Middle East Funding Gaps Risk Delaying Startups' IPO Ambitions
Startups in the Middle East are at risk of losing momentum and facing a longer path to public listings due to a lack of funding for firms trying to scale, according to Noor Sweid, founder of venture capital firm Global Ventures.
'There is a massive funding gap in the Series B stage,' Sweid said in an interview on the sidelines of the Fortune Most Powerful Women International Summit in Riyadh. 'Without that changing, you won't get to the stage of scale the company and then IPO.'
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Forbes
2 hours ago
- Forbes
Billion-Dollar Breakthroughs: Inside The Global Race To Extend Human Healthspan
Hevolution CEO Dr. Mehmood Khan in conversation with GSK Chair Sir Jonathan Symonds In a luxurious conference center buzzing with Nobel laureates, biotech executives and Saudi royalty, one number kept surfacing during presentations: eight billion. Not dollars—though investment figures approached that scale—but people. The potential market for healthspan technologies encompasses every human on earth, creating what might be the ultimate investment opportunity of the 21st century. At the Hevolution Global Healthspan Summit 2025, the world's largest gathering for healthspan science, the discussion wasn't if humans could live longer, healthier lives, but how quickly we could make it happen. "I'm a firm believer, when you put several hundred scientists collectively working in a connected manner in the world, not in any one country, but in the world, from the west to the east, to solve a common challenge, that is how you put a man on the moon," declared Dr. Mehmood Khan, CEO of Hevolution. "That is your moonshot." Hevolution is a first of its kind global non-profit organization incentivizing independent research and entrepreneurship in the emerging field of healthspan science. The urgency behind this global mobilization is clear. Dr. Anshu Banerjee, Director at the World Health Organization, presented sobering statistics: "The number of older people above 60 is going to double by 2050, from 1.1 billion to 2.1 billion, and soon we'll have more people above 60 than under 10." Even more concerning: "Life expectancy is increasing, but healthspan is actually worsening. The increase in healthy life expectancy is not following the same pace as life expectancy overall." Global Lifespan versus Global Healthspan Women face particular challenges in this equation. While they "live longer than men," Banerjee noted they "spend more years in poor health," with the healthspan gap between genders widening since 2002. While American researchers navigate the FDA's complex pathway, Saudi Arabia is positioning itself as the global accelerator for healthspan innovations. His Excellency, addressing attendees, detailed the kingdom's "Innovation Pathways" designed for rapid approval of promising medicines, AI systems, and medical devices. This regulatory agility represents a strategic advantage in what has become a geopolitical race to commercialize healthspan technologies. With "maturity level four" recognition from the WHO and pending "world listed Authority" status, Saudi Arabia is creating an ecosystem where longevity science can flourish without traditional regulatory bottlenecks. The summit's scientific presentations ventured far beyond traditional human-centered research. Comparative biology—studying extraordinarily long-lived species like bowhead whales that can live over 200 years—emerged as a frontier with untapped potential. "These are models of disease resistance, healthspan, and lifespan," explained Dr. Vera Gorbunova, whose work on naked mole rats has revealed remarkable cancer resistance mechanisms. Pedro Magalhães, developer of a comprehensive database tracking lifespans across species, argued that understanding "why we live as long as we live" requires examining the evolutionary innovations that allow certain animals to far outlive humans. This approach faces funding challenges, however. Despite promising discoveries, researchers called for "more consortia" and a "big effort in comparative biology of aging" to translate animal longevity secrets into human applications. The unexpected star of the summit wasn't a new compound but an existing class of medications: GLP-1 agonists, originally developed for diabetes and now famous for weight loss. Dr. Christoph Westphal, co-founder of Longwood Fund, made a stunning prediction: "If all of us in this room, within three or four or five years, can prove that with GLP-1s you can extend healthy lifespan, it will actually be the first healthy lifespan increasing drug available. It's going to totally change the world." Westphal's enthusiasm reflects a paradigm shift in longevity research. "If you had told me that you would take something that has an effect in the brain and all over the body, and it's perfectly safe and it actually makes you live longer, I would have said, no way. But that's exactly what a GLP-1 is." The lesson for investors is clear, according to Dr. Srinivas Akkaraju of Samsara BioCapital: "A drug that shows measurable effects in a modest time with a modest number of patients can lead to longer studies for confirmation." The challenge is finding "near- to medium-term measurements that de-risk the investment." Perhaps the summit's most ambitious initiative is already underway in the UK. Professor Rahid Ali's "Our Future Health" program has collected data from over 1.5 million participants, with 1.3 million providing blood samples, making it the "world's largest health research study of its type." By deploying collection points in everyday locations like supermarkets and pharmacies, the program has democratized participation across socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds. The goal: five million participants creating an unprecedented dataset that could reveal the early signals of disease and the effectiveness of preventative interventions. Notably, Ali reported that "about 80% of the general population, once they understand the importance of working with industry, are willing to participate" despite growing privacy concerns around health data. "We're investing across the entire value chain, from idea all the way into clinical trials and beyond," explained a senior Hevolution executive. The foundation isn't just writing checks—it's creating an "action shop and a money shop" designed to shepherd promising longevity science from laboratory concepts to market-ready interventions. Dr. William Greene, Chief Investment Officer at Hevolution Foundation, emphasized the need to "invest in translation, since there's a valley of death between interesting laboratory observation and something that seems to actually impact health." The goal