In this Lifespan interview, we speak with Gabriel Cian, founder of the 2060 Longevity Forum, about how his background in software shaped his views on healthspan innovation, the forum’s approach to scientific and investment credibility, and what he sees as the biggest bottlenecks and opportunities facing the field of longevity today.
Hi, Gabriel. Let’s start with your background. Can you introduce yourself and explain how your path led from software entrepreneurship into the longevity space?
When I sold my last startup in the tech space, I had just turned 40. According to Western health standards, I could expect to live in relatively good health until around 65 followed by 15 years of chronic illness.
That would mean I would die sometime around 80. That was it, just 25 more healthy years, with so much still to experience and achieve. I wanted more. That’s when I discovered longevity research.
I began to realize that the relentless pace of entrepreneurship had taken a serious toll on my health. I was prediabetic, under chronic stress, had a misaligned vertebra in my spine, and showed inflammatory markers comparable to those of a 72 year old.
It was a serious wakeup call for me!
Picturing myself dedicating the second half of my life to longevity, helping Humanity overcome aging felt fully aligned with myself.
This is how the 2060 Foundation, whose purpose is to help humanity defeat Aging, was born.
Would you say that your experience as a founder in tech has shaped how you think about healthspan, biotech, or systemic change more broadly?
When I started my first startup, everyone around me, friends, family, tried to convince me to give up. They said that I was crazy, that it would not work, but I chose to fight against this, and prove them wrong.
It took many years, even decades, but it eventually worked. Every argument against my startup and my project would make me even more motivated to make it work. Even though I had no money, no particular experience, and no precise idea on how I would succeed, I believed I could do it.
I’m roughly in the same position today, when it comes to longevity.
All of what I’ve done as a tech entrepreneur in the last 20 years feels now like training for what I’m doing now. I have to resist social pressure, and convince people around me that it is possible to slow down aging, and even reverse it.
But I have limited resources to make this happen; research in biotechnology is expensive! It may take decades until we know how to solve aging. Achieving this goal is all about grit, persistence, and audacity. Thinking and acting long term over the short term.
What motivated you to create the 2060 Longevity Forum, and how did you settle on the name and location?
I live in the south of France, one of the most beautiful, culturally rich, and longevity-friendly regions in the world.
My vision is to build a true Longevity Hub here: a place where longevity enthusiasts from all over the world can come and live with their families. They can then combine this with cutting-edge biotech research and medical infrastructure from advanced labs to preventative longevity clinics.
When it comes to the name of the conference, the year 2060 represents my commitment to invest the next 40 years of my life to humanity’s most audacious aspiration: solving aging. By that time, I’ll be 80!
With more longevity events emerging, how do you ensure this forum serves a unique purpose and doesn’t overlap with others?
My team and I have spoken with many attendees of longevity conferences and identified a clear gap: investment.
While numerous events rightfully focus on the academic and scientific side of longevity, very few put the spotlight on funding. There’s a real need for spaces where longevity startups can connect with investors, and where venture capitalists can engage with limited partners.
If we want to accelerate progress in this field, we need serious capital. At the end of the day, longevity isn’t just about science, it’s about funding.
The agenda spans well-supported interventions to more exploratory topics like cryonics and mind uploading. How do you decide what belongs on the program?
The core mission of the 2060 Longevity Forum is clear: channel as much capital as possible into the longevity ecosystem. More funding means more brilliant minds making more longevity breakthroughs.
Having said that, investors come in all shapes and sizes, so the projects and experts that come as keynote speakers need to cover the whole spectrum of possible interventions in longevity. With that in mind, I have invited longevity clinics, researchers, and startups working on whole body transplants.
How do you strike the balance between encouraging bold ideas and maintaining scientific credibility?
Having been a fundraising entrepreneur in the past and now an investor myself, I’ve come to realize that no two investors are the same. Each brings a unique mix of expertise, risk tolerance, and personal track record. Some are drawn to bold, visionary ideas; others prefer near-term, de-risked opportunities.
My mission is to engage as many of them as possible in the longevity space, which is why the 2060 Longevity Forum will showcase the full spectrum of projects from pragmatic, revenue-ready ventures to transformative moonshots.
I don’t have a specific algorithm to deal with this, it’s a case-by-case evaluation, and I’m also relying on experts that give me their opinion.
