Dire wolves are back, but what's happening to lab-grown startups?
Apr 9, 2025
Kaley Ubellacker
Market Stirrings 🚩
Here's what the week looked like in pre-seed:
$8.3M
15
Data aggregated from proprietary research and Crunchbase; valuation estimate based on 10-20% ownership stake.
EARLY STAGE ALL THE RAGE?
Early stage valuations are ramping quickly from seed through series B stages. Median pre-money valuations at the seed stage increased from $12 million in Q1 2024 to $16 million in Q1 2025. Despite this, total cash raised remained relatively flat, suggesting a more selective transition from pre-seed to seed stages amid heightened early-stage investor interest.
Good Reads 📖
For the rushed reader …
Colossal Biosciences says it’s achieved a world-first: creating live animals using DNA from an extinct species..
The Trump administration is reviewing and freezing billions in research funding.
A new clinical trial out of Dartmouth shows that a “therabot" can treat mental health conditions as effectively as gold-standard human therapy.
For the less rushed reader …
The startup that cried wolf
“Game of Thrones” fans might have taken it a bit too far this time. Colossal Biosciences, a Texas-based startup with $400M in funding and ambitions of mammoth proportions (literally), says it’s achieved a world-first: creating live animals using DNA from an extinct species. The company claims it has “de-extincted” the dire wolf by editing ancient DNA into gray wolf cells. While many scientists are skeptical, the technical achievement is real: precise gene editing, cloning success, and scalable biotech infrastructure. As part of the project, Colossal also successfully cloned several red wolves—the most endangered wolf species in the U.S.—demonstrating that these technologies could play a major role in conservation and species recovery. Synthetic biology is entering a new, commercially viable phase, even if the situation is not quite “dire” yet.
Startups facing a labyrinth
As federal grants dry up, the startup petri dish might stop growing unicorns. The Trump administration is reviewing and freezing billions in research funding. This week alone, Princeton disclosed that dozens of its grants were frozen, while $9 billion in contracts and grants to Harvard are under scrutiny. And they’re not alone: nearly 100 universities are under investigation. These cuts put key R&D pipelines for deep tech, biotech, and quantum startups at serious risk. In 2023, federal sources made up more than half of all academic R&D spending in the U.S., fueling the breakthroughs that spawned giants like Moderna and Databricks. If agencies like NIH and NSF take a hit, we’re not just slowing science: we’re threatening one of venture’s richest pipelines for billion-dollar ideas. As if college students weren’t struggling enough for cash!
Alexa, step aside
AI might not have a couch and a clipboard, but it’s certainly giving therapists a run for their money. A new clinical trial out of Dartmouth shows that a rigorously trained “therabot" can treat mental health conditions as effectively as gold-standard human therapy. In a world where there's only one mental health clinician for every 340 Americans, that’s a pretty big deal. Patients in the trial formed strong bonds with the bot, even turning to it for late-night insomnia sessions. Unlike many sketchy AI wellness apps, this one was built with clinical best practices and co-developed by experts, earning praise from the APA for its safety and scientific roots. While the bot isn’t ready for commercial rollout just yet, one thing’s clear: shockingly, ears are not required to be a good listener.
Fire Up the Pre-Seeds🔥
Highlights from this week’s pre-seed raises:
climatetech
Northwind Climate - Opinions that matter.
Northwind Climate raised $1 million including participation from Tom Steyer, former Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, Alexander Hoffmann from Susty Ventures, and others. Northwind Climate is building an AI-powered platform to help companies optimize sustainability investments by analyzing public opinion and predicting sustainable behavior.
edtech
Opennote - Take notes from this startup.
Opennote raised $850k led by Afore Capital. Opennote is creating an AI-powered learning platform that serves as an always-on, interactive study buddy for every student.
AI
AutonomyAI - Dev that's more than a front.
AutonomyAI raised $4 million including participation from Inbound Capital, Gilad Shany of IoN Partners, Vikram Makhiija, Senior Director at Google Cloud Security, and others. AutonomyAI is creating autonomous AI agents that generate front-end code with the skill of a senior dev.
Outro🚪
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Thanks for reading, and see you next week!
