The train from Trondheim to Oslo was shuddering through the Norwegian night while a cyclist was scanning the pages of the Financial Times. That cyclist was Phil Newman. He was preparing for a 500-kilometer endurance ride, but in the meantime another journey began with one particular article. It featured the story of Juvenescence, a company raising millions to pioneer anti-aging science. By the time the train pulled into the station, Newman knew he had found his next frontier: longevity, a market-in-the-making with the power to reshape how people think about mortality, health, and the economy. Today, as the founder and CEO of Longevity.Technology, he stands at the intersection of business and science. His platform maps the world’s most promising longevity startups, investment flows, and innovations. In this conversation, Newman talks about credibility, data, and why the future of longevity will depend on those who can turn science into trust.
From Endurance Ride to Industry Revolution
Newman’s story is equal parts serendipity and discipline: a chance article, a 24-hour endurance ride, then nine months of methodical market mapping. What he encountered wasn’t a monoculture, but a spectrum – immortality believers on one edge, sober translational scientists on the other – all groping toward a common language. His bet was to build that language in public: „I decided that the best way to participate in the industry was to bring my marketing knowledge and articulate what the market is. Then create a daily news publication that started to bring all of that into one place.”
Early traction validated the hunch. The pandemic’s focus on health literacy accelerated the trend. He soon realized that to truly understand the industry’s size and momentum, he had to go beyond reporting – mapping every company, tracking their funding, and analysing their moves, turning data into insight that defined Longevity.Technology’s next phase.
Phil Newman
How did you manage to earn credibility so fast in such a noisy, competitive space?
„Concentrating on evidence and not being sensationalist. Some say we are going to live forever. I love the ambition of those people, but you’ve also got to speak with serious scientists and investors.”
“So, we decided that we would only ever publish evidence-based stories. We wouldn’t sensationalize.”
Newman’s guiding principle was simple: evidence over exaggeration. By refusing clickbait narratives, he won the attention of experts and capital alike. „We have a solid writing team, a highly diligent research team and a great sales and marketing infrastructure. We just keep doubling down on being credible.” In a space filled with noise, credibility became a differentiator – and a growth strategy.
Measurement, Newman argues, is the missing piece of the longevity puzzle. „The most fundamental thing we haven’t got to yet as an industry is consensus on how we measure age,” he explains. From at-home epigenetic tests to clinical and biotech research assessments, every layer of measurement speaks a different language. „Clinics are using more sophisticated tests – grip strength, balance, cognition and so on – but they all measure with different benchmarks. Biotech companies need surrogate endpoints because you can’t wait 50 years to prove someone lives longer.” When credible metrics become universal, regulators and investors alike will recognize their value. Until then, Newman warns, longevity may risk drowning in its own complexity before it learns to swim – but he’s confident it will, as science catches up and standards take shape.
Phil Newman
Data is the new currency. How is DLT reshaping the power between scientists, investors, and startups?
„We’re building a database of scientific drug-development information on companies for which we also have financial data. We’re looking at every different drug asset they’re developing, its clinical stage, molecular pathway, target disease, mechanism of action, and trial status. We’re bringing all of the asset development information together with financial information.”
DLT (Decoding Longevity Trends) fuses financial and clinical data to reveal where real progress happens. „We can now see when two companies share similar targets and science,” Newman says. „If one is short on funds and the other has capital, a deal can move both forward to biotech breakthrough faster.”
Another inventive use of DLT comes into play when a Phase IV, label-expansion-ready drug could be hacked into a combo therapy that vaults a new asset forward. In this kind of world, information arbitrage shrinks, diligence tightens, and outcomes – not hype – drive new longevity therapeutics.
Phil Newman
You’ve built data platforms, supplements, and clinic networks. Which will shape healthy aging the most in the next decade?
„I’m very excited about our clinics platform because clinics are the gateway between driven consumers and healthcare professionals who can analyze what you need as an individual.”
Clinics sit at the junction of citizens, protocol, and payer. Done right, they nudge behavior (sleep, nutrition, strength), detect risk early, and triage to targeted interventions. Done at scale, they generate longitudinal data that can inform public health and payer models. Newman’s push is pragmatic: define what counts as a longevity clinic, verify licensure, aggregate the world’s sites in one directory, convene best practices, and build an upskilling stack – courses, certifications, audits, a quality mark. Standardization is not bureaucracy; it’s the investment needed for trust.
Newman compares his early IoT venture to today’s longevity wave. „In 2001 I built a machine-to-machine company. It was too early – the infrastructure wasn’t ready. Ten years later, everyone was doing IoT,” he recalls. „Longevity is going through a similar phase.” He warns that excitement alone can’t sustain the field. „We’ve got to work on standardization, credibility, and capital or we could blow it.”
It’s a lesson learned from experience: industries that race ahead without structure often fall into the chasm between promise and proof.
Longevity, therefore, must cross that gap with evidence, not enthusiasm.
Phil Newman
How will longevity innovation reshape economies, work, and retirement in the near future?
„Most developed societies have population pyramids the wrong shape. The gap between lifespan and healthspan is widening, and median life expectancy is increasing. Governments will have to think about increasing the retirement age, not just for economic reasons but for social engagement too.”
Newman envisions a future where health and productivity are lifelong companions. „We’ll see people in their 80s, 90s, even 100s still working, mentoring, contributing – because they can.” The idea starts long before adulthood: prenatal care, microbiome monitoring, and healthier adolescence could all build stronger foundations for later life. When healthspan finally matches lifespan, longevity transforms from social cost to economic catalyst – an engine of growth, purpose, and participation.
If you had one message for readers preparing for a longevity-driven future, what would it be?
„I would take your health seriously however young you are. I would start with ensuring that you get the right sleep –sufficient quality rest to rejuvenate your body and clear your mind is fundamental to everything else.”
From a newspaper on a night train to a global data platform, Phil Newman’s journey mirrors longevity itself: built on endurance, curiosity, and proof. The next decade won’t belong to those who shout the loudest – but to those who build trust, data, and credibility strong enough to last a lifetime.
Author: Révész Bogi
(Featured image: Phil Newman)
