Sparknify Silicon Valley Unplugged: Sergey Jakimov on the Next Frontier of Venture Capital in Longevity
LongeVC managing partner Sergey Jakimov joined Sparknify's Silicon Valley Unplugged podcast, recorded at Stanford University, for a wide-ranging conversation on what it actually takes to turn aging biology into therapeutics that reach patients. His central argument: longevity, when approached as a data-driven discipline, is not separate from biotech. It follows the same path of disease indication, preclinical packages, IND approval, and clinical work, and the companies worth backing are those targeting the root causes of age-related diseases in cancer, neurodegeneration, cardiovascular, and metabolic conditions.
Sergey pushed back on the popular framing of a single "longevity drug," explaining that the goal is healthspan rather than lifespan, and that the more credible opportunity lies in mechanisms of action that may prove transferable across several age-related diseases. He also described LongeVC's two areas of focus: disease-modifying therapeutics, and the infrastructure that speeds up drug development, including AI for drug discovery and novel sequencing methods. As an example of the firm's approach, he pointed to Trogenix, the first deal of our second fund, which is developing a platform initially aimed at glioblastoma.
The conversation also covered why "curing aging" as a standalone goal stalled (aging still has no clinical endpoint), how approaching patent cliffs are shifting big pharma toward earlier-stage acquisitions and partnerships, and why he views regulation as a filter that strengthens a company's thesis rather than a bottleneck. He closed on a simple personal measure of success: generating a positive delta, contributing more value than you consume.