Garri Zmudze’s Post

"The biggest risk of all is not taking one." — Mellody Hobson. Mellody Hobson is a prominent businesswoman, co-CEO of Ariel Investments, and the chairwoman of Starbucks Corporation. She was also a chairwoman of DreamWorks Animation before it got acquired by NBCUniversal in August 2016. Her words resonate so much with my own vision on what to do in life. Being angel investor, founder and venture capitalist myself, I’ve had my share of challenges and risks, and still have them all the time. But the ability of being able to move a needle here and there and help a community of smart entrepreneurs convert breakthrough ideas into life-changing, sometimes life saving, products and services -- that pays for all the risks and challenges of being an investor. Also, I truly believe that you have to aim high with your goals. I’ve been focusing on longevity and deeptech because I think this is very important, and it is not just about money, it is about making an impact. If you share my vision, and if you are building something revolutionary in drug discovery, biotech, longevity or pet tech -- reach out. Maybe we can hit the next big story together! #venturecapital #motivation #investing

Glad to share that Insilico Medicine delivered a second preclinical candidate for solid tumor treatment, for their collaboration with Chinese pharmaceutical giant Fosun Pharma. I invested in Insilico Medicine as a business angel when it was just starting with a bold vision, but now the company is a powerhouse of AI-driven drug discovery! The collaboration with Fosun Pharma dates back to January 2022. Then, Fosun Pharma identified four targets of interest, including a key target involved in DNA damage repair mechanisms, which was selected for the preclinical candidate compound in this program. Insilico's R&D team analyzed and validated this target using PandaOmics an AI target identification engine, along with Life Star 1, an AI-driven robotics lab. Subsequently, scientists employed Chemistry42, a generative chemistry engine, to create and design compounds specifically for this target. A couple of words about the previous program of this collaboration. Just one month into the collaboration in 2022, Insilico Medicine delivered the first preclinical compound for the QPCTL program, which is now undergoing a Phase I clinical trial in China and has recently administered the first dose to a patient for the treatment of advanced malignant tumors. A benchmarking analysis by BiopharmaTrend recently demonstrated the record-breaking dynamics of nominating drug candidates and clinical candidates via AI-driven approach. I link the analysis in the comments. #drugdiscovery #artificialintelligence #genAI Alex Zhavoronkov Alex Aliper Image credit: Insilico Medicine. In the photo, one of the robots operating in the Life Star 1 fully robotized lab.

I want to give a shout-out to Mercury an amazing fintech solution for startups. What I particularly like about this service is that it is simple and smooth, onboarding is easy and straightforward, and the scope of tools is really wide and versed towards entrepreneurs and startups. Check their website for sure (in the comments), but here just a list of key features: ✔ Fast online application and onboarding ✔ Start spending immediately with virtual cards ✔ Complete any banking task in just a few clicks ✔ Bank on-the-go with an intuitive mobile app ✔ Create auto-transfer rules between your accounts ✔ Approve payments instantly via Slack ✔ Close the books quickly and accurately with Xero and Quickbooks integrations ✔ Automate payroll with easy wire drawdowns ✔ Create user-level permissions so that employees and bookkeepers only access the accounts they need ✔ Set approval rules for large purchases and specify who can make payments without approval ✔ Manage team spend with customizable & flexible card limits ✔ Get up to $5M in FDIC insurance through partner banks and their use of sweep networks ✔ Protect deposits while earning yield with SPIC-insured Mercury Treasury money market portfolios Pay attention, Mercury is a fintech company, not an FDIC-insured bank. Banking services provided by Choice Financial Group and Evolve Bank & Trust ®️; Members FDIC. Deposit insurance covers the failure of an insured bank. All in all, it is just a really suitable banking solution for dynamic teams, like startups, and I can recommend this tool to our colleagues and startup founders in the life sciences and longevity fields. If you need support, please reach Ben Kromnick, who is managing life science and healthcare clients at Mercury. #fintech #onlinebanking #startups #lifesciences Image credit: Mercury

Happy to see Unnatural Products Inc. , our portfolio company, featured by Nature Biotechnology editors! Each year, Nature Biotechnology highlights companies that have received sizable early-stage funding in the previous year, and offer a unique technology or scientific solution. Unnatural Products is pairing artificial intelligence (AI) with chemistry and leveraging the power of macrocycles to create treatments for undruggable or hard-to-reach drug targets. The company closed $32 Million in Series A last December. Macrocycles and cyclic peptides offer an opportunity to radically expand the druggable genome. Naturally derived macrocycles, for instance, have been used as essential medicines across a variety of indications for decades. Take cyclosporine as a cool example. Their larger size and favorable drug-like properties allow macrocycles to hit intracellular targets too complex for small molecules or replicate the potency and selectivity of antibodies in an oral dosage form. This is a new chapter in drug discovery and Unnatural Products is riding the wave, and I am happy LongeVC is part of this evolution. Kudos to Michael Eisenstein for featuring our portfolio company! #drugdiscovery #macrocycles Image credit: Nature Biotechnology

