Start-ups work on the dream of eternal life

by time news

Berlin, Frankfurt “No voodoo or hocus-pocus” is important to Hartmut Geiger. Mainly because many think of science fiction films when they dream of eternal life. The stem cell researcher and rejuvenation expert Geiger founded the start-up Mogling Bio together with colleagues and the former Boehringer Ingelheim manager Jürgen Reeß. This wants to develop drugs for a rejuvenation of the blood-forming stem cells, which are also crucial for the function of the immune system.

“We now have enough solid information for that,” says Geiger. He presented his project at the first meeting of start-ups for longevity (“Longevity”), which came to Berlin from all over the world over the weekend.

Mogling Bio is now receiving millions from Berlin venture capitalist Kizoo. He believes that the technology is groundbreaking in terms of real rejuvenation of old stem cells. You can not only restore age-related diseases, but also the age-related decline in the function of the immune system, says Kizoo Managing Director Frank Schueler.

The market for products and offers related to longevity is worth billions. According to estimates by Zion Research, which focuses on anti-aging, the market in 2020 was worth almost 112 billion dollars worldwide. By 2028, driven by the US market, it is expected to grow by more than four percent annually to $163 billion. This does not include the importance of Longevity as a medical research field and as a segment for start-up investors.

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Internationally one of the best-known investors in the longevity sector is the German Christian Angermayer, who accounts for an even larger business: “Because the potential customer group is 100 percent of the world’s population, a successful longevity company can quickly become one of the most valuable companies in the world .”

Longevity market is growing steadily

On the one hand, he invests out of “completely banal considerations of return”. On the other hand, of course, because he wanted to find a solution for himself. “The clock is ticking for me.” Since he started showing signs of aging around nine years ago at the age of 35, he has been looking for companies that are working on this problem.

“Longevity will be one of the big trends of the coming decades.” Michael Motschmann, Managing Partner and founder of the venture capital provider MIG Capital

In the USA in particular, specialized longevity funds have established themselves, which mostly finance biotechnological start-ups. The most prominent examples are the Longevity Vision Fund (lvf.vc) and the Longevity Fund (longevity.vc). But the first specialist funds, Apollo Health Ventures and Korify Capital, have also become active in the German-speaking region.

“Longevity will be one of the major trends of the coming decades,” says Michael Motschmann, Managing Partner and founder of venture capitalist MIG Capital. From his point of view, Longevity is about aging as healthy as possible, “and not about chasing some fiction of eternal life,” he says.

According to Motschmann, the market for longevity investments in Germany in particular is virtually non-existent. However, in his opinion, investors in Germany and Europe will certainly also be increasingly involved in investments in this area in the future.

>> Read also: Peter Thiel, Jeff Bezos and Co: The (night) dream of eternal life

The meeting in Berlin, which was attended by around 30 start-ups from the sector, was intended to improve networking and find new investors. In the case of Mogling Bio, that seemed to work. According to Reeß, the company was approached by three other venture capitalists.

Also present were representatives of the start-ups Rejuveron and Cambrian Biopharma, two companies that Angermayer co-founded in 2018. Various technologies and therapies are being worked on, says Rejuveron board member Aaron Weaver. One approach is now a clinical pilot study with patients suffering from a genetic retinal disease. The development of new funds is associated with many risks – also from a regulatory point of view.

Therapies and medicines are far from available

Motschmann, who, with MIG Capital, has interests in biotech companies such as the successful vaccine manufacturer Biontech, has already invested in Longevity as a private individual. He is one of the early sponsors of the Berlin start-up Neotes, which was founded in 2020. This summer, Neotes completed a Series A round of financing, in the course of which Biontech investor Thomas Strüngmann also joined the Berliners through his company Thomabene, as excerpts from the commercial register show.

Growth with delusions of youth

163

billion dollars

Zion Research estimates that the market for longevity products and offers will grow to this volume by 2028.

In total, Neotes has so far collected around 4.5 million euros from founders and investors and has also benefited from the state support program “Invest”. Founded by experienced medical professionals, Neotes aims to help people live longer, healthier lives by applying Longevity research from around the world.

The start-up measures parameters such as biological age, checks nutrition and physical fitness and calculates the probability of typical diseases of old age. On the basis of laboratory evaluations, the doctors and coaches then derive recommendations for action, including advice on dietary supplements and lifestyle changes.

Neotes’ business model fits Motschmann’s investment approach, which initially sees longevity primarily as a prevention issue. “First of all, it’s about the influence that people can have on aging healthily – through their diet, lifestyle, sport and also preventive care. To do that, I need to understand the biological response to my lifestyle,” he says.

>> Read also: Future Scenarios: How Science Fiction Affects Our Progress

In his opinion, therapies and drugs against aging are not yet in sight in the longevity scene. “There are many exciting topics that are being researched, but we are still a long way from a medical application in the sense of an approved product. We’re probably talking about a period of at least ten to 15 years,” says Motschmann.

Mogling Bio also calculates with similar time horizons. “In the meantime, you should reduce your stress, eat healthily and be socially active,” advises Hartmut Geiger.

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