Last Week in Longevity #12 - $239M raised + Ozempic slows aging by ~3.1 years
Your weekly business digest of everything that happened in longevity.
đ Hi, I am Fabian, and welcome to my newsletter Last Week in Longevity. Every week, I track where the money, talent, and ideas are moving in the longevity business.
đ¸ Closed funding rounds
US$ 239M raised across 6 deals (âď¸ -78% vs. US$ 1,065M across 11 deals last week)
Direct Longevity Interventions (Category 1)
Knownwell â US$ 25M (growth round) | Boston, USA
What they do: Hybrid primary & metabolic care model combining obesity medicine, nutrition counselling, and health coaching through in-person clinics and virtual care.
Why it matters: Tackling obesity and metabolic dysfunction is one of the most effective levers to extend healthspan through clinically guided lifestyle change - a direct longevity intervention.
Investors: Led by CVS Health Ventures; joined by MassMutual Catalyst Fund, Intermountain Ventures, existing backers a16z Bio + Health and Flare Capital; Oak Street Health cofounder Geoff Price also invested.
Valuation: unknown
Longevity-Aligned Disease Modification (Category 2)
Elevara Medicines â US$ 70M (Series A) | London, UK
What they do: Develops fibroblast-targeting small molecules for rheumatoid arthritis; non-immunosuppressive mechanism designed to complement biologics.
Why it matters: Chronic inflammation accelerates aging. A safer, more effective anti-inflammatory approach could maintain joint and immune health deep into later life.
Investors: Co-led by Forbion and Sofinnova Partners; joined by Monograph Capital and Weatherden.
Valuation: unknown
Faeth Therapeutics â US$ 25M | San Francisco, USA
What they do: Cancer metabolism company using dietary and metabolic modulation to improve treatment response; advancing Phase 2 trials in endometrial and ovarian cancers.
Why it matters : Cancer is a central age-related disease. Metabolic interventions could improve therapy outcomes and tolerance, supporting a longer healthy lifespan.
Investors: Reported lead S2G Ventures; participation from prior backers Khosla Ventures, Future Ventures, and Digitalis Ventures.
Valuation: unknown
Mission Therapeutics â US$ 13.3M | Cambridge, UK
What they do: Develops mitophagy-enhancing therapies via USP30 inhibition (MTX325) for Parkinsonâs disease; advancing to proof-of-mechanism study.
Why it matters: Preserving mitochondrial quality directly supports cellular health and neuroprotection, delaying decline in aging brains.
Investors: Existing syndicate including Pfizer Ventures, Sofinnova Partners, Roche Venture Fund, SR One, IP Group, and Rosetta Capital; supported by MJFF and Parkinsonâs UK.
Valuation: unknown
Longevity Enablers (Category 3)
Generation Lab â US$ 11M (Seed) | San Francisco, USA
What they do: Develops âSystemAge,â a blood test analysing 460 biomarkers to quantify organ-specific aging and identify personalised health risks.
Why it matters: Enables individuals and clinicians to monitor biological aging early and intervene proactively â a key step for measurable prevention.
Investors: Led by Accel (its first longevity investment); joined by Samsung Next and angels including Steve Aoki (Aoki Labs), Giannis Antetokounmpo (BYL Ventures), and Simu Liu (Markham Valley Ventures).
Valuation: unknown
Longevity Ecosystem (Category 4)
Lanserhof Group â âŹ95M (growth capital) | Munich, Germany
What they do: Operates high-end longevity and regenerative health resorts that combine preventive medicine, diagnostics, and wellness programs in medical spa environments.
Why it matters: Lanserhof is one of the most established brands bridging luxury wellness and evidence-based longevity care. The new capital fuels international expansion, signalling growing demand for preventive and lifestyle-focused longevity destinations.
Investors: Joint investment by AltamarCAM Partners and King Street Capital Management.
Valuation: unknown
đ° Top longevity business news
Ozempic (semaglutide) shows potential to reverse biological age in first human trial
What happened:
A 32-week, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial found that semaglutide (the active ingredient in Ozempic) reduced participantsâ biological age by ~3.1 years on average and slowed the pace of aging by roughly 9%. Read more here.Why it matters:
This is among the first human data linking a widely used metabolic drug to measurable changes in epigenetic ageing clocksâmarkers tied to multiple organ systems (brain, heart, kidney) and inflammation. The implications are significant: a drug already approved for diabetes/obesity may be repurposed (or spur repurposing) into the longevity/health-span domain. For longevity businesses, this opens up new pathways, from diagnostics (biological age tests) to combination therapies. However: the trial was in a specific population (HIV patients) and broader generalisability remains to be proven, so caution is needed before over-claiming commercial potential.
đ Events & meetups (Europe-only)
(CH) Global Longevity Summit (Oct 28-30, 2025)
(FR) Tech for Longevity 2025 (Nov 25-26, 2025)
(ES) 4th Longevity World Forum (Feb 18-20, 2026)
(CH) SIP Longevity Retreat (Apr 20-24, 2026)
(PT) 4th Global Longevity Med Summit (May 6-7, 2026)
(DE) LIFE Summit (May 29-30, 2026)
(IE) Longevity Summit Dublin (Jun 24-26, 2026)
(NL) HLTH Europe (Jun 15-18, 2026)
(CZ) 8th World Aging & Rejuvenation Conference (Jun 18-19, 2026)
(UK) The Longevity Show (Jun 26-27, 2026)
(AT) 2nd World Congress on Future of Aging & Rejuvenation Science (Jul 20-21, 2026)
(DE) POLLY Longevity Festival (Aug 21-23, 2026)
đź New Longevity jobs (Europe-only)
(Berlin) Gesundheitsberater @ Luma Leben
đ To see the full list of all Longevity jobs, visit our Job Board.
Keep building the future of longevity - one week at a time.
Fabian
P.S. Want your open positions or events to be featured? Just send them my way by replying to this email.