- Funds will go toward developing the DAO’s first biotech startup
- The DAO has a community of almost 10,000 contributors, researchers
VitaDAO, a decentralized autonomous organization, raised $4.1 million from investors such as Pfizer for human life extension research, Bankless Times learned from a press release. Other major investors include venture fund Shine Capital, decentralized science organizations Spaceship DAO and BeakerDAO, and investment group L1 Digital.
DAO community spent $3.5M+ on projects last year
VitaDAO was founded in 2021 by Tyler Golato of Molecule, a decentralized biotech protocol, to fund longevity research. The DAO has a community of almost 10,000 contributors, researchers, and enthusiasts. It spent over $3.5 million on projects last year, some of which involved cellular biology, alleviating age-related body damage, researching ageing diseases, etc.
The VitaDAO token is governed by a native VITA. What’s more, holders of the token are allowed to vote on which projects to support. A number of assistants help execute the proposals. The group plans to go digital and is considering “a potential future sovereignty network.”
Funds used for DAO’s first biotech startup
According to VitaDAO, Pfizer is the first pharmaceutical giant to take part in VitaDAO project incubation and monetization and vote on DAO proposals. The funds raised will go toward developing the DAO’s first biotech startup and financing longevity research projects. The startup will be announced in the first quarter of this year.
VitaDAO intends to invest more in the licensing and commercialization of its NFT intellectual property (IP) in collaboration with Molecule. A number of projects funded by VitaDAO are now in their next stage of development, which includes clinical tests for diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease. Mantis Photonics is used to diagnose the disease via retinal imaging.
A strong trend
Fans of crypto have been interested in preventing aging and longevity science in general for quite some time. At the end of 2021, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong launched NewLimit, a business dedicated to finding a cure for ageing. Stellar cofounder and former Ripple CTO Jed McCaleb set up the Astera Institute to finance longevity research.
Contributors
