The Business of Longevity

More than 150 years ago, Ralph Waldo Emerson noted that “the first wealth is health.” That idea has taken on a new meaning as public interest in living longer – and better – has entered into a golden age.

The anti-aging industry is expected to be worth an estimated $610 billion globally by next year, with funding for longevity startups having increased 75% in the past year. Funding for everything from preventative medicine platforms to cell reprogramming is flowing in, with the hope of not just slowing down the aging process but potentially reversing aspects of it. As authors Margaretta Colangelo and Dmitry Kaminskiy note it in their book, Longevity Industry 1.0, “Longevity companies that prove capable of achieving tangible results will become the next Googles, and investment firms that invest in those companies will become the Softbanks and Vision Funds of tomorrow.”

Blame the boom on COVID-19. Though wellness apps, supplements, and fitness trackers have been around for years, many people – 77% according to a CVS Health study – pay more attention to their health since the pandemic. The experience of living through a global health crisis led many people to want to take a more proactive approach to their health, the study noted.

Doing so has also become much easier, with telehealth and virtual healthcare becoming mainstays almost overnight during the pandemic. Digital content also has played a role, with Gen Z and Millennials experimenting with a variety of health trends via social media. Everything from science-backed daily cold plunges to more obscure and questionable tactics, like mouth taping at night to encourage nose breathing and supposedly treat insomnia and snoring, is documented. And the widespread availability of AI tools is expected to have significant effects on the personalization of longevity products and advice.

With so many anti-aging avenues to explore, it’s no wonder that established corporations and startups alike want to capitalize on the $1.8 trillion global wellness market, which includes longevity. Earlier this year, the upscale gym chain Equinox debuted a $40,000-a-year personalized wellness program aimed at increasing longevity. It includes diagnostic testing for more than 100 biomarkers four times a year and nutritional and sleep coaching twice a month, among other things. Roughly 70% of consumers in the U.K. and U.S. say they’ve purchased more in the healthy aging category in the past year than in prior years, according to a McKinsey & Co. survey.

As a deluge of longevity products and services flood the market, a variety of new products and services and ways of selling them are emerging. Here’s a look at four categories that are drawing attention and money.

Longevity Clinics

Upscale wellness retreats, like Canyon Ranch and Miraval, have been around since 1979 and 1995, respectively. But now, boutique clinics that focus on science and biohacking are the new darlings of health for the well-heeled. These clinics charge premium fees for comprehensive, personalized medical evaluations that are aimed at preventing disease instead of merely managing or fighting it. Human Longevity, for example, charges up to $25,000 for preventative health services while Biograph, a firm co-founded by renowned longevity doctor Peter Attia, requires $7,500 for a six-hour assessment on everything from 3D movement analysis to brain health.

While such services are out of reach for many people, functional medicine advocates are working to make longevity services more accessible. Mark Hyman, who founded the Cleveland Clinic Center for Functional Medicine, co-founded Function Health, a membership-based platform that gives consumers access to more than 100 lab tests, and personalized recommendations for $499 a year – or about $1.37 per day. The startup currently has 50,000 members and a waitlist of more than 200,000.

Subscription as a Service

When you think about wellness subscription services, apps like Headspace and MyFitnessPal may come to mind. For many consumers, apps were the gateway to digitized healthcare that allowed them to take more control over their health. These programs also showed that consumers are willing to pay for digital health services, with weight-loss services (43%), mental health services (40%) and fitness services (35%) topping the charts in terms of spending. 

Subscription-based revenue models offer the potential to scale relatively inexpensively. When companies have a steady stream of predictable income, they can offer new services – provided they are able to minimize churn. Customers can be fickle when competition floods the marketplace, and consumer preferences change. Many health apps experienced surges during the pandemic, as people were stuck at home and had more time to focus on exercise and nutrition and have struggled to keep subscribers in the years since. The average retention rate two weeks after someone has downloaded a health and fitness app is only 12%, according to Airship, a customer-engagement mobile app company.  

Supplements

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, your social media feeds are likely littered with vitamin or supplement ads that promise less bloating, a healthier gut, more vibrant skin, and other benefits. While supplements for energy and weight loss have been a leader in the supplement marketplace, accounting for about 30% of the marketplace last year, ones aimed at anti-aging are garnering growing demand, with an expected compounded annual growth rate of more than 12% over the next six years. Some of the more popular anti-aging supplements include collagen, CoQ10, and Vitamin C.

While an aging population is a boon for the supplement market, what makes this category difficult for U.S. consumers to wade through is that since 1994, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration hasn't regulated dietary supplements. This has left individuals to fend for themselves in terms of research, and “with more than 90,000 different supplements on the market, it can be confusing to understand what is safe and what is not,” notes the American Medical Association.

Indeed, many health experts say best practice is checking if the supplement brand has received a third-party certification, which often verifies the purity and bioavailability, or the ability for our bodies to use what’s in a supplement. According to Stanford Lifestyle Medicine, some of the most reputable third-party testing is done by Pharmacopeia, NSF International, and ConsumerLab. Consumers also can try to find peer-reviewed studies that back the claims of the supplement.

With recurring sales being the name of the game for companies selling supplements, product efficacy and scientific rigor have become paramount. Analysts at McKinsey noted that consumers are increasingly concerned with vitamins and supplements being clinically proven and backed by science, making the need for third-party certifications all the more important.

Health-tech Wearables

Fitbit was the OG when it came to wearable smart technology, helping people track health metrics beyond steps and heart rate. Then came smart watches, which integrated health metrics with lifestyle functions. Newer biomonitoring devices, such as the Oura ring and the Whoop strap, have now morphed beyond fitness metrics to tracking blood oxygen levels, sleep cycles, body temperature, and more. One survey by McKinsey & Co. showed 75% of respondents were open to using a wearable in the future, and roughly half of respondents already used one.

Health-tech watchers expect newer devices to incorporate AI and improved technology to provide more personalized health advice based on user data. Researchers at CalTech, for example, are developing noninvasive sensors that use machine learning to detect compounds in sweat and interstitial fluids that can identify health problems early on, while researchers at Northwestern University have created a sweat-based sensor patch to monitor hydration levels, glucose, lactate and other biomarkers in real time.

As the anti-aging market continues to grow, companies will need to keep consumer needs front and center in order to thrive in the subsector of wellness. And with a growing aging population, they’ve got plenty of eager participants willing to try something new.