In short, I’m aiming for a balanced distribution between proven solutions and bold innovations across the whole spectrum of longevity startups.
You’ve called longevity the greatest investment opportunity of our time. What makes it so compelling to you personally?
I think AI is disrupting the field of biotechnology in an exponential and therefore unpredictable way, because we humans don’t know how to predict exponential curves, do we?
Rreally, the best way to predict the future is to create it yourself. So this feels like the right time to bet big time on major breakthroughs in the next years and decades.
Once I’ve said that, it becomes my mission to make that happen. Contributing to the field, and shortening the time before we discover something big, by channeling more funds into the field, makes it very compelling for me because I feel I can significantly contribute to that.
What do you see as the biggest bottlenecks to more investors getting involved in the space – and how are you trying to address them?
Investors could allocate significantly more capital to longevity, but several key obstacles stand in the way:
1. Lack of visibility and credibility
Many investors aren’t even aware that longevity is a serious investment opportunity. Without digging into the science, some still associate it with hype or snake oil, assuming aging is irreversible.
2. Lack of success stories
We need tangible wins both in terms of clinical breakthroughs and ROI to build trust. It’s a bit like AI before and after ChatGPT: investment was hesitant before, and exploded after. Longevity needs its own inflection point.
3. Lack of long-term thinking
Today’s investment models are geared toward 3x returns in 5-10 years, but longevity, with its R&D-driven nature, may offer 100x returns in 20 years. Imagine the market size for technologies that add even 10 extra years of healthspan. It’s massive. Investors can be educated to shift from short-term returns to exponential long-term impact.
4. Lack of meaning
ROI is important, but what about return on life? Most investors are trained to chase financial performance above all, but what if the most meaningful investment is one that helps extend life itself? Money is a tool, and using it to fund breakthroughs that allow us to live longer, healthier lives gives it its highest purpose.
This is why I’m taking a long-term approach to catalyze investment in longevity:
- Through Ikare.Health, I help investors take care of their own health using the best longevity treatments available today. (Ikare is named after a small blue zone island in Greece.)
- As they reach today’s limits, I challenge them to think bigger and invest in tomorrow’s breakthroughs through our 2060 Longevity Investment Club, a private community of investors backing longevity startups exclusively.
- To unite the entire ecosystem, I’ve launched the 2060 Longevity Forum designed to increase visibility, spark connections, and create strong network effects. Virtual networks don’t work well until people meet in person.
I believe that with the right mix of education, community, and long-term vision, longevity investing is only just beginning. It may take decades to fully realize this ambition but it’s a mission well worth the journey.
This year’s event includes both startup pitch sessions and LP-GP networking. Why did you choose to spotlight both early-stage companies and fund managers?
The end game of what I’m trying to achieve revolves around one core mission: driving more investment into longevity. This includes supporting startups actively raising funds but also facilitating connections between GPs (fund managers) and LPs (capital providers) who believe in the long-term potential of the field.
Raising capital is never easy and it’s even more challenging in longevity, where timelines can be longer and the science more complex. That’s why I’m creating tailored opportunities for both types of investors:
- For those who want to invest directly in startups, we host dedicated pitch sessions.
- For those who prefer to back experienced fund managers, we facilitate direct connections with longevity-focused GPs.
I’ve seen strong enthusiasm for our LP-GP speed-networking format, and I’m fully committed to making it a standout success.
Some argue longevity may primarily benefit the wealthy. How do you think the field can evolve to better serve broader populations?
This is a crucial topic that deserves serious attention.
There’s a growing body of recent examples suggesting that once a life-extension technology proves effective, it’s likely to reach mass-market adoption from day one.
Take Large Language Models (LLMs) as an example. While not related to longevity, they represent one of the most disruptive technological leaps in human history. When ChatGPT launched in November 2022, no one expected it to become ubiquitous so quickly, yet just a few years later, it’s widely available, often for free, with multiple competitors offering similar tools at no cost. It’s used by millions, across all sectors of society.
One might argue that LLMs needed mass adoption to gather vast amounts of training data. But the same is true for longevity R&D we need large-scale datasets to uncover the right correlations between interventions and their impact on healthspan and lifespan.
We’re already seeing early signs of this mass-market trajectory in longevity-related drugs:
- GLP-1 agonists (like semaglutide) are among the few longevity-linked treatments already on the market. While the extent of their healthspan benefits is still under review, these drugs are widely accessible and increasingly affordable.
