Hevolution Foundation Announced With (Rumored) $20B In Funding

Last week, during the American Aging Association Annual Conference in San Antonio, Felipe Sierra, former director of NIA’s Division of Aging Biology (DAB), officially introduced the Hevolution Foundation – a Saudi-backed non-profit focused entirely on longevity science.

Hevolution (= health + evolution) will “fund research through grants and provide investments in biotech to incentivize healthspan science across disciplines and borders for the benefit of all.”

We have little details beyond the announcement, but the rumor mill is churning that Hevoultion is (1) backed by Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, and (2) funded with an absurd amount ($20 billion!) of capital.

HEVOLUTION. Rumored to be $20B.

Watch this space. 👀🧬♾ pic.twitter.com/JVGC9xe0lB

— Nathan S. Cheng thinks you should work on aging. (@realNathanCheng) November 17, 2021

Wait… $20 billion!? Is that actually true? We don’t know yet. Again, at the moment, nothing is confirmed. What we do know, however, is that this amount of capital would be an absolute game-changer.

Here are some rapid reactions…

The Good

It doesn’t take long to realize the potential impact $20 billion in funding would have on the industry. To put that number in perspective, Altos Labs, who set the funding record in January 2022, raised $3 billion for its cellular rejuvenation programming efforts in what was considered an industry milestone. Adding to this, roughly only $300 million per year is funded from the National Institute of Health (NIH) towards aging research. Meaning, it would take the NIH 67 years – basically a human lifespan – to catch up to what Hevolution may bring to the table.

The Bad

If the rumors are true, we can expect that the press will have a field day around the source of funding. As if the longevity space didn’t receive enough noise surrounding billionaires that “want to live forever,” imagine what mainstream media will think when they see who’s behind this. Furthermore, Hevolution will be run by Dr. Mehmood Khan, the former Vice Chairman & Chief Scientific Officer of PepsiCo. To Khan’s credit, he is also the CEO of Life Biosciences Inc – and has years of experience in the pharma industry with ties to the Mayo Medical School where he served as Director of the Diabetes, Endocrine and Nutritional Trials Unit – but it’s another tidbit the press may run circles around.

Our Take

Whether it’s billionaires or dictators funding longevity efforts, the goal of extending human healthspan and lifespan is something that it seems everyone can get behind. And the fact that the billions are coming from a non-profit, should help defend against some of the polarizing takes we discussed above.

According to spannr’s funding database (coming soon), ~$4.1 billion has already been raised in 2022 alone. Hevolution’s contribution would 5x that number in a heartbeat.

There’s obviously much more to unfold here – let alone confirm – but for now, instead of focusing on “who” is doing the funding (a story for another day), we’d rather turn our focus to “what” is being funded. With this much capital to deploy into the industry, where will it all go? How is it possible to even spend that much? And where do you even start?

Leading up to 2022, one of the biggest challenges the field of longevity biotech and geroscience faced was the lack of capital. If rumors of Hevolution’s $20 billion turn out to be true, perhaps the next challenge the industry will face will be a lack of talent.