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- 10/20/22: Issue #23
10/20/22: Issue #23
Issue #23
October 20, 2022 | Issue #23
Good Evening
. Welcome back to another issue of Spannr. Do us a favor and
to any friends or family who may find longevity/aging industry insights useful.
Your support is very much appreciated!
In this week's newsletter
:
đź’ˇ Longevity's untapped international market
đź’° The big commitment from Coinbase's CEO
📢 Funding + business announcements
đź“š Good reads across the web
Decode Age: "A Trial For The Gods"
The field of longevity only continues to grow. With funding rounds and research efforts ramping up, slowly but surely, the industry is beginning to detach itself from the broad world of biotech.What’s not so obvious, however, is which companies and founders are blazing the path forward.To help bridge this gap, Spannr will be occasionally interviewing founders in the space. Through these deep dives, we intend to help readers better understand the business models, the uphill battles – and even the science – behind some of today’s most ambitious longevity companies.In our inaugural interview, we had the pleasure of speaking with Darshit Patel from Decode Age – an India-based longevity supplement, research, and testing company reporting a 30% sales growth MoM.How’d they get started? And what was their trick to such early success?
Coinbase CEO to Sell 2% of Shares in Company to Fund Longevity
Brian Armstrong, CEO of one of the world’s largest crypto exchanges, Coinbase (COIN), announced on Twitter this week his intention to sell 2% of his personal company holdings to further fund scientific research, including his longevity company NewLimit.Armstrong on Friday tweeted:
According to proxy statements, Armstrong owns ~16% of Coinbase shares. Therefore, at the company’s current market cap of ~$14 billion, Armstrong’s commitment would equate to a
$50 million investment into scientific research
if the company’s stock stayed the same.
Both
and
have been supported by Armstrong, with the former having
in December 2021.
NewLimit’s focus is to extend human healthspan by focusing on the epigenetic drivers of aging. The company plans to use machine learning models to research what causes the aging process, and ultimately “develop therapies that could slow, halt, or reverse the [aging] process.”
NewLimit was co-founded by Armstrong with Blake Byers, who has a PhD in bioengineering from Stanford and was a general partner for nine years at Google Ventures.
The founders have planned to fund the company for the first five years, at which point they will raise outside funding.
ResearchHub, was co-founded by Armstrong with
, and has a mission to “accelerate scientific research.” The company emerged after a blog post was written by Armstrong in which he noted his frustrations with the current research community, leading him to build his own company to help assist.
ResearchHub utilizes
to “help reward members of the community and to facilitate moderation.” RSC is used to incentivize people to contribute to the ResarchHub community.
In several public interviews, including his most recent appearances on the
and
, Armstrong has stated that although he plans to continue running Coinbase, he would like to use his newfound wealth to support projects that can advance human healthspan and lifespan.
Armstrong joins the growing list of CEOs funding longevity research, such as the $3 billion invested into Altos Labs by Jeff Bezos and Yuri Milner.
Anokion, a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on treating autoimmune disease by restoring normal immune tolerance, announces $35 million equity investment from Pfizer
Viome Life Sciences, an at-home diagnostics startup, announced a $67 million extension round towards its Series C, with participation from Bold Capital Group, Khosla Ventures, Ocgrow Ventures, and WestRiver Group
Hansjörg Wyss Gives $350 million to support the research of the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University
The Longevity Science Foundation (LSF), a global nonprofit organization providing research funding, has recently expanded by launching operations in the United States and appointing a new President & CEO
Denali Therapeutics Announces Pricing of $275 Million Public Offering of Common Stock
Unity Biotechnology Announces Reverse Stock Split
ChromaDex and Nestlé Health Science Announce New Niagen Commercial Supply Agreement and $5 Million Investment
Can Start-Ups Significantly Lower the Cost of Gene Sequencing? (NYT)
The U.S. Just Lost 26 Years’ Worth of Progress on Life Expectancy (Scientific American)
China's Declining Working-Age Population (Property Chronicle)
🎥 Watch: The 2nd VitaDAO Crypto meets Longevity Symposium (VitaDAO)
Gary Hudson, who has spent a lifetime making space flight real, says longevity research will be critical to successful long-term space missions (Methuselah Foundation)
AI models for health care that predict disease are not as accurate as reports might suggest. Here’s why (Scientific American)
Studies linking diet with health must get a whole lot better (Nature)
The Definitive Guide to Iron and Its Impact on Longevity and Cancer (Novos Labs)
Progress In The Search To Reverse Age-Related Vision Loss (Forbes)
A Policymakers Guide to the Longevity Therapeutics Industry (a4li)
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