Overview
A list of the most promising anti-aging and longevity startups to watch in 2026, featuring companies developing epigenetic reprogramming, senolytics, AI-driven drug discovery, and next-generation cell rejuvenation therapies.
For years, longevity biotechnology has been defined more by promise than proof. Researchers have spent decades uncovering the biological mechanisms that drive aging, but turning those discoveries into medicines has remained one of biotechnology's toughest challenges.
That may finally be changing.
Over the past year, the field has crossed several important milestones, from the first human trials of partial epigenetic reprogramming therapies to a wave of venture funding for startups pursuing everything from senolytics and mitochondrial medicine to AI-powered drug discovery. The conversation is shifting from whether aging biology can be translated into medicine to which approaches will reach patients first.
Even then, industry leaders caution against viewing any single therapy as the finish line. "The first drug is gonna be great," James Peyer, PhD, founder and CEO of Cambrian Bio, previously told Cure. "But really if you go past 10 years and you look at 20 years or 30 years in the future, that first drug probably is not even in use."
The real opportunity lies in creating a flywheel in which each successful therapy deepens scientific understanding, attracts more investment, and accelerates the next generation of medicines.
With that in mind, we've identified longevity biotechnology companies showing great promise in 2026. Some are already testing first-in-class therapies in humans. Others are building the platforms that could define the next decade of aging medicine. Together, they offer a snapshot of where one of biotech's fastest-moving fields is headed next.
Altos Labs
Sector: Cell rejuvenation and induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) approaches
HQ: Redwood City, CA
Year Founded: 2022
Origin Story: Founded after Yuri Milner convened leading scientists at his home to discuss how Nobel laureate Shinya Yamanaka's breakthrough discoveries in cellular reprogramming could be translated into medicines capable of reversing disease and restoring cell health.
Key Leaders: Hal Barron, MD, CEO, Co-founder, and Board Co-Chair; Rick Klausner, MD, Chief Scientific Advisor, Co-founder, and Board Co-Chair; Hans Bishop, President, Founder and Board Co-Chair; Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte, PhD, Founding Scientist and Senior Vice President
Number of Employees: 201-500
Stage: Private
Financial Snapshot: Raised approximately $3 billion in initial financing commitments at its 2022 launch, setting a record for the largest biotech startup financing in history.
Notable Investors: Jeff Bezos, Yuri and Julia Milner, ARCH Venture Partners
Key Products: Cellular rejuvenation therapies based on partial cellular reprogramming, supported by AI- and machine learning-enabled computational biology platforms.
Recent Highlights: In April, Altos scientists contributed to a Cell Metabolism study demonstrating that vitamin C suppresses "ferro-aging" by inhibiting ACSL4, extending healthspan in mice and improving multiple biomarkers of aging in nonhuman primates. The company also underwent a significant scientific reorganization recently, marked by the departures of prominent researchers, including Steve Horvath and Peter Walter, alongside an increased emphasis on AI and computational biology.
Life Biosciences
Sector: Partial epigenetic reprogramming and cellular rejuvenation
HQ: Boston, MA
Year Founded: 2017
Origin Story: Founded to translate discoveries in the biology of aging into therapies capable of treating age-related diseases by targeting the underlying mechanisms of cellular decline.
Key Leaders: Jerry McLaughlin, Director and Chief Executive Officer; Michael Ringel, PhD, JD, Chief Operating Officer; Sharon Rosenzweig-Lipson, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer
Number of Employees: 11-50
Stage: Series D
Financial Snapshot: Raised an $80 million Series D financing in April.
Notable Investors: Alpha Wave Ventures, The Longevity Fund, Abundance Partners, IMO Ventures
Key Products: ER-100, an AAV gene therapy designed to partially reset epigenetic age in retinal ganglion cells.
Recent Highlights: Became the first company to dose a human with a partial epigenetic reprogramming therapy in June, marking one of the field's most significant clinical milestones.
New Limit
Sector: Epigenetic reprogramming
HQ: South San Francisco, CA
Year Founded: 2021
Origin Story: Created around the idea that aging cells can be restored to a younger, healthier state by precisely controlling gene expression, avoiding the risks of fully reprogramming cells into stem cells.
