Hi, I’m Sebastian Brunemeier, partner at Healthspan Capital. Healthspan Capital is the most active investor in longevity biotech, or “Long Bio,” and regenerative medicine. We’ve completed about 30 deals in the last two years, supported by several partners and an extended team. We are focused on investing in companies that aim to radically extend human lifespan by targeting the fundamental drivers of the aging process. If you’re a founder or a potential LP, please do get in touch with us at Healthspan Capital VC via our website.
Why should organizations become Vitalist?
Organizations should become Vitalist because the leading threat to every individual and society is aging itself. We are 100% guaranteed to die from aging if something else doesn’t get us first, and this inevitability leads to a global demographic aging crisis, often referred to as the “silver tsunami.” No government has a credible plan to deal with this. One of the reasons I’m in the longevity biotech field, working to slow the aging process, is because it buys time for more medical and technological advancements to address this looming threat. The silver tsunami is a greater threat than climate change or wars because it’s guaranteed to happen unless we intervene. Vitalism allows us to come together and prioritize the importance of improving the pace of biomedical science. We can make biomedical science more efficient by targeting the root cause of disease, which is aging itself.
Do you think we are on track to solve aging in your lifetime, given current resourcing?
Given the current resourcing, it looks unlikely. There’s a lot of discussion about longevity biotech being hot and interesting, but when you look at the numbers, only a couple of billion dollars have been deployed in this space over several years. For context, the American population spends about $60 billion a year on beer. Our priorities are not aligned. That’s why my colleagues at the Longevity Biotech Fellowship, Healthspan Capital, and Vitalism are doing everything we can to bring more capital and talent into this space and to explore new paradigms outside of the existing dogma to slow the aging process.
What are the key achievements and future plans of Healthspan Capital?
Healthspan Capital was launched just a couple of years ago, and we’re already the most active investor in the Long Bio, longevity biotech, and regenerative medicine space, having completed 30 deals in the last two years. We are always seeking to meet new portfolio founders, companies, and investors (LPs) who want to get into the longevity space but don’t exactly know how. We provide an overview and guide them through the industry. We’re also planning to release a report covering the top 50 leading longevity biotech companies and some of the investors in the space. However, there are still very few investors dedicated to aging. Besides us, there’s Apollo Health Ventures, where I used to work—an excellent group, but limited in scale, starting only a handful of companies per year, and a few large multi-asset biotech companies. We’d love to see more investors focused on aging and regenerative medicine entering the space.
If you had unlimited resources, what dream project would you embark on?
If I had unlimited resources, I would focus on an area that is quite neglected and underappreciated given its importance in aging: DNA repair fidelity. DNA repair is one of the four primary hallmarks of aging, alongside telomere attrition, epigenetic drift, and proteostasis failure, with other secondary hallmarks like mitochondrial dysfunction being downstream. If I had to pick one area with the highest probability of massively extending lifespan, which is also neglected by the field, it would be DNA repair. Comparative longevity studies show that species with better DNA repair live longer. For instance, humans have much better DNA repair than other primates, which is one reason we live longer. This pattern is also seen in species like naked mole rats versus regular rats, and whales versus other animals. Additionally, within the human species, individuals who live longer tend to have gain-of-function mutations that enhance DNA repair fidelity, such as supercentenarians. Conversely, mutations that inhibit DNA repair often result in accelerated aging diseases, like progeria. Despite this clear evidence, almost no companies are working on enhancing DNA repair fidelity. I would love to see a Manhattan Project dedicated to DNA repair enhancement.
How long do you want to live?
Ideally, as long as I’m in good health, I’d like to live as long as possible. I do not envision ever getting bored of life or tired of celebrating holidays with my grandchildren, great-grandchildren, or even great-great-grandchildren. There will never be a point, as long as I’m happy and healthy, where I would say, “I’m over it.” But it’s always an option, right? You can choose to end your own life even today. So why not give people the option of living as long and as healthily as possible? There are significant economic benefits to doing this as well. It’s good for everyone if we’re living longer and healthier lives. It would reduce government healthcare spending, which is threatening to bankrupt countries like the United States. The greatest national security threat to the U.S. isn’t China, Russia, or any external adversary—it’s our own poor health and mismanaged healthcare system. There are also massive economic benefits if people can work even a few extra years, remaining cognitively productive for longer. The benefits are in the trillions, and it’s also inherently good. Once you’re already born, life should be as pleasant, long, and healthy as possible.
