An AI startup spun out of de-extinction firm Colossal Biosciences has raised $20M at a $3.8B valuation. Astromech builds models that forecast how biology changes over time. The company was founded by entrepreneur Ben Lamm and geneticist George Church.
Bob Nelsen, a veteran biotech investor, led the round. Peak 6, NeoGenesis Capital, Builders VC and CAZ Investments also took part. Astromech’s total funding now stands at $60M.
The core product is a predictive model of biology. The system feeds on genomic, evolutionary and functional data to anticipate genetic bottlenecks, disease progression, drug resistance and species responses to environmental shifts. Roughly 3.8 billion years of evolutionary history serve as its primary training signal, drawn from both living and extinct organisms.
Two model engines work in tandem: one uses deep learning to find patterns across species, while the other reverse-engineers ancestral regulatory states and projects them forward. Church says the focus on ancestral regulatory states, rather than proteins alone, is what separates the company from other biology AI efforts.
Lamm likens the ambition to weather forecasting. If the models hold up, the same infrastructure could flag emerging pandemic threats, predict resistance before it spreads and guide longevity science.