- Metformin, another life-extension candidate, is so inexpensive that it’s no longer of interest to big pharma. As a generic drug, it’s available to virtually everyone.
- Rapamycin, also a promising compound in the aging field, is similarly low-cost and accessible to those who wish to explore its potential.
While concerns about life-extension technologies being reserved for a privileged elite are understandable, current trends suggest otherwise. The trajectory of innovation especially in tech and pharma is increasingly democratized. The evidence so far points to broad access, not exclusivity.
How geographically concentrated is longevity investment in your experience? Do you see notable differences – or advantages – emerging in particular regions?
From my experience, the US is leading by a short edge, but we’re very early on, and I strongly believe in a world where scientists from all the countries, organized in small and agile teams, can discover major things, taking advantage of their local scientific, regulatory, and cultural landscape.
For example, in some Eastern European countries, the cost of clinical trials is very low (thinking of https://thecathealth.com/), so they’re doing research in Romania.
In France, there are excellent, world-class scientists. Providing some funding and pairing them with more seasoned entrepreneurs could make terrific startups.
I was talking to another startup, Cyclarity; they’re doing their clinical trials in Australia, because their regulatory body is much more agile and comfortable to work with than the FDA.
The more I explore this space, the more I see original initiatives all over the world, each one of them having special advantages.
You’ve included policymakers in this year’s agenda. What role do you think governments should play in shaping the longevity field?
Essentially, private capital is invested in longevity projects right now. However, with an aging population and a lower birth rate, governments have no choice but follow the trend and invest massively in healthier living.
There’s no debate if they’ll do it, the only question is when and how we determine them to move faster in this direction. They’re the ones who will create the infrastructure of longevity, creating standards of care, and support long term R&D and massive deployment.
In my opinion, Governments are also the actors that will guarantee, at the end of the day, fair access to longevity treatment for everyone. This is what will make longevity not only aspiration, but also fair to everyone.
Are there any policy frameworks you’ve seen – locally or globally – that you think could serve as models to accelerate the field?
I see some early success stories, notably Singapore and South Korea, which have implemented effective longevity strategies, albeit for different motivations. These nations are among the most technologically advanced but also face some of the world’s lowest birth rates. Their demographic pressures left them with no choice but to act quickly and decisively.
The policy blueprint for life extension already exists. It includes:
- Access to healthy nutrition
- Promotion of physical activity
- Reduction of environmental pollution
- A shift from reactive to preventative healthcare
- Significant investment in R&D for next-generation therapies
What’s missing now is broad public awareness. With greater public engagement, we can generate the political momentum needed to scale and implement these measures globally. Governments will do essentially what people want, and major corporations around the world will adapt to it to increase their revenue.
Zooming out, what would success look like for this year’s Forum, beyond attendance or press coverage?
If people just come here, spend some time relaxing and exploring longevity, and then feel like coming next year for the 2026 edition, I will be more than happy.
But having said that, inspiring participants to envision the south of France as a future home, a place to live with their families, work, and invest in longevity would be an even more powerful and meaningful goal to achieve.
Looking five years ahead: what are your aspirations for the Forum and for the longevity field more broadly?
My vision behind the 2060 Longevity Forum is to turn it into the “World Economic Forum of Longevity”, a global meeting point where investors of all types connect with the most promising longevity startups.
At a broader level, the mission of the 2060 Foundation is to help humanity reach a tipping point a “ChatGPT moment” for longevity where the potential for breakthrough innovations and exceptional returns becomes so clear that widespread investment becomes inevitable.
These are bold ambitions but with careful planning, persistence, and support of organizations like Lifespan.io, they are within reach.
If you could catalyze one major shift in the longevity space – scientific, financial, or cultural – what would it be and why?
The fundamental shift I’m working to promote not just in longevity, but for humanity as a whole is this: think and act long-term. This cultural mindset is the cornerstone of every meaningful decision we face. Longevity, at its core, demands long-term vision, planning, and action.
By the way, this is what I’m trying to teach to my kids, too: Longevity is thinking and acting long-term.
Finally, for those interested in supporting your work or getting involved with the Forum, what’s the best way to get in touch?
I’m reachable on Linkedin at https://www.linkedin...cian-807b39156/ and by email at gabriel@2060.life.
View the article at lifespan.io
