What if we’ve been thinking about aging all wrong? What if, instead of treating heart disease, cancer, or Alzheimer’s after they strike, medicine could target the root causes of aging itself—pushing back frailty, cognitive decline, and disease before they happen?
That’s the bet Hevolution Foundation is making. Backed by up to $1 billion per year, the Riyadh-based nonprofit isn’t just funding healthy longevity research—it’s creating an entirely new investment opportunity. Its mission is to extend healthspan, the number of years people live in good health, and it’s betting big on science & research, biotech, and big pharma to make that happen.
Few people understand the stakes better than Dr. William Greene, Hevolution’s Chief Investment Officer. A physician, venture capitalist, and global health advocate, Greene has spent his career blending science, finance, and impact investing—from leading biotech startups to collaborating on a first-of-its-kind impact venture capital fund with the Gates Foundation, helping bring life-saving treatments to millions. Now, he’s bringing that expertise to aging science.
“This isn’t about vanity,” Greene says. “This isn’t about living forever. It’s about staying healthier for longer—keeping people independent, engaged, and active in their later years. That’s what people want, and that’s what we’re working to make a reality.”
“We’re not just funding science—we’re changing the future of aging.”
Dr. William Greene, CIO, Hevolution Foundation
Hevolution’s approach to investment is different. While traditional venture capitalists chase short-term biotech wins, Hevolution is playing the long game—funding early-stage breakthroughs that other investors may consider too risky or too slow. It’s putting capital into companies, research labs, and entire fields of science that could redefine what aging looks like in the 21st century⁴.
One of those bets is Aeovian Pharmaceuticals, a company developing a next-generation version of rapamycin, a molecule that has shown remarkable life-extension properties in animal studies⁵. While rapamycin has long been a cornerstone of longevity research, its clinical use in humans has been limited by side effects. Aeovian is tackling this challenge head-on, engineering a new iteration designed to preserve rapamycin’s benefits while minimizing its risks. If successful, this breakthrough could reshape how aging-related diseases are treated, moving from reactive medicine to proactive, preventative care—an approach Hevolution is determined to drive forward.
“Rapamycin is one of the most validated longevity drugs we have,” Greene explains. “The challenge has always been how to harness its benefits while avoiding its toxic effects. If Aeovian succeeds, we’re looking at a potential paradigm shift in how we treat aging-related diseases.”
Beyond pharmaceuticals, Hevolution is investing in companies exploring epigenetic reprogramming—the ability to reset aging cells to a younger state without altering DNA. The concept sounds like science fiction, but some of the world’s leading scientists are racing to make it real⁶.
“It’s early days,” Greene says. “But so was gene therapy 20 years ago. The key is funding the right science and making sure promising ideas don’t die in a lab due to lack of investment.”
At the Global Healthspan Summit in Riyadh, Hevolution’s ambitions were on full display. The global convening, hosted by the foundation, brought together scientists and researchers, healthcare professionals, biotech leaders, policymakers, big pharma, and investors to discuss the future of aging science and how to turn breakthrough research into real-world treatments. The message was clear: the field isn’t just advancing—it’s on the verge of a revolution.
“The biggest challenge isn’t the science,” Greene says. “It’s scaling it, funding it, and getting the world to take it seriously. We’re not just investing in companies—we’re building an entire ecosystem that will make aging science investable, sustainable, and transformative.”
The economic stakes are massive. Research suggests that extending healthy lifespan by just one year could add trillions of dollars to global GDP⁸. Aging populations are already putting pressure on healthcare systems, and the demand for solutions that keep people healthier for longer has never been greater.
That urgency is why Hevolution is moving aggressively, expanding its investments while pushing regulators, scientists & researchers, governments, and investors to see aging science as the next big frontier.
“This is the biggest untapped area in healthcare,” Greene says. “We’re not waiting around for the world to catch up—we’re here to push the field forward, faster.”
Traditional biotech funding follows a predictable playbook: develop a drug, target a single disease, bring it to market. But what if the next medical breakthrough wasn’t about treating diseases one by one, but tackling unhealthy aging itself?
That’s the future Hevolution is working toward. Not just funding one company, one drug, or one project, but creating an entire movement that could transform how the world thinks about aging itself.
“This isn’t just about living longer,” Greene says. “It’s about living better, staying independent, and making sure that aging doesn’t mean decline. And we’re making it happen.”
Hevolution isn’t just investing in the future. It’s creating it.