Epigenetics influences your health and aging more than genetics. Isn’t it the best gift from nature to humanity? No, really. If you stop and think about it for a moment, the dominance of epigenetics in your biological fate is one of the most optimistic scientific revelations in the entire history of biological sciences, I think. Why? Because it gives hope and sound expectations that we could actually do something about our long-term health, and there is some realistic possibility we will be able to extend our healthy lifespan considerably. We are not entirely doomed by the natural genetic order, science tells us. Unlike fixed genetic codes, epigenetic mechanisms such as DNA methylation, histone modification, and chromatin remodeling can be modulated through lifestyle changes, drugs, and other therapies, making them powerful tools in the fight against aging and age-related diseases. Consider this post to be a dose of optimism from me, but if you want to deepdive into the science of epigenetics, I recommend reading this review article: “Epigenetic regulation of aging: implications for interventions of aging and diseases” (link in the comments). It gives a solid historical context on what we know so far about epigenetics and what we could do to improve our health. On my part, I am actively investing in aging and longevity startups, both as an angel investor and via our longevity-focused venture capital fund LongeVC If you have great ideas on how to influence epigenetics for the better future of humanity, DM without hesitation! 🙏 #agingresearch #epigenetics #longevity Image from: “Epigenetic regulation of aging: implications for interventions of aging and diseases”, link in the comments.

Just wanted to share an inspiring documentary by Insilico Medicine, a video capturing an incredible story of one of the first truly AI-driven drug discovery projects. Insilico pioneered generative AI in drug discovery long before this term became a hugely popular buzzword in the modern realms of ChatGPT. They used generative adversarial neural nets (GANs) back in 2016-2018 to design drug candidates de novo. Now the company is at the cutting edge of the generative AI revolution and has an impressive portfolio of preclinical and clinical programs, some of which are very relevant to aging research and longevity. But what is really important besides scientific and business achievements is how the team at Insilico, and especially their founder, Alex Zhavoronkov, put considerable efforts into inspiring and educating the younger generation of future scientists. For example, Alex helped launch Longevity Medicine Courses for medical doctors and other healthcare specialists, co-organized one of the leading longevity conferences in the world, ARDD Aging Research & Drug Discovery Meeting and constantly provides his insights about longevity and pharmaceutical AI in his books and popular science articles. In the new documentary series, Alex and the team of Insilico Medicine tell a story about how the company gradually built one of the most sophisticated AI drug discovery platforms on the market, and what it takes to crack the natural riddles of our body. Watch the first documentary below!

I am excited to be a judge in the upcoming #ARDD2024 Startup Pitch session on Thursday, August 29th in lovely Copenhagen! If you are a startup founder with a focus on aging, biotech and drug discovery, it is your opportunity to pitch pioneering ideas and innovative solutions to raise money and boost your brand. The Startup Pitch panel will be moderated by Jitka Kolarova, Lead for Innovations in Health and Healthcare at World Economic Forum, and other judges include: Katerina Stroponiati - Founder of Brilliant Minds Jens Nielsen - CEO at BioInnovation Institute Reach out to us at BAKULA@sund.ku.dk for more information on how to participate. Don't miss this opportunity to shine at the world's leading longevity event #ARDD2024 and take your startup to the next level! 🚀 #StartupPitch #agingresearch #longevity #venturecapital LongeVC Alex Zhavoronkov Morten Scheibye-Knudsen Daniela Bakula Longevity Science Foundation Image credit: ARDD

By 2050, over 2.1 billion will be aged over 60. It is insane statistics, if you think about it. In light of this looming threat to societal structure, we are all trying to push aging research, support new technologies in the longevity field. But longevity research is not the only aspect to think about. I just read a pretty solid report “Longevity Economy Principles: The Foundation for a Financially Resilient Future,” published by the World Economic Forum, and here I want to bring your attention to the 6 principles for the longevity economy: ✔ Ensure financial resilience across key life events Nearly 40% globally face financial instability after unplanned career interruptions, including career breaks, illness or unexpected retirement.1 Public-private collaboration is crucial to support individuals navigating these challenges. ✔ Provide universal access to impartial financial education Only 33% of the global population is deemed financially literate, contributing to wealth inequalities, strongly correlated with life expectancy inequalities. Comprehensive, impartial financial education empowers individuals to make informed financial decisions. ✔ Prioritize healthy ageing as foundational for the longevity economy Around one-fifth of life is expected to be lived with illness,3 and 80% of adults in developing countries are concerned with the cost of medical expenses.4 Equitable access to health services can facilitate well-being for both the individual and broader society. ✔ Evolve jobs and lifelong skill-building for a multigenerational workforce Internationally, up to 25% of individuals aged 55 and older wish to work in old age but face barriers in finding opportunities.5 Demographic shifts and technology innovations require jobs and skill-building to adapt and evolve, enabling individuals to extend their working years as desired. ✔ Design systems and environments for social connection and purpose Social connection is integral to healthy longevity. Socially isolated older adults have a higher risk of poor health and earlier death. Intentional design of systems and environments for social connection can mitigate these impacts. ✔ Intentionally address longevity inequalities, including across gender, race and class Benefits of longevity are not distributed equitably. Advocacy for pay and pension equity, as well as support for informal caregivers, are some of the crucial elements to ensure that financial security and the benefits of longevity can be more accessible to all. Kudos to Haleh Nazeri and Rich Nuzum, CFA for creating this thought leadership piece. At LongeVC we support not only tech and science companies but also those helping improve the economic condition of various communities and democratize access to longevity for as many as possible. #longevityeconomy #longevity #globaleconomy #future Image credit: World Economic Forum