Why did Sam Altman invest $180mn in mysterious anti-aging company
What's the story
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is known in the tech circle as 'start-up Yoda' due to his extraordinary prescience while dealing with entrepreneurs.
Are you aware that he is also a survivalist who prepares for doomsday?
When you're a successful investor who also fears death, what would you do? Invest in a company that is working on anti-aging. That's exactly what Altman has done.
Context
Why does this story matter?
Retro
Altman funded Retro Biosciences, a company working on anti-aging
In April last year, a company named Retro Biosciences announced it was launching with $180 million in funding. The company's aim was to add 10 years to a "healthy human lifespan."
The company talked about its programs but did not say anything about how it raised $180 million.
Per MIT Technology Review, Altman put up the entire sum.
Y Combinator
He has been interested in 'young blood' research
Altman's interest in reversing the aging process was evident from his time at Y Combinator, the start-up accelerator. However, he first showed serious interest in the field in 2020.
The catalyst was a study by scientists from California. The researchers replicated the effect of young blood by replacing the plasma in old mice with salt and albumin.
Betts-LaCroix
Altman teamed up with Betts-LaCroix to form Retro Biosciences
That finding is what pushed Altman into Retro Biosciences. He teamed up with Jonathan Betts-LaCroix, an American scientist and entrepreneur, and set up a company to reverse aging.
The company kept its link with Altman a secret to not distract people from what it was doing.
LaCroix brought the company out of stealth in 2022.
Reason
Altman preps for 'survival'
When an entrepreneur once asked Altman what his hobbies are, he replied, "Well, I like racing cars."
"I have five, including two McLarens and an old Tesla. I like flying rented planes all over California. Oh, and one odd one—I prep for survival," he added.
He then talked to the entrepreneurs about how he thought the world would end.
Prep
He has an apocalypse kit with guns and gold
Altman says he does not think about the end of the world much. However, he stores guns, gold, potassium iodide, antibiotics, batteries, water, and gas masks from the Israeli Defense Force in case the world ends.
His mother, Connie Gibstine, told The New Yorker that he is "an optimist yet survivalist, with a sense that things can always go deeply wrong."