Maximillian Winter was sick, but doctors could not determine the cause.
Winter, then a 23-year-old engineering student in Santa Barbara, California, suffered from brain fog and felt constantly tired, even after sleeping 10 hours a day for a week. Despite this fatigue, Winter doggedly pursued a diagnosis and treatment. He Lyme disease It took him two years to fully recover, after seeing five doctors. After an initial treatment with antibiotics, he changed his diet and sleep habits, took up meditation, and used a hyperbaric oxygen chamber, an ultraviolet blood-filtering machine, and an infrared sauna.
Winter isn't sure there's a silver bullet. He's been able to afford these treatments thanks to his family fortune from German auto parts supplier Fritz Winter. Through his family office, he began investing in health care and life sciences in 2018. He initially looked to help develop better treatments for Lyme disease, but was drawn to a deep tech startup trying to 3D print and use organs. AI for Drug DiscoveryHe spun off those investments into a fund, into which he has put more than $20 million since 2021.
“They say an entrepreneur is someone who ultimately solves a problem that not only they, but many other people, experience,” Winter, now 34, told Business Insider. “And I think that's been very true for me.”
Winter is one of several family office representatives investing directly in the quest for longer, healthier lives, including heirs and first-generation entrepreneurs like himself. They're in good company: Longevity startups have attracted more than $10 billion in investments worldwide. $5.2 billion in 2022The discovery was made by venture capital firm Longevity Tech Fund, using data from PitchBook. Peter Thiel It has gained attention for supporting efforts to reverse aging at the cellular level.
But for many investors like Winter, the goal isn't to escape death. Their own health problems or the death of a loved one have prompted them to look beyond just extending their lifespan. Healthy life expectancy, Or how many years you can go without suffering from chronic disease or age-related illnesses.
Winter said he thinks a healthy lifespan of 90 to 120 years is “pretty reasonable” given how quickly medical science is advancing. (There's only one documented case of someone living beyond that age.) But he thinks it's important for scientific discoveries to outpace aging. Allowing people to live indefinitely.
“There's a lot of fuss about longevity, but not much has been achieved,” he said. “I think the most reliable approach we've seen so far is picking out specific conditions or things that really affect people in old age that we can prevent or address.”
Maximillian Winter is a seventh generation heir and a long-time investor. Andres Hernandez Studio
Separating the Scientists from the Pill Sellers
Three years ago, Winter spun out his family office's health-care investments into venture-capital firm Harmonix, which has since brought on outside investors and raised a $20 million fund that closed in July and is on track to close another fund by the end of March.
The La Quinta, Calif.-based firm has made more than 30 investments, including portfolio company PathologyWatch, which says it uses AI to help dermatologists test and diagnose cases more quickly and accurately, and was acquired in November for $150 million.
Improved detection and prevention of diseases such as cancer and other leading causes of death would make a dramatic difference in lifespan and healthspan, Winter said, but added that it's hard to find potential portfolio companies that align with those goals because the U.S. health care system provides financial incentives for treating disease over preventing it.
Members of the R360 Wellness & Longevity Circle, co-chaired by Peter Fioretti (left), visit Professor David Sinclair (centre left) at the Harvard University Anti-Aging Institute. Provided by R360
Longevity investors face a number of other challenges. Investing in biotech is inherently risky and expensive, even for the wealthy. Researching and developing new drugs and treatments isn't cheap, and investors can't afford to skimp on due diligence.
Kathrin Genovese, founder of Swiss ultra-high net worth asset manager KGM, does not invest directly. Instead, she and some of her clients invest in Maximon, a Swiss longevity fund. Maximon has a “Healthy Life Clinic” has been added to the portfolio.
“At this point I don't know what's real and what's not. I don't think the industry is young enough to tell me that,” said Mr. Genovese, who previously worked at UBS and ran a single family office for 15 years. “We'll see who's going to succeed and who's going to fail.”
The longevity industry is also rife with quack drug salesmen, making wealthy investors an attractive target. Winter said his Harmonix fund has six advisers who vet pitches, conduct due diligence on more than 200 criteria and inspect data rooms.
Peter Fioretti, 64, is a real estate entrepreneur. Members Club R360 The study, which looked at people with assets of more than $100 million, is passionate about longevity. Six years ago, he visited more than 10 doctors for a thorough evaluation of his heart health and a diagnosis of clogged arteries. He said last March that thanks to diet, exercise and supplements, “I've been able to live longer.”Heart Age47 ” “
But the anti-aging enthusiast is cautious about investing, having made several bets on stem-cell research and an app that monitors users' exercise and health and offers advice from nutritionists. Fioretti's club, R360, doesn't offer investment advice but does have an in-house due diligence team that runs background checks, vets marketing pitches and performs other tasks.
“Biotech opportunities are difficult to value,” he said. “They are highly unpredictable. Capital needs are hard to gauge and regulatory hurdles usually create big negative surprises.”
How are the wealthy incorporating these investments into their lives?
Genovese's goal is simple: to feel good and age well.
“When you're 60 and starting a new business with a partner half your age, you need a few more years of health and mental stability,” she says. “Aging gracefully is even more of a challenge for women than it is for men, because we can't look good when we come into the office, or run a business without looking good.”
She continued her exercise regimen for six years. supplement The aim is to reduce inflammation, which is linked to age-related diseases, and her multi-family office client fund includes anti-inflammatory drugs in its portfolio.
Eric Becker, co-founder of the wealth management company CressetHe and his two sons have formed a family office and picked Blue Zone Foods as their first investment, a prepared-meal startup that uses Blue Zone recipes known for their longevity. Their firm, Becker Venture Partners, has also invested in NewPath Partners, a life sciences fund co-founded by Becker's physician, Dr. Dan Yadegar.
Cresset co-founder Eric Becker decided to invest in longevity after his daughter died of leukemia. Courtesy of Cresset
For Becker and his family, who lost their daughter to leukemia at age 21, longevity is not an abstract topic.
“My philosophy is to have no regrets and to minimize regrets,” he said. “We just do what we can, that is healthy and productive, and do the best we can.”
Becker, his wife, and his sons and their wives are members of Human Longevity's 100+ Experience, a concierge medicine program that includes extensive testing to predict risk for age-related diseases.
He's learned tips to live a better life, especially when it comes to eating and sleeping, but his favorite advice came from his mother's boyfriend, who recently turned 100: “Drink a glass of Johnnie Walker every day at 6 p.m.”
“This is the easiest thing to follow,” he joked.
