3 months ago
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We are all getting older. But never before have we been getting this much older.
In the U.S., at least one in six people is now over the age of 65. At the same time, in most developed countries older adults are accounting for an unprecedented share of the population.
It’s a global phenomenon as well, particularly for the very old. Over the next 30 years, the number of people who are 80 or older will roughly triple worldwide. The number of centenarians is projected to increase tenfold between 2010 and 2050.
But chronological age often isn’t the best way to measure aging. As longevity-focused startups are often eager to point out: It’s merely a number. The prosperous, health-conscious and genetically fortunate among us can remain pretty spry even as the years mount.
A startup boomlet built on biological age, and a pivotal IPO
The mantra for longevity-focused investors and entrepreneurs has long been that it makes better sense to focus on biological age, using biomarkers to track the body’s actual condition.
In tandem, a large cohort of startups have scaled up over the past few years with offerings aimed at slowing, sustaining or even shaving years off biological age. To date, they’ve collectively raised billions in areas like precision medicine and age-related metabolic disease.
The space is also poised to see one of its most high-profile IPOs with the upcoming debut of BioAge Labs, which develops therapeutics for obesity and other metabolic diseases by targeting the biology of human aging. The Richmond, California-based company is seeking to raise $142.5 million on Nasdaq alongside a $15 million private placement.
BioAge, as its name implies, is one of the more pure-play longevity-focused companies. Founded and led by accomplished aging researcher Kristen Fortney, it focuses on examining the impact of molecular changes that happen as people age and studying how these drive physical decline and disease. Its current leading therapeutic targets obesity.
Standout longevity funding rounds in 2024
In addition to being the biggest pending IPO, BioAge is also the year’s largest longevity-focused venture fundraiser, having closed a $170 million Series D in February led by Sofinnova Investments.
While other longevity-focused companies secured some sizable funding, none came close to that in size. To illustrate, we list nine of the standout financings below.
The second-biggest fundraiser on our list is Framingham, Massachusetts.-based Alzheon, developer of an oral treatment in Phase 3 testing to slow or stop Alzheimer’s disease. The 11-year-old company picked up $100 million in Series D financing in June.
The third-biggest round went to Berkeley, California-based Aeovian Pharmaceuticals, which raised $50 million in a March financing to develop treatments for rare genetic and age-related diseases. Next up was Sunnyvale, California-based Rubedo Life Sciences, which secured a $40 million May Series A for a self-described mission to “discover and develop medicines to keep you biologically young by targeting the pathologic cells that drive aging.”
Meanwhile, another pioneering name in the space — Human Longevity — also picked up fresh financing, adding $39.8 million to its Series B. Founded in 2013, Human Longevity hit unicorn status in 2017 but subsequently saw its valuation sharply decline. The San Diego-based company did not disclose a valuation in its most recent funding announcement.
Not every age-extending startup is a longevity company
Funding tallies for longevity-focused companies offer only a partial picture of investment in life-extending therapies.
That’s because many of the companies working on biotech breakthroughs that could increase lifespans don’t pitch themselves as longevity startups. Rather, they tend to define themselves around a particular therapeutic focus, such as oncology or organ transplantation.
As such, when one takes a broader view of what constitutes a longevity company, funding totals and exit numbers get bigger.
One of the splashier outcomes along these lines came this June when precision medicine company Tempus AI made its Nasdaq debut. Today, Chicago-based Tempus has a market cap of close to $8 billion. While not explicitly a longevity company, its focus area is one investors identified as having high potential for life-extending breakthroughs.
Many of the largest biotech funding recipients this year are also pursuing areas that could contribute to longevity. This includes Boston’s Cardurion Pharmaceuticals, targeting cardiovascular disease, South San Francisco-based Freenome, which offers early cancer detection, and eGenesis, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which is developing human-compatible engineered organs, with an initial focus on kidney transplants. Collectively, the three have raised over $700 million this year.
Living longer, but better too
While most of us welcome the prospect of living longer than our forebears, the overarching goal is also to live well.
Longevity startups, with their promise to improve monitoring and early detection of treatable conditions along with new cures, could be poised to make major contributions toward this ambition.
Of course, health breakthroughs will take time. Luckily demographic trends indicate more of us will be around to wait for them.
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Illustration: Dom Guzman
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