In the early hours of June 3 (Beijing time), longevity startup NewLimit announced the completion of a $435 million Series C funding round. The round was led by Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund, with continued participation from Abstract Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, NFDG, Eli Lilly Ventures, and Valor Equity Partners, and new investors including Thrive Capital, Greenoaks, and Quiet Capital. According to the Wall Street Journal, the deal values NewLimit at $3.1 billion, more than triple its valuation one year ago.
In its funding announcement, NewLimit revealed that following breakthrough research results, it is now advancing longevity medicine into human clinical trials. A first drug candidate targeting alcohol-related liver disease is expected to begin clinical testing next year. The company emphasized: “By reprogramming cell age, humans stand to gain longer healthspans, and we are now closer than ever to the goal of slowing—or even reversing—aging.”
NewLimit was co-founded by Coinbase founder and CEO Brian Armstrong. In 2021, Armstrong, together with former GV partner and bioengineer Blake Byers and stem cell biologist Jacob Kimmel, seeded the company with $110 million in South San Francisco.
Prior to this round, NewLimit had completed three earlier financings. According to its official description, the company develops drugs to extend healthy lifespan: “As we age, cellular function declines, making us more susceptible to disease. Aging was once thought inevitable, but emerging science shows it can be reversed at the cellular level. We are building the first medicines that restore youthful function to aged cells.” In simpler terms, NewLimit is pursuing scientific longevity.
Yamanaka Factors: The Science of Reversing Cell Age
While scientists long recognized the link between aging and cellular decline, a method to rejuvenate cells remained elusive. The breakthrough came in 2006, when Japanese scientist Shinya Yamanaka discovered that activating just a few specific transcription factors could reprogram adult cells into a young, embryonic-like state. These factors, later named “Yamanaka Factors,” earned Yamanaka the 2012 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. This research proved for the first time that cell age is, in fact, reversible.
NewLimit’s approach builds on this foundation. Its website explains: “Our drugs activate specific transcription factor genes to reprogram the epigenome to a younger state. While we know such reversal is possible, the exact combinations of factors needed to restore youthful function in different cell types remain unknown. Discovering these effective gene payloads is the core challenge of our work.”
Targeting Alcohol-Related Liver Disease as Accelerated Aging
The startup’s strategy is to first win drug approval for a specific disease, then expand to broader uses. The alcohol-related liver disease candidate is the first on this path. Co-founder and CEO Jacob Kimmel explains that liver disease can be seen as “accelerated aging”—presenting the same aging process that everyone undergoes, but in a faster and more severe form. Success in this area would provide critical validation for slowing normal aging.
NewLimit is not the only tech company targeting longevity. In 2022, Sam Altman invested $180 million in Retro Biosciences, which is developing drugs to rejuvenate aged cells and recently disclosed a valuation of $1.8 billion. Also in 2022, Altos Labs—reportedly backed by Jeff Bezos—launched with $3 billion in funding, and its total financing has since nearly doubled.
Why Tech Billionaires Are Racing to Invest
From Peter Thiel to Sam Altman to Jeff Bezos, the biggest bets on longevity consistently come from the apex of tech and wealth. Thiel has openly expressed extreme aversion to death, repeatedly arguing that “death is humanity’s greatest enemy, yet we treat it as a law of nature.” For these ultra-wealthy figures, the logic is straightforward: when wealth and power reach their peak, time becomes the only real adversary—and the one luxury money cannot simply buy.