The storage capacity of DNA is so powerful that all the data in the world could be stored in a volume of less than 3 gallons. It was in January of 2017 that we first wrote about using DNA to store data, pointing out an Irish startup that was selling a DNA storage device on Amazon. While the device is no longer available for whatever reason, there are now a whole bunch of DNA data storage companies that have popped up. That’s according to an article published on Synbiobeta yesterday which talks about how the archaic method of storing data on magnetic tapes hasn’t changed for 50 years now, and it’s high time we found a long-term storage medium with a lifespan longer than 10 years. DNA could be that medium, based on the fact that a single strand of DNA could store this much information for thousands of years:

The Synbiobeta article consults with some experts out there who think that we will see commercially viable DNA data storage in the next ten years, with Microsoft and Twist Biosciences leading the way at the moment. This made us curious about just how many startups there are right now trying to tackle this problem, and how much funding is going into the DNA storage space. Without further ado, here are nine startups working on DNA data storage.