Key Leaders: Jacob Kimmel, Co-founder and CEO; Brian Armstrong, Co-founder and Board Member; Blake Byers, Co-founder; Melissa Calton, Head of Translation; Ron Hause, Head of Computational Sciences; Alex Kim, Head of People
Number of Employees: 11-50
Stage: Series C
Financial Snapshot: Raised $435 million in a Series C financing in June.
Notable Investors: Kleiner Perkins, Founders Fund, Khosla Ventures, Dimension Capital, Elad Gil, Garry Tan.
Key Products: AI-enabled epigenetic reprogramming therapies intended to restore youthful gene expression in aging cells while preserving their specialized function, initially focused on liver, immune, and vascular diseases.
Recent Highlights: Expanded its AI-enabled reprogramming platform and announced plans to begin its first human trial in 2027.
Retro Biosciences
Sector: Cellular rejuvenation and regenerative medicine
HQ: Redwood City, CA
Year Founded: 2021
Origin Story: Founded to add 10 years to healthy human lifespan by developing therapies that target the cellular mechanisms of aging and prevent or reverse age-related disease.
Key Leaders: Joe Betts-LaCroix, Co-founder and CEO; Sheng Ding, Co-founder and scientific founder; Jessica Sprueill, Head of Scientific Operations
Number of Employees: 51-200
Stage: Clinical-stage private company
Financial Snapshot: Initially launched with a $180 million commitment from Sam Altman and, in May, announced the initial close of a new financing round at a $1.8 billion pre-money valuation.
Notable Investors: Sam Altman, 4P Capital, Mana Ventures
Key Products: Therapeutic programs focused on autophagy enhancement, microglia therapeutics, hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) reprogramming, and tissue reprogramming.
Recent Highlights: Announced the initial close of a new financing round at a $1.8 billion pre-money valuation to advance its first clinical program, RTR242, while accelerating additional first-in-human programs in 2026 and 2027 and expanding its pipeline of aging therapeutics.
Cambrian Bio
Sector: Longevity therapeutics targeting the biological drivers of aging
HQ: New York, New York
Year Founded: 2019
Origin Story: Founded to build and support a portfolio of companies developing medicines that target the biology of aging, with the goal of bringing longevity therapeutics to patients faster.
Key Leaders: James Peyer, PhD, CEO, Founder, and Board Director; Juliette Han, PhD, Chief Financial Officer & Chief Operating Officer; Mark Nuttall, PhD, Chief Business Officer; Ruth Thieroff-Ekerdt, MD, Chief Medical Officer; Bill DeVaul, Chief Legal Officer.
Number of Employees: 11-50
Stage: Series C
Financial Snapshot: Has raised a total of $211 million over seven rounds, including a $100 million Series C in 2021 and, most recently, a $23 million financing in January 2025.
Notable Investors: Anthos Capital, SALT Fund, Apeiron Investment Group, Future Ventures, Moore Capital
Key Products: ATX-304, an AMPK activator; portfolio companies developing therapies for aging biology.
Recent Highlights: In June, reported positive Phase 1b human data for ATX-304 at the American Diabetes Association 86th Scientific Sessions, demonstrating increased resting metabolic rate and nearly doubled adiponectin levels with a placebo-like safety profile, while continuing to expand its portfolio of longevity therapeutics.
Gero
Sector: AI drug discovery and aging biology
HQ: Singapore; U.S. operations in San Francisco
Year Founded: 2018
Origin Story: Co-Founder Peter Fedichev, PhD, spent more than a decade as a theoretical physicist before applying principles of physics to biology. After co-founding Quantum Pharmaceuticals, he launched Gero to use physics-informed AI and human health data to uncover the mechanisms of aging and discover new medicines.
Key Leaders: Peter Fedichev, PhD, CEO and Co-Founder; Max Kholin, Co-Founder and Chief Corporate Development Officer; Aleksandr Sviridov, Chief Operating Officer; Amir Feizi, PhD, Head of Translational AI and Discovery
Number of Employees: 11-50
Stage: Series B
Financial Snapshot: Raised approximately $17 million in June.
Notable Investors: Melnichek Investments, VitaDAO, and Leonid Lozner
Key Products: Large Health Models trained on more than 100 million patient records, physics-informed AI for therapeutic target discovery, ProtoBind-Diff for AI-driven small-molecule design, and a pipeline of medicines designed to slow aging and treat age-related diseases.
