Newlimit is a startup aimed at increasing the time when people can live healthy lives by genetically programming cells, and has raised a $130 million Series B led by Kleiner Perkins.
New investors Nat Friedman, Daniel Gross and Kosra Ventures also invested. Funding comes two years after the company raises a $40 million Series A.
Founded for over four years by Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong (see above), former GV partner Blake Briars and stem cell professor Jacob Kimmel, Newlimit claims to have made great strides in developing treatments that can restore youthful properties to aging cells.
Briars told TechCrunch that the company has discovered three prototype drugs that reprogram hepatocytes. Newlimit’s lab experiments show that this rejuvenation can restore the ability of cells to treat fats and alcohol, he said.
The company measures its progress by comparing how cells from young individuals and older people respond to substances. Older liver cells that have passed through New Leaf’s epigenetic reprogramming behave like younger cells, Briars said.
Despite the promising early results, Newlimit is still a few years away from starting human trials.
In the meantime, the company continues to develop new anti-aging drugs using AI models, and then wants to test the most promising drugs produced by these machines in the laboratory. “What AI models can do is run all these experiments in simulations and follow up only on the most promising subset,” Briars said, adding that data points from the experiment are used to retrain AI models in a process called “Loop Lab.”
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Other notable biotechnology startups are developing drugs aimed at extending their lifespan. Retro Biology reportedly raised $180 million from Openai CEO Sam Altman two years ago, and a $1 billion Series A. Altos Labs, launched in 2022 for $3 billion and supported by Jeff Bezos.