show that the Columbian mammoth was a hybrid between woolly mammoths and another lineage descended from steppe mammoths. The appearance and behaviour of this species are among the best studied of any prehistoric animal because of the discovery of frozen carcasses in Siberia and Alaska, as well as skeletons, teeth, stomach contents, dung, and depiction from life in prehistoric cave paintings. Mammoth remains had long been known in Asia before they became known to Europeans in the 17th century. The origin of these remains was long a matter of debate, and often explained as being remains of legendary creatures. The mammoth was identified as an extinct species of elephant by Georges Cuvier in 1796.

Revival of the woolly mammoth Efforts to revive the woolly mammoth

The existence of frozen soft-tissue remains and DNA of woolly mammoths has led to the idea that the species could be recreated by scientific means. In 2003 the pyrenean ibex was briefly revived, giving credence to the idea that the mammoth could be successfully revived. As of today, several methods have been proposed to achieve this goal, including cloning, artificial insemination, and genome editing. The ethics of reviving the animal have been disputed.

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Chaotic Moon Studios

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De-extinction Process of re-creating an extinct species

De-extinction is the process of generating an organism that either resembles or is an extinct species. There are several ways to carry out the process of de-extinction. Cloning is the most widely proposed method, although genome editing and selective breeding have also been considered. Similar techniques have been applied to certain endangered species, in hopes to boost their genetic diversity. The only method of the three that would provide an animal with the same genetic identity is cloning. There are both pros and cons to the process of de-extinction ranging from technological advancements to ethical issues.

SXSW V2V

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Drive.ai, a subsidiary of Apple Inc., is an American technology company headquartered in Mountain View, California that uses artificial intelligence to make self-driving systems for cars. It has demonstrated a vehicle driving autonomously with a safety driver only in the passenger seat. To date, the company has raised approximately $77 million in funding. Drive.ai's technology can be modified to turn a vehicle autonomous.

Hypergiant Industries American technology company

Hypergiant is an Austin, Texas based technology company, founded in February 2018, and headed by CEO Ben Lamm.

Amir Husain

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Colossal Biosciences is a biotechnology company working to genetically resurrect the woolly mammoth, combining its genes with Asian elephant DNA. It has claimed to have the first woolly mammoth hybrid calves by 2027 and will introduce them to Pleistocene Park to restore the Arctic tundra habitat and combat climate change. Endangered Asian elephants reportedly would have mammoth traits.

References

  1. Heid, Jason. "How One Texas Entrepreneur Aims to Transform the World With Artificial Intelligence". Texas Monthly.
  2. Wolf, Marin (13 September 2021). "Dallas entrepreneur Ben Lamm embarks on a new adventure: bringing back the woolly mammoth". The Dallas Morning News.
  3. Brown, Mike (March 3, 2020). "Ben Lamm and Hypergiant Want to Bring Space Back to the Future". Inverse.
  4. Zimmer, Carl (September 13, 2021). "A New Company With a Wild Mission: Bring Back the Woolly Mammoth". New York Times.
  5. Carlson, Kara (9 March 2022). "Austin entrepreneur's startup lands $60 million as it tries to bring back the woolly mammoth". Austin American-Statesman.
  6. Murphy, J. Kim (18 January 2022). "SXSW Reveals Additions to Line-Up of Featured Speakers for 2022 Festival". Variety.
  7. Abril, Danielle (27 February 2018). "Ben Lamm Has An Unconventional Approach to Business, And It Somehow Works". D Magazine.
  8. 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.
  9. Clifford, Catherine (6 December 2020). "This 39-year-old tech exec has built 5 companies, but there's a price to his ambition". CNBC.