SPACtacular merger could see brand-new longevity unicorn trotting onto the scene.

Human Longevity Inc, which was built by the pioneers of the human genome sequencing effort, and Freedom Acquisition Corporation, a publicly traded special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), have announced that they have signed a non-binding letter of intent for a proposed business combination that would result in HLI becoming a publicly listed company. Assuming everything ticks along as planned, the parties currently expect to seek approval from Freedom’s shareholders by the first quarter of 2023.

Longevity.Technology: Unicorns are the stuff of legends and headlines, and while there can be no assurance that a definitive agreement will be entered into or that the proposed transaction will be consummated, the speculation is delicious because longevity start-ups with billion-dollar valuations mean more visible, accelerating progress for the sector.

The proposed transaction values the combined company at approximately $1 billion, providing HLI with funding to pursue growth and technology innovation – watch this space!

Freedom Acquisition is a blank-cheque company established by Tidjane Thiam, Adam Gishen and Abhishek Bhatia; the trio aim to leverage their extensive experience in acquiring, building, operating and scaling global businesses in constantly evolving environments, and to this end are joined in this venture by Edward Zeng, a seasoned entrepreneur in the field of TMT and new lifestyle investment opportunities. Tidjane Thiam will join the Board of HLI following close of the transaction.

Pioneered by Dr J Craig Venter, of human genome sequencing fame, Human Longevity boasts Peter Diamandis, the XPrize Foundation founder, entrepreneur and longevity enthusiast as co-founder as well as CASI Pharma and Genetron’s Wei-Wu He as Executive Chairman and David Karow (ex-UCSD) as President and Chief Innovation Officer.

Human Longevity aims to advance the Human Longevity Care movement, and the company is on a mission to discover and harness the technological and biological capabilities that amplify span of life, health and high-performance. At its core, the company sets out to use data driven health tools to reduce the impact of preventable age-related chronic diseases.

HLI uses an AI-enabled personalised health intelligence platform that combines genome sequencing, whole body quantitative MRI and blood biomarkers, enabling early detection and disease-mitigating risk assessments of critical diseases.

The company has invested over $500 million to date in R&D since 2013, providing a unique patient experience to predict lifetime and short-term risks related to chronic age-related disease, with its tech allowing HLI to identify disease early. Early diagnosis helps to avoid premature death, extending the healthy human lifespan, as well as reducing the risk of the catastrophic costs associated with late-stage diagnosis.

Human Longevity’s beachhead is its ‘Health Nucleus’ clinic in San Diego and the company is committed to build its next clinic in the Bay Area, near San Francisco airport, followed by more clinics in major cities around the world, including London and Beijing.

Through its Human Longevity Care membership program, HLI aims to pick up where most modern healthcare reach stops, with members receiving care built on cutting-edge genomic insights, whole body quantitative imaging, AI-driven risk detection and prevention, and state-of-the-art brain & body performance insights and interventions.

Members receive 360-degree in-depth precision mapping of their complete self health, including whole genome sequencing, blood-based biomarkers, whole body imaging, bone & muscle strength analysis, nutrition & lifestyle habits, and more. From this, a personalised longevity roadmap is created with year-round precision medicine care service custom tailored to each step of member’s personal longevity plans.

Dr J Craig Venter PhD and Co-Founder of HLI said: “This is an exciting development for HLI and should allow the company to expand its influence in changing how medicine is practiced. Using advanced MRI imaging, genomics and other non-invasive testing, HLI can detect the presence of diseases, including cancer, at early stages before they become symptomatic. Up to 50% of self-described healthy individuals who have gone through the HLI Health clinics have benefited from early diagnosis of conditions, many of which have been lifesaving. I am proud of what HLI has accomplished to date and look forward to an exciting future.”

“At HLI, we truly believe that data-driven technologies such as genome sequencing, AI, whole-body MRI will revolutionize human healthcare” said Dr Wei-Wu He. “We have invested for almost 10 years and over $500 million with an exceptionally dedicated team to put these technologies together to make this a reality for people to delay age-related chronic diseases. We believe this platform will save millions of lives and significantly reduce healthcare cost in the future. We are excited to find a like-minded partner at Freedom [1].“

“We believe the opportunity to democratize and make globally available precision and preventative treatment is exciting and presents a huge opportunity, not only to extend healthy human lifespans but also to drastically reduce the burden placed on health systems in many economies,” said Tidjane Thiam, Chairman of Freedom. “HLI is led by a management team of exceptional quality who have built the leading AI-enabled Health intelligence platform in the US with the opportunity to scale it internationally, addressing the significant opportunity that exists for all to extend their healthy human lifespan.

“The HLI proposition is attractive to individuals, insurance companies and many healthcare stakeholders, providing great opportunities for sustained, long term growth. We could not be more excited to partner with Wei-Wu and the team as they continue to scale their business globally [1].”

Edward Zeng, Founder of NextG Tech and deputy Chairman of Freedom Acquisition said: “I believe under Tidjane’s global reach and Adam’s execution capabilities, Freedom is well positioned to assist HLI in delivering long term growth and scale. This is an incredibly exciting business combination as HLI’s AI driven health intelligence platform will drive a breakthrough in human longevity healthcare and become available to a wide variety of patients as costs continue to reduce.

“It is my belief that the very best Special Purpose Acquisition Companies, together with management teams of the highest calibre can create meaningful value for shareholders over time [1].”

[1] https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220620005562/