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The longevity industry includes a few companies that will genuinely revolutionize the medical industry, such as Maia Biotechnology, the first deployment of a near-universal cancer therapy based on targeting telomerase activity. For every such gem there are, unfortunately, a half dozen companies that are marketing dietary supplements and the like that will do just about nothing to change the human condition. It is a great deal easier to market a supplement than it is to revolutionize the medical industry by developing a completely new biotechnology, and this truth has a significant impact on the funding available to a company based on their strategy of choice.
Venture funds that invest in biotech startups obtain their funds from limited partners, ranging from high net worth individuals to large holding companies. The venture partners running the fund are the industry experts, while the limited partners tend to know a lot less about the markets that they invest in. They are, in effect, hiring the venture fund to manage this opportunity. However, venture funds exist in a competitive marketplace for limited partner funds, and limited partners are primarily interested in financial outcomes rather than changing the world. Thus we see that all too many funds, company builders, and the like that focus on the longevity industry choose to make only safe, incremental investments in companies that are working on safe, incremental projects that cannot even in principle produce large gains in health and longevity.
In the article I want to point out today, Maximon is one such example. I’m not singling out the Maximon principals for any reason other than the fact that they drifted past my eyes recently; numerous other funds have taken the same approach, and just haven’t spoken in public on the topic of their investment strategies of late. All use the current hype for longevity in order to obtain limited partner investment, and then fund projects that are prioritized by how likely they are to keep the limited partners happy with the bottom line at the end of the day. Unfortunately, a safe project in this context usually means that it is unambitious and unlikely to greatly affect the bottom line of human health. Is this outcome the fault of the limited partners, the venture partners, the entrepreneurs, or all three? There is a question to think on.
Meet the company builders that think they can reverse ageing
Marc Bernegger, a former crypto entrepreneur, cofounded the longevity company builder Maximon in 2021. He and his partners ran a two-day longevity investor conference last month in Gstaad in the Swiss Alps. The agenda included both investments opportunities and an overview of scientific research, with speakers including the investor Christian Angermayer and Eric Verdin, CEO of the Buck Institute for Research on Aging. “We had quite a few billionaires flying in from all over the world. That is a good indication that there’s now serious money coming into this field. And having some well-known guests coming to an event like this makes it more tangible for investors,” Bernegger says. The enthusiasm, and the capital, for the field is there – the longevity market is projected to reach $44bn by 2030 – but time is, ironically, not on this industry’s side.
Maximon’s strategy is to look for more low-hanging fruits, says Bernegger. So far, the company builder has invested in Swiss supplement startup Avea and Biolytica, another Swiss startup which is combining health data analytics and personalised longevity programmes. Bernegger believes that although a lot of longevity supplements, such as NMN and NAD+ boosters, already exist on the global market, the “made in Switzerland” selling point will be beneficial to lure customers away from other brands, as well as attract new customers. Low-hanging fruit or not, Maximon is looking for ways to bring longevity technology to the masses. One way to do this – as both organisations are already about to – is by building longevity clinics, where people can go and find out what supplements and treatments would be beneficial to them on a personal level.