Business
Generation Lab raises $11 million, becoming Accel’s first longevity bet
The word “longevity” derives from Latin, and more or less means “long life” or “great age.”
Each translation is informative at a time when people are simultaneously living longer than ever, and gathering increasingly personalized health data through wearables, devices, and tests. Longevity has become a banner industry in recent years, bolstered by the expansive cultural influence of entrepreneur Bryan Johnson and his famous slogan, “Don’t Die.”
Now, we’re all slated to die at some point. However, there’s a salient question and pursuit at the center of the longevity boom—if we’re living longer lives, what does it mean to live out those years fully? If we monitor our health thoughtfully throughout our lives, can we have more years that are high-quality, active, and independent? It’s a question that Generation Lab, a startup providing personalized epigenetic testing, seeks to answer.
“We’re aiming to add 20 extra healthy years to your life—more years where you can play tennis, run around, travel,” said Alina Su, Generation Lab cofounder and CEO. “We’re not talking about living forever, we’re talking about living healthier for a longer time.”
Generation Lab—started in 2023 by Su, Berkeley’s Dr. Irina Conboy, and Michael Suswal—is so named because the cofounding team spans three generations: Conboy—regarded as the “mother of longevity” for her decades of cell regeneration work—is a Baby Boomer, while Suswal is a millennial whose previous company was unicorn Standard AI. Su, Gen Z and effusive, chased down Conboy while an undergraduate at Berkeley. The three believe we’re on the cusp of an “ageless generation,” where people will be defined by their ability to be active for longer periods and linger around a “biological 30.”
If this seems a touch far-fetched, consider: Generation Lab is now Accel’s first bet in the longevity space. The Silicon Valley stalwart has led Generation Lab’s $11 million seed round, Fortune has exclusively learned. Samsung Next also participated, plus an array of celebrity investors including Steve Aoki’s Aoki Labs, Giannis Antetokounmpo’s BYL Ventures, and Simu Liu’s Markham Valley Ventures. This round brings the company’s total funding so far to $15 million.
“Longevity’s going to be one of the biggest markets of our generation,” said Accel partner Kerry Wang, adding that: “As people start spending more money on [longevity] treatments, they’re not just spending it on things that don’t matter… there needs to be a trusted eval for longevity.”
Generation Lab’s product is its SystemAge report, which starts with a blood draw. The blood test analyzes 460 different biomarkers across 19 organs and systems, then provides a detailed breakdown of how quickly each part of your body is aging. (I took the test myself—thrilled to report my cardiac and auditory systems are aging in reverse, while my blood and vascular system needs some work.) The goal: Pinpointing health signals and potential problems before symptoms appear. Right now, the test is rolled out as an option for more than 300 clinic partners in 18 countries, Kim Kardashian’s doctor among them. The test costs $490, with additional options for subscription-based testing.
That’s cost-prohibitive for most, but Suswal has been thinking about societal downstream possibilities for Generation Lab’s tests, especially in relation to public health: “Imagine if everyone in the country took the test, we could have predicted issues like the Flint Water Crisis.”
Conboy pointed out something to me that I’ve been pondering since we met: Much in the same way we all experience time differently, aging also isn’t linear: It happens in fits and starts, plateaus and accelerations. (No one, for example, grows exactly one grey hair each day.) Aging also continuously evolves around technological and societal advancement.
“See, on a long enough timescale, everyone’s survival rate becomes zero,” Conboy laughs. “The question is, how long is the timeline?… The directional goal of longevity in academia—or in a company—is to expand [quality of life in our final years]. Remember, 100 years ago, 40 years of age was very old, people died then. Then, we invented antibiotics, sanitation, and then vaccines. And now we move on to the next breakthrough.”
See you tomorrow,
Allie Garfinkle
X: @agarfinks
Email: alexandra.garfinkle@fortune.com
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Venture Deals
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Private Equity
– Chroma Color Corporation, backed by Arsenal Capital, acquired Ferco Color, a Chino, Calif.-based custom colorants manufacturer. Financial terms were not disclosed.
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Exits
– Mammoth Brands agreed to acquire Coterie, a New York City-based baby care brand, from American Pacific Group. Financial terms were not disclosed.
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