Recent Highlights: In June, Gero raised $17 million in new financing, bringing total equity funding to $34 million, and was named a World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer. Earlier, in July 2025, the company entered a strategic research and licensing collaboration with Chugai Pharmaceutical to develop therapies for age-related diseases.
Junevity
Sector: Cell reset therapeutics
HQ: San Francisco, CA
Year Founded: 2023
Origin Story: Founded to commercialize breakthrough UCSF research demonstrating that aging cells can be rejuvenated by selectively repressing transcription factors that drive cellular dysfunction.
Key Leaders: John Hoekman, PhD, Co-Founder and CEO; Janine Sengstack, PhD, Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer; Rob Cahill, Co-Founder, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Business Officer; Yi Jin, PhD, Vice President of siRNA Therapeutic Development
Number of Employees: 11-50
Stage: Seed
Financial Snapshot: Raised $20 million in Seed financing, including a $10 million extension in December 2025 led by Goldcrest Capital and Godfrey Capital, to advance lead candidate JUN_01 through IND-enabling studies and into first-in-human trials, expected to begin in the second half of this year.
Notable Investors: Goldcrest Capital, Godfrey Capital
Key Products: JUN_01, a liver-targeted siRNA therapeutic in development for type 2 diabetes and obesity, which has demonstrated improvements in glucose control, insulin sensitivity, weight loss, and lean-mass preservation in preclinical studies, alongside the company's RESET platform for discovering cell-reprogramming siRNA therapies targeting age-related diseases.
Recent Highlights: In June, Junevity shared new data showing its lead siRNA therapy, JUN_01, successfully reprogrammed aging cells in vivo while generating encouraging safety data in non-human primates, bringing the program a step closer to human trials. The company also partnered with Lilly ExploR&D to use its RESET platform to identify new siRNA targets for Parkinson's disease.
Rubedo Life Sciences
Sector: Therapeutics that selectively clear senescent cells
HQ: Sunnyvale, CA
Year Founded: 2018
Origin Story: Founded by Marco Quarta, PhD, to develop a new generation of precision senolytic therapies, Rubedo Life Sciences draws its name from "rubedo," the final stage of alchemy symbolizing transformation and renewal. The company is built on the idea that selectively targeting harmful senescent cells—while sparing healthy ones—could lead to more effective treatments for age-related diseases.
Key Leaders: Frederick C. Beddingfield III, MD, PhD, Chief Executive Officer and Board Director; Marco Quarta, PhD, Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer; Mark Gallop, PhD, Co-Founder and Chairman of the Board
Number of Employees: 11-50
Stage: Series A
Financial Snapshot: Raised $40 million in a Series A financing in April 2024, co-led by Khosla Ventures and Ahren Innovation Capital, to advance lead candidate RLS-1496 into the clinic and expand its pipeline of therapies targeting senescent cells.
Notable Investors: Khosla Ventures, Ahren Innovation Capital, Hevolution Foundation; R42 Group; LongeVC
Key Products: RLS-1496, a first-in-class GPX4 modulator designed to selectively eliminate harmful senescent cells, and ALEMBIC™, an AI-powered drug discovery platform that identifies new drug targets and develops precision therapies for age-related diseases. The company's broader pipeline also includes preclinical programs for metabolic (RBO-3XX) and neurological (RBO-4XX) diseases.
Recent highlights: In March, Rubedo reported encouraging Phase 1 results for RLS-1496, showing the first GPX4 modulator tested in humans was well tolerated and demonstrated early signs of clinical activity in patients with psoriasis and atopic dermatitis. The milestone followed the first patient being dosed in May 2025, marking Rubedo's transition into a clinical-stage longevity company, and built on an October 2025 FDA clearance to expand development of RLS-1496 into actinic keratosis.
Juvena Therapeutics
Sector: AI-enabled regenerative biologics developing tissue-restorative therapies for muscle, metabolic, and age-related diseases
HQ: Redwood City, CA
Year Founded: 2017
Origin Story: Founded by Stanford researcher Hanadie Yousef, PhD, to harness the regenerative proteins secreted by stem cells and engineer them into biologic therapies for muscle, metabolic, and other age-related diseases.
