'Our goal here is to become a small catalyst in humanity's journey of conscious evolution. To lead us into the Post-Darwin era.'
Deepinder Goyal, founder and chief executive of Eternal -- the parent company of Zomato and Blinkit -- is putting $25 million of his own fortune into Continue Research, a longevity research venture he launched two years ago.
Its mission: To extend healthy human function through open-source biological research.
Describing short human lifespans as civilisation's 'core bug', the billionaire has argued that 80-year lives make people 'reckless' because they'll never face the long-term consequences of their choices.
Continue, he said, will function not as a commercial company but as a hybrid of research team and seed fund.
According to longevity investors, one should look beyond chronological age and focus on biological age, the body's true internal clock tracked through biomarkers.
That idea has spawned a wave of global startups promising to slow, sustain, or even reverse biological aging.
'For over a decade, I have believed that most of the world's problems stem from our short human lifespans,' Goyal wrote on X.
'Continue Research's goal is to extend healthy human function long enough that humans stop making short-term decisions. This will be a multi-decadal journey.
'Our goal here is to become a small catalyst in humanity's journey of conscious evolution. To lead us into the Post-Darwin era.'
In a long, meditative post on Continue's website, Goyal sketched out his vision for human longevity and biological reinvention.
Evolution, he argued, optimised humans for reproduction, not long lives.
'Natural selection never cared if we lived to 180 -- only that we lived to 30,' he wrote, casting modern medicine as humanity's chance to transcend its biological constraints.
In an age of accelerating change, he suggested: 'We're carrying stone-age bodies through space-age problems.'
Climate change, nuclear weapons, artificial intelligence -- these, he said, demand a kind of 'long-term wisdom we don't live long enough to develop.'
Yet Goyal insists that modern science finally allows humanity to 'look at its own biological blueprint and say... we can do better than this.'
His concept of 'conscious evolution' is his call to go to attack root causes, not symptoms.
He asked readers to imagine a world where people lived 'for 180 years, instead of 80', with '100 extra years of good health. Clear mind, steady body.'
Such an expansion, he suggested, could transform global decision-making, extending empathy and responsibility across generations.
'This isn't about defeating death,' Goyal wrote.
'It's about defeating the mayfly mentality that makes us reckless... turning humans from short-term extractors into long-term stewards.'
Goyal's Continue has now joined a swelling league of longevity ventures -- Altos Labs, backed by Amazon's Jeff Bezos; BioAge Labs, supported by Andreessen Horowitz; and Rubedo Life Sciences, funded by Khosla Ventures.
In India, the field remains embryonic. Startups such as Ultrahuman and Biopeak have taken up the healthspan banner, focusing on fitness and metabolic optimisation rather than the fundamental science of ageing.
Biopeak, which focuses on longevity solutions for India's professional class, raised $3.5 million earlier this year from investors including Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath and Manipal group Chairman Ranjan Pai.
Meanwhile, Ultrahuman has secured a total of $54.9 million in funding to date, according to data platform Tracxn.
Besides Continue, Goyal has made several notable investments in companies and startups, especially within the health tech, logistics, and climate sectors.
He has backed startups such as Ultrahuman (fitness wearables), Shiprocket (logistics) and Terra.do (climate tech).
He is also an investor in LAT Aerospace, focused on regional connectivity, investing approximately $20 million.
Feature Presentation: Ashish Narsale/Rediff