is finding "the outcome that we're looking for that will actually make humans into big mice"—transitioning laboratory findings into human benefits. This fundamental challenge was echoed by Dr. Jarod Rutledge: "If you're trying to do genomic management, or something that's purely preventative, commercial models are very challenging, but if you can start from a state of disease and walk all the way back to state of youthful health, then I think that is really promising." In an industry where early adopters could pay millions for unproven therapies, Hevolution's emphasis on global equity stood out. Arthur Caplan, head of medical ethics at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, emphasized that proposals undergo rigorous ethical review centered on one question: "Is the science good, but can it help fulfill the commitment to benefit all?" This principle—extending healthspan advancements to "all of human humanity" rather than creating a longevity gap between wealthy and developing nations—appears foundational to Hevolution's approach. HRH Dr. Haya Al Saud, SVP of Research at Hevolution, outlined the broader societal benefits: "First, we'll be able to reduce healthcare costs. Healthcare spending is skyrocketing worldwide, so this is a crucial and immediate impact. Second, we can tackle the workforce challenge we're seeing today... If we're able to extend healthspan, people can live—and work—longer, in good health." Dr. Haya at Global Healthspan Summit 2025. She also highlighted a surprising social benefit: "Many women leave the workforce because they are the primary caregivers for sick family members. By extending healthspan, we can support and encourage women to remain in the workforce." The summit highlighted how philanthropic organizations are evolving from passive funders to active ecosystem builders. Her Royal Highness Princess Dr. Haya bint Khaled Al Saud described philanthropy as a "catalyst for change" in the healthspan field. Yet Dr. Khan insists that true global access requires commercial involvement: "I do not believe there is an example, other than maybe mass polio vaccine campaigns, where the public sector can, on its own, democratize something. Every example I can think of in democratization has happened because the private sector figured out how to get something into the hands of as many people as possible." He added a historical perspective: "Government invented the internet, the private sector scaled it, and then leveraged it for core commerce." As Dr. Khan concluded the summit, he emphasized that it's not heroic individuals but collective wisdom that will transform aging: "It is not heroes that we are developing. It is the future of this collective wisdom that we're actually investing behind, because it's going to take the village, not a hero." The fundamental question remains: Can we translate scientific breakthroughs into practical interventions that meaningfully extend the healthy human lifespan? The convergence of unprecedented funding, regulatory innovation, massive datasets, and ethical frameworks suggests we're entering a new phase in longevity science—one where theory meets application. Whether the first beneficiaries emerge from clinical trials in Riyadh, research labs in Boston, or digital health platforms in London remains to be seen. What's clear is that the race for extended healthspan has evolved from fringe science to mainstream pursuit. With eight billion potential customers waiting, the winners stand to transform not just healthcare, but the fundamental human experience of aging itself.
San Francisco Chronicle
3 hours ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Bruno Fernandes turns down lucrative Al Hilal offer to stay at Man United
MUNICH (AP) — Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes has turned down a proposed move to Saudi club Al Hilal because he wants 'to play at the highest possible level.' Fernandes confirmed Tuesday that he had received an 'exciting offer' from the Riyadh-based club to switch after what was a disappointing season for United. 'They waited for me to think about my future, because I said only if Manchester thought it was the time to move on, that I'd be willing to do so,' Fernandes said through an interpreter. 'I talked to the gaffer, Ruben Amorim, and at the time he asked me not to go. I then talked to Man United. They said they didn't want to sell me. If I wanted to go, I could, but they didn't need the money, they didn't need to sell me.' Media reports suggested Al Hilal was prepared to pay 100 million pounds ($135 million) to take the 30-year-old Fernandes from United while offering him a wage of 700,000 pounds ($946,000) per week to play for the Saudi Pro League team, which will compete in the Club World Cup this month in the United States. 'It was a very exciting offer,' Fernandes said. 'The president of Al Hilal, he was very nice to me. He talked to my manager but then I talked to my wife and as a family we wanted to see what I wanted to do. She asked me, what do you want to do with your future?' Fernandes last year signed a contract extension to stay at Old Trafford until June 2027. This season did not go as planned as the Red Devils failed to qualify for the Champions League after finishing 15th in the Premier League, while United also endured the heartbreak of losing the Europa League final to Tottenham. 'We had goals and we didn't meet them,' said Fernandes, a key figure for United since his arrival in January 2020. He said it would have been easy for the family to make the move to Riyadh, and for him to adjust to the team with Portugal teammates Rúben Neves and João Cancelo already playing for Al Hilal. 'I'm used to them, but I want to play at the highest possible level," Fernandes said. "I want play for major competitions. I know I still can, and I want to be happy doing the thing I love the most. And for better or worse, I'm still very passionate about football. This is how I see football. This is how I see my life and my future, and I'm happy about the decision I made.' Fernandes was speaking as a Portugal player before the team's Nations League semifinal against Germany on Wednesday in Munich. The winner of that game will face either France or Spain in Sunday's final.
Bloomberg
3 hours ago
- Bloomberg
White House Memo on EV Grants Sets Up Fight Over Spending Power
The White House forcefully rejected a congressional watchdog's opinion that found the Trump administration illegally delayed funding for electric vehicle infrastructure, setting the stage for a broader constitutional clash over federal spending powers. In an Tuesday, the White House budget office instructed the Department of Transportation to 'pay no heed whatsoever' to the Government Accountability Office.