Key Leaders: Hanadie Yousef, Co-founder and CEO; Jeremy O'Connell, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer and Co-Founder; Colin Hislop, MD, Senior Vice President of Clinical Development; Banmeet Anand, PhD, Senior Vice President of Drug Development
Number of Employees: 11-50
Stage: Series B
Financial Snapshot: Raised $33.5 million in a Series B financing in January
Notable Investors: Bison Ventures, Mubadala Capital, Eli Lilly and Company, Jefferson Life Sciences, Manta Ray
Key Products: The JuvNET AI-enabled drug discovery platform, which systematically maps regenerative stem cell-secreted proteins to disease biology, and a pipeline of engineered biologics designed to restore tissue homeostasis, with lead candidate JUV-161 and programs spanning myopathies, obesity, sarcopenia, and other metabolic diseases.
Recent Highlights: In January, Juvena raised a $33.5 million Series B led by Bison Ventures to advance its lead candidate, JUV-161, through Phase 1 clinical trials and expand its pipeline of AI-enabled regenerative biologics. The financing followed a research collaboration last year with Eli Lilly worth more than $650 million in potential milestones to discover muscle health therapeutics using Juvena's JuvNET platform.
Nula Therapeutics
Sector: Nuclear envelope biology
HQ: St. Petersburg, FL
Year Founded: 2021
Origin Story: Founded by scientists and entrepreneurs from Apollo Health Ventures, Nula Therapeutics was built on the discovery that dysfunction of the nuclear envelope is a fundamental driver of aging and chronic disease. The company is developing small molecules designed to restore nuclear organization and healthy cellular function.
Key Leaders: Christopher Shepard, PhD, CEO and Co-founder
Number of Employees: 2-10
Stage: Seed
Financial Snapshot: Launched with more than $30 million in funding, including up to a $20 million ARPA-H award.
Notable Investors: Apollo Health Ventures, Korify Capital, Alluti - Smart Invest, Starbloom Capital
Key Products: NLT-101, a clinic-ready small molecule designed to restore nuclear envelope function in metabolic dysfunction.
Recent Highlights: In April, Nula emerged from stealth with more than $30 million in funding, including up to $20 million from ARPA-H's PROSPR program, to advance its nuclear envelope-targeting therapeutics. The company also announced plans to begin a Phase 1 trial of lead candidate NLT-101 later this year, with initial results expected in mid-2027.
BioAge Labs
Sector: Longevity therapeutics for metabolic disease
HQ: Emeryville, CA
Year Founded: 2015
Origin Story: While studying the genetics of exceptional human longevity at Stanford, Kristen Fortney, PhD, recognized that people who age exceptionally well could reveal drug targets missed by traditional research. She co-founded BioAge Labs with Eric Morgen, MD, to harness large-scale human longevity data and translate those discoveries into medicines targeting the biology of aging.
Key Leaders: Kristen Fortney, PhD, Co-Founder and CEO; Eric Morgen, MD, Co-Founder and COO; Paul Rubin, MD, Chief Medical Officer and Executive Vice President, Research; Dov Goldstein, MD, MBA, Chief Financial Officer; Peng Leong, PhD, MBA, Chief Business Officer and Therapeutic Area Head, Brain Aging
Number of Employees: 51-100
Stage: Public (Nasdaq: BIOA)
Financial Snapshot: Completed a $132.3 million upsized follow-on public offering in April, and ended the first quarter with $384.9 million in cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities, which the company expects will fund operations through 2029.
Notable Investors: Andreessen Horowitz, Kaiser Permanente Ventures, Longitude Capital, RA Capital, Lilly Ventures, Amgen Ventures
Key Products: BGE-102, an oral NLRP3 inhibitor in Phase 2 for cardiovascular disease, and a pipeline of therapies targeting metabolic disease, obesity, and brain aging discovered through the company's human longevity platform.
Recent Highlights: In June, BioAge dosed the first participant in the Phase 2 QUELL-CV trial evaluating BGE-102 in patients with elevated cardiovascular risk, with topline data expected in the second half of 2026. In April, the company reported positive Phase 1 results showing BGE-102 achieved reductions in inflammatory biomarkers while demonstrating a favorable safety profile. BioAge also plans to initiate a Phase 1b/2a trial of BGE-102 in diabetic macular edema, with initial results expected in mid-2027.
