Coinbase의 창업자가 불로장생 연구에 뛰어든다
- 핵심 요점: 장수 기술 기업 NewLimit이 4억 3500만 달러 규모의 시리즈 C 투자 유치에 성공했으며, 기업 가치는 31억 달러에 달한다. 이 회사의 핵심 목표는 '야마나카 인자' 기술을 기반으로 세포의 나이를 역전시키는 약물을 개발하는 것이며, 알코올성 간 질환을 대상으로 한 첫 번째 약물은 내년에 임상 시험에 돌입할 계획이다.
- 핵심 요소:
- NewLimit은 2021년 Coinbase 창업자 Brian Armstrong 등이 설립했으며, 이번 투자 유치는 Founders Fund가 주도했다. 기업 가치는 1년 만에 세 배로 증가했다.
- 회사의 기술은 2006년 야마나카 신야가 발견한 '야마나카 인자'에 기반을 두고 있으며, 세포의 후성유전체를 재프로그래밍함으로써 이론적으로 세포 노화 과정을 역전시킬 수 있다.
- 첫 번째 약물은 알코올성 간 질환을 대상으로 하며, '가속 노화' 모델로 간주된다. 2026년 인체 임상 시험을 시작할 계획으로, 먼저 특정 질병을 정복한 후 적용 범위를 확장한다는 전략이다.
- 다른 거부(巨富)들도 이 분야에 베팅하고 있다: Sam Altman은 Retro Biosciences(기업 가치 18억 달러)에 투자했고, Jeff Bezos가 지원하는 Altos Labs는 총 60억 달러에 가까운 자금을 조달했다.
- 투자 논리는 초부자들의 수명 연장 추구에 있다: 부와 권력이 정점에 도달하면, 시간만이 돈으로 직접 살 수 없는 유일한 사치품이 되기 때문이다.
Original | Odaily Planet Daily (@OdailyChina)
Author | Azuma (@azuma_eth)
In the early hours of June 3rd, Beijing time, longevity technology startup NewLimit announced the completion of a $435 million Series C funding round. The round was led by Peter Thiel's fund, Founders Fund, with continued participation from Abstract Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, NFDG, Eli Lilly Ventures, Valor Equity Partners, and others, while also introducing new investors such as Thrive Capital, Greenoaks, and Quiet Capital.
WSJ reported that NewLimit's valuation in this funding round is $3.1 billion, more than triple its valuation from a year ago.
In its funding announcement, NewLimit revealed that following breakthrough research results, the company is advancing longevity medicine into human clinical trials. Its first drug, targeting alcohol-related liver disease, is expected to initiate clinical trials next year.
NewLimit also emphasized: "By reprogramming cell age, humans may be able to achieve longer health spans, and now, we are closer than ever to the goal of 'delaying or even reversing aging'."
The Founder is an Old Acquaintance
It is worth noting that NewLimit's co-founder is indeed our old acquaintance – Coinbase founder and CEO Brian Armstrong.
In 2021, Brian Armstrong, along with former GV partner and bioengineer Blake Byers and stem cell biologist Jacob Kimmel, jointly invested $110 million to establish NewLimit in South San Francisco.
Photo: NewLimit founding team
Prior to this round, NewLimit had completed three funding rounds, as detailed below.
- In May 2023, completed a $40 million Series A round with investors including Dimension, Founders Fund, and Kleiner Perkins;
- In May 2025, completed a $130 million Series B round at an $810 million valuation, led by Kleiner Perkins with participation from Founders Fund, Khosla Ventures, and Human Capital;
- In October 2025, secured an additional $45 million investment, raising its post-money valuation to $1.62 billion, with investors including Lilly Ventures, Duke University, and Section 32;
According to NewLimit's official introduction, the company is dedicated to developing drugs that can extend people's health spans — "As we age, cellular function declines, making us more susceptible to disease. People once thought aging was inevitable, but emerging science shows that the aging process can be reversed at the cellular level. We are developing the first drugs based on these discoveries to restore youthful function to aging cells."
In simpler terms, NewLimit is scientifically researching immortality!
Reversing Aging is Not a Fantasy
Over the past few decades, the scientific community has long recognized the relationship between aging and declining cellular function, but has been unable to precisely identify methods to rejuvenate cells. A turning point came in 2006 when Japanese scientist Shinya Yamanaka discovered that adult cells could be reprogrammed into a youthful state similar to embryonic stem cells by activating just a few specific transcription factors. This discovery was later named the "Yamanaka Factors" and helped him win the 2012 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
Odaily Note: Photo of Shinya Yamanaka speaking in Tokyo
Yamanaka's research proved for the first time something previously thought impossible – that cellular age is not irreversible, and the story NewLimit tells is built precisely upon this discovery.
NewLimit writes on its website: "Our drugs can reprogram the epigenome of cells to a younger state by activating specific transcription factor genes. We already know this reversal is possible. However, for different cell types, the exact combination of transcription factors needed to restore their youthful function remains unknown. Finding and discovering these effective payloads is the core challenge of our work."
NewLimit's strategy is to first target a specific disease to gain drug approval and then explore broader applications. As mentioned earlier, NewLimit is advancing a drug for alcohol-related liver disease toward clinical trials.
NewLimit co-founder and CEO Jacob Kimmel further explained this, stating that liver disease can essentially be viewed as 'accelerated aging'; it simply presents the aging process everyone experiences in a faster, more dramatic way.
The Biggest Investors in This Space Are All Billionaires
NewLimit is not the only tech company currently targeting "immortality" in the market.
In 2022, Sam Altman invested $180 million in Retro Biosciences, which is currently developing drugs to rejuvenate aging cells. The company revealed last month that its valuation has reached $1.8 billion.
Furthermore, Altos Labs, reportedly backed by Jeff Bezos, launched in 2022 with $3 billion in funding and has since raised nearly twice that amount cumulatively.
It is easy to see that from Peter Thiel to Sam Altman to Jeff Bezos, those most keen to invest in this sector are invariably the ultra-wealthy at the pinnacle of technology and fortune. Peter Thiel has publicly expressed an intense aversion to death, repeatedly stating opinions like: "Death is humanity's greatest enemy, yet we treat it as a law of nature..."
The logic behind why these tech titans are willing to pour billions of dollars is not hard to understand – when wealth and power peak, time becomes the only enemy and the only luxury that money cannot directly buy.
With ample money already earned, "how to live longer" has become the ultimate question.
