Living longer isn’t just the latest wellness craze — it’s the new gold rush for investors.
Upping the ante on the business of longevity is Switzerland-based wellness and hospitality group Clinique La Prairie, which has launched its first-ever investment fund dedicated to scaling companies bridging science and longevity.
The Longevity Fund is co-chaired by the group’s CEO Simone Gibertoni and Dr Stefan Catsicas, a neurobiologist who was previously Nestlé’s chief technology officer and executive board member. His experience also includes overseeing life sciences, biotechnology, advanced nutrition and digital health innovation at Swiss advisory company Skyviews Life Sciences.
With applications open from February 2025, the targeted €100 million fund (aiming for €300 million in subsequent closings) is focused on scaling longevity startups. Favoured ventures include early-stage disruptors or series B candidates with technologies pushing the needle in medical, nutrition, wellness and movement.
“Longevity” has become the wellness industry’s favourite buzzword, as our obsession with living longer is reported to dominate industry trends this year. Consumers are chasing solutions to slow the body’s cellular clock — be it by treatments, wearables or supplements. Now, investors are stepping up, sensing untapped potential in a sector poised to merge scientific rigour with scalable consumer appeal.
“This is the kind of groundbreaking innovation we want to champion,” says Gibertoni. He points to a 2022 investment by Clinique La Prairie in Volumina Medical, a biomaterials company selling injectables for soft tissue repair, as laying the groundwork for the fund.
Since its founding in 1931, Clinique La Prairie’s luxury wellness retreats in Switzerland, China and soon to be Saudi Arabia (open by 2026) cater to high-profile clientele — including global executives and celebrities like Naomie Harris and Kristin Scott Thomas — through programmes targeting brain health and stem cells starting at weekly costs of CHF 26,900 ($29,800). The group’s city-based hubs in Madrid, Bangkok, Doha and Dubai provide a bridge for clients transitioning from its flagship retreats. Other recent milestones include a February 2024 partnership with conglomerate Beiersdorf, which acquired seven of the group’s real estate assets for an undisclosed sum. The deal aligns Clinique La Prairie (previously independent from the La Prairie brand, known most fondly for its Skin Caviar line) with Beiersdorf’s prestige skincare brand La Prairie, creating synergies between its cutting-edge treatments and wellness offerings.
I spoke with Gibertoni about the fund, the gap in the market and what to expect from the wellness group.
Vogue: Tell me more about the fund — what type of companies are you looking to invest in?
We’ve built the fund around four pillars aligned with our treatment strategies: medical, nutrition, well-being and movement, and we are searching for companies who are moving the needle in these different categories. This could mean supplements sporting a new delivery system technology, or wearable tech where a doctor can track health diagnostics. We’re also searching for companies who are leveraging artificial intelligence to help medical professionals rather than consumers. Imagine if there were AI systems that could help doctors connect the dots of 200 different markers across blood tests, genetic testing and microbiome testing, helping with faster diagnostics. That could be huge for the medical health sector.
However, scale remains a key challenge for these companies. Longevity as a consumer category is still nascent, with limited investor confidence and early-stage technologies struggling to find traction. And many medical business-to-business technologies are limited by niche applications, making the market risky. But we believe these markets will mature as interest in longevity science grows.
Vogue: What are the criteria for securing investment?
We’re looking for tangible, near-market solutions. If a company’s pitch starts with ‘We have a molecule that could…’, we’re not interested. We’ll avoid biotechnology concepts requiring years of research and development and heavy capital investment. Instead, we’ll back companies with clear roadmaps that can deliver a product or a technology within three years, with plans for triple exits in seven years and at least a 15 per cent annual return on investment.
Vogue: What gaps in the market do you hope the fund will address?
There is an overwhelming gap between longevity and actionable technology backed by science. At the moment, the trend feels as though it’s shrouded in marketing jargon and lacks the scientific innovation needed to scale. Once the technology is in place, it provides credibility. Take sound therapy: once dismissed as new-age fluff, it’s now validated by research showing it can improve heart rate variability and even cure tinnitus in some cases. Similarly, tech wearables have transformed consumer awareness of health metrics. We want to fund companies bridging these gaps — grounding longevity in actionable, science-backed solutions.
Vogue: What can brands expect from the fund once an investment is secured?
First and foremost, we want to be useful to a company’s growth. We will have a scientific advisory board complete with a team of respected professionals from diverse backgrounds including corporate, academia, medicine, consumer and venture capital, to ensure that a multidisciplinary approach provides companies with comprehensive insight and guidance into their strategies. Companies will also gain exposure to being housed and used within Clinique La Prairie clinics globally. It’s not a traditional fund platform, we will also offer physical space opportunities alongside investment and strategy.
Vogue: What else can we expect from the Clinique La Prairie group outside of the longevity fund?
There are a lot of areas that I’m reflecting on, new markets being one of them. We’ve just opened up our newest retreat in Phuket, Thailand, and we have three longevity hubs in the pipeline. The US market is next. We’ve finally been approved to launch in the market after three years of working through the country’s entrance requirements and I’m excited because it’s the market everyone is talking about right now. I’m also focused on perfecting our digital platform. It’s taken the group a long time to develop, but it’s an important part of evolving our customer retention strategy, keeping clients engaged once they leave the clinic. Otherwise, we’ll continue to develop products, like our supplements, in the holistic health space.
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