Fight Aging!

Michael Greve is an internet entrepeneur turned venture capitalist with a long-standing interest in aging and longevity, and today he has pledged $10 million in support of SENS rejuvenation research: $5 million for the science, and a further $5 million to fund startups for clinical development. This money will help speed the development of therapies that can repair the forms of cell and tissue damage that cause aging, and thus prevent age-related disease, rejuvenate the old, and significantly extend healthy life spans. Michael Greve runs the Forever Healthy Foundation and the Kizoo venture fund, and has become ever more involved in the SENS rejuvenation research community over the past few years. If you attended any of the recent SENS conferences you might have met him. He was one of the generous matching fund donors for last year's Fight Aging! SENS fundraiser, and this year his venture fund has invested in companies Oisin Biotechnology and Ichor Therapeutics, both of which are carrying out the clinical development of biotechnologies relevant to the SENS approach.

I'm very pleased to see that Michael Greve has now joined the ranks of those who have committed a significant amount of funding to SENS research, alongside Aubrey de Grey, Peter Thiel, and Jason Hope. As more people in the venture community demonstrate their public, material support for this path forward, I think that we're going to see greater interest from that quarter. This is something that the SENS Research Foundation has been building towards since its inception, as it is no accident that the organization is headquartered in the Bay Area. The $5 million that Greve has pledged to research will be the founding donation for Project|21, which is the new SENS Research Foundation high-level fundraising program aiming to pull in exactly this sort of support: millions for specific programs, to complete the first prototype SENS rejuvenation therapies and push this industry into existence. You'll be hearing a lot more of this in the years ahead.

As you look at this important step forward in the movement to bring aging under medical control, consider that we all helped to make this happen, to persuade people like Michael Greve that this is the right place to invest in progress. Without the community of grassroots support and activism, without our voices and our own modest donations, without the writing and the crowdfunding and the discussions, without the simple step of talking to your friends about ending aging, we could never have gained the interest of people who can devote millions to the causes they believe in. A movement is a process, a collaboration. Today we can celebrate, and I think it is clear that this is but the start of far greater growth and success to come in the years ahead.

Michael Greve Commits $10 Million

German Internet Entrepreneur Michael Greve today announced that his Forever Healthy Foundation will be committing $5 million in philanthropic support over the next five years to the SENS Research Foundation (SRF), a non-profit organization focused on transforming the way the world researches and treats age-related disease. In addition Michael Greve's company KIZOO Technology Ventures will be committing seed investments of $5 million in startups focused on bringing rejuvenation biotechnology treatments to market.

"My goal is to provide support for the critical research of the SENS Research Foundation and to facilitate the development of the rejuvenation biotech industry and ecosystem. I think we should have more people contribute to the step-by-step creation of cures for the root causes of all age-related diseases. And we should have a whole rejuvenation industry based on the SENS treatment model including the self-accelerating feedback-loop of success stories and amazing opportunities for scientist, entrepreneurs and VC investors. This will truly accelerate both research and therapies. I have decided to lead by example and make this $10 million commitment," said Michael Greve.

Forever Healthy Foundation's initial donation will fund projects including Allotopic Expression of Mitochondrial Genes led by Dr. Matthew O'Connor at the SENS Research Foundation Research center and Pharmacological and/or enzymatic cleavage of glucosepane crosslinks led by Dr. David Spiegel at Yale University, SENS Research Foundation's Education Program led by Dr. Greg Chin and other SENS Research Foundation programs.

"Michael Greve's commitment shows that there is clear support for the critical work of the SENS Research Foundation. As the first donation in our Project|21 fundraising campaign, it will help enable us to build a bridge to the first human clinical trials of Rejuvenation Biotechnologies by 2021. This gift is an important cornerstone that we will be able to build upon," said Mike Kope, CEO, SENS Research Foundation.

SENS Project|21

Project|21 is a new initiative created by SENS Research Foundation to end age-related disease through human clinical trials, starting in 2021, through investment in rejuvenation biotechnology. We have all the pieces in place - core research groups, key players, shared knowledge, and underlying tools - for the creation of this industry.

Through three new programs, the Bridge fund, The Center of Excellence, and The Alliance Program, Project|21 will deliver the perfect environment for this fusion of opportunity and investment. With proper stewardship of this emerging industry, we can create an environment where the first damage repair interventions to address specific age-related disease will be brought to human clinical trials within five years.

$50 million in total funding is required for Project|21, at least half of which will come from the members of SENS Research Foundation's Group|21. Group|21 will bring together 21 philanthropists, each donating between $500,000 and $5 million. Grants, grassroots efforts, and matching-fund strategies will provide the remaining support.