Billionaires in Silicon Valley have spent over $5 billion trying to extend human life using AI and science

Silicon Valley has a new obsession, and it’s not crypto, or Mars. It’s living ￰0￱ at least pushing the human lifespan past 100, maybe even 150 or ￰1￱ the past 25 years, the ultrawealthy have dumped more than $5 billion into what they believe is the next frontier: longevity tech. They’re betting hard that AI, biotech, and cash can turn aging into just another bug in the ￰2￱ names like Peter Thiel , Sam Altman, Yuri Milner, and Marc Andreessen are at the center of ￰3￱ Wall Street Journal reviewed data from PitchBook, public company filings, and statements and found these guys aren’t playing ￰4￱ alone has backed nearly a dozen longevity-focused ￰5￱ were funded through his venture capital firm, others through a nonprofit foundation he ￰6￱ combined funding?

Over $700 ￰7￱ move their money into anti-aging drugs, AI, and cell tech All that money isn’t going into one idea. It’s being scattered across startups that promise anything from cell rejuvenation to AI-driven drug discovery, and even health tracking ￰8￱ these rounds are getting ￰9￱ fundraising rounds for these companies have jumped more than 20% over the last 10 years, now sitting close to $43 million per deal. NewLimit, founded by Coinbase’s Brian Armstrong, just pulled in $130 million in ￰10￱ round was backed by Peter and Vinod ￰11￱ there’s Altos, a giant in the space, which launched in 2022 and scored a $3 billion raise, more than any other company in the Journal’s ￰12￱ goal?

Use technology to reprogram cells and make them young ￰13￱ companies are taking different ￰14￱ Medicine, which got backing from Peter Diamandis’s BOLD Capital, raised over $500 million to use artificial intelligence to find treatments for age-related ￰15￱ Labs, run by Kristen Fortney, pulled in $559 million, with support from Khosla Ventures and Andreessen’s ￰16￱ met her first batch of investors through Stanford and a Bay Area salon of longevity fanatics hosted by ￰17￱ went public in ￰18￱ first trial for an obesity drug was shut down later that year due to safety issues. They’ve since launched a second trial with a different ￰19￱ told the Journal, “A lot of people already make it past the age of 100 and they’re ￰20￱ why can’t that be achievable for all of us?” personal grief, biotech promises, and the hope of hacking aging For a lot of these billionaires, this isn’t about returns.

It’s ￰21￱ Jain, for instance, lost his father to pancreatic cancer. That’s why he started Viome Life Sciences, which has raised $230 million to ￰22￱ sells health tests you can use at home and then gives you custom supplement and nutrition ￰23￱ threw $30 million of his own cash into the ￰24￱ backers include Marc Benioff and Khosla Ventures. “I want to make aging optional,” Jain told the Journal. Stéphane Bancel, Moderna’s CEO, got into the space after trying out a fasting-style diet built by longevity scientist Valter ￰25￱ later helped Longo raise $47 million for his company L-Nutra, which now sells fasting nutrition plans.

Khosla’s firm has become one of the most active players in the entire longevity ￰26￱ investments cover multiple strategies, each focused on different pieces of the aging ￰27￱ a podcast interview with Superteam, a crypto group, Khosla said, “At 70, someone should feel like a 40-year-old.” But what even counts as a longevity company? No one fully ￰28￱ Journal broke it down into three areas. First, companies trying to reprogram cells or reverse aging, think Altos, Retro Biosciences, Juvenescence, and more than 80 others. Together, they’ve pulled in about $5 billion, and Retro is now chasing another $1 billion.

Second, there are the biotech firms hunting for drugs to treat age-related ￰29￱ 60 companies fall into this category, including BioAge. They’ve also attracted close to $5 billion. Third, there’s the “right-now” market—products and services you can use ￰30￱ include wearables, vitamins, and ￰31￱ category alone has pulled in $2.6 billion from investors who want a piece of the growing health optimization ￰32￱ seen where it ￰33￱ in Cryptopolitan Research and reach crypto’s sharpest investors and builders.