Deepinder Goyal’s betting on longevity. What it says about India’s wellness elite.

It’s the maxim of a 30-year-old Mumbai-based management consultant who discovered biohacking in his mid-20s. Since then, he has been spending up to ₹75,000 a year on supplements such as lion’s mane and moringa, along with a gym membership and regular cold plunges.

Then there’s the 36-year-old Delhi-based media professional who spends upwards of ₹1.5 lakh a year on wearables such as an Oura Ring and a Whoop band, a nutritionist, gym membership, fitness trainer, and immunotherapy for long-term allergies—all for his zeal to “live a better life" and to “look good".

He’s even thinking of taking it up a notch. He has reached out to a recently launched wellness startup, Biopeak, though he has yet to sign on.

It’s this growing drive to stay healthy—sometimes bordering on American entrepreneur and biohacker Bryan Johnson-inspired quest for longevity—that has caught the attention of Indian entrepreneurs and investors.

The past two years have seen the rise of ventures offering services from personalized supplements to centres with physical therapies such as cryotherapy, cold exposure to boost recovery and reduce inflammation; hyperbaric oxygen therapy, pressurized oxygen sessions that promote healing and cellular repair; and infrared light therapy, heat-based treatment that improves circulation and supports skin and muscle health.

All aimed at keeping diseases at bay and reducing an individual’s biological age.

“The promise is to get people to the peak of their health, and slow down ageing…can I take you to the peak of health as if you’re a 25-30 year old, and continue that for the next 50 years?" said Subhendu Panigrahi, who launched his longevity startup Foxo Health in 2024.

“Objectively, our contribution is to slow down the pace of ageing, bring it down to 0.7, or 0.8," said Panigrahi, referring to the difference in chronological and biological age. The latter is affected by external factors, according to longevity researchers and epigenetic studies, and can be arrested or lowered.

“It is not self-medication," emphasized Sajeev Nair, a life coach and founder of longevity startup Vieroots Wellness Solutions. “(But) when it comes to health, people are confused about who to talk to," added the 58-year-old, who got into biohacking in a bid to enhance his energy levels over six years ago.

Startups like Foxo and Vieroots offer a multidisciplinary team of doctors, biotechnology researchers, nutritionists, and trainers—all for those who can afford the steep costs, which can reach up to over ₹2 lakh annually.

Yet, the space is attracting a steady investor interest, signalling the fringe wellness experiment's slow but certain shift into the mainstream.

The investment flow

On 24 October, Zomato founder and chief executive officer (CEO) Deepinder Goyal announced a $25 million fund under his research initiative, Continue, to support work on longevity, joining an expanding cohort of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, such as Bryan Johnson, Jeff Bezos, and Peter Thiel, who are attempting to “hack" biology to extend human lifespans.

Before him, in June, Bengaluru-based Biopeak, founded in 2024, raised $3.5 million in seed funding from Claypond Capital, the family investment office of Dr. Ranjan Pai, and others, including Nikhil Kamath’s private equity firm NKSquared.

In August 2022, Mumbai-based wellness and longevity startup Human Edge secured $2 million from the Bharat Innovation Fund and other investors.

Another Bengaluru-based startup, Dreamspan, launched in 2024, raised $0.4 million from Kamath’s Rainmatter by Zerodha and others, according to private company data platform Venture Intelligence.

Bengaluru-based Foxo also raised pre-seed funding from venture capital firm Blume Ventures earlier this year, though the amount remains undisclosed.

However, compared to the West, it’s still early days in India. US tech billionaires started investing in companies hustling to keep humans young and alive longer, even before the covid-19 pandemic.

OpenAI CEO and founder Sam Altman has invested $180 million in San Francisco-based biotech startup Retro Biosciences, which aims to enable humans to live 10 years longer than a healthy lifespan.

Paypal founder and investor Peter Thiel has pledged millions to longevity research and companies, such as biotechnology firm Unity Biotechnology and the non-profit medical charity Methuselah Foundation, and Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos is reportedly an investor in cell rejuvenation biotech Altos Lab.

“...we’re open to more such plays, especially those that democratize access to diagnostics, recovery, sleep science, and personalized health tracking," said Dilip Kumar, who leads health investments at Rainmatter by Zerodha.

The rich man’s game

The largest demographic is high-net-worth individuals in their mid-30s to mid-50s.

“It is not a mass market phenomenon yet…it’s a relatively rich person’s phenomenon," said Arpit Agarwal, partner at Blume Ventures.

The promised offerings are expensive because the endeavour is expensive as well, said Foxo's Panigrahi. The company charges $3,000 ( ₹2.6 lakh) for a 12-month membership, which includes personalized diagnostics, health interventions in diet, sleep, and fitness and physical therapies.

Vieroots charges ₹45,400 for a 12-week coaching programme, said Nair, and so far has had 10,000 subscribers. The startup offers genomic testing, coaching, nutrition, physical therapies, and supplements.

Others, such as Biopeak, offering a mix of specialized diagnostics, including genomic testing, along with diet and nutrition coaching, follow an individually curated pricing model. “Our pricing is tailored to each client, based on their needs, the depth of diagnostics, and the level of expert involvement required," said Rishi Pardal, chief executive and co-founder.

Despite the price barriers, the market is large, Panigrahi insisted. “There’s still a million households in the country who can buy our product."

For Panigrahi, as well as Nair, a key demographic is biohackers themselves—individuals with a desire to improve their health, who have tried self-experimenting, and are now looking for a more science-backed, guided approach.

“They have done things on their own, and they know that they can only do so much, because they are not experts in human biology, biochemistry, nutrition," said Panigrahi.

The expanding scale

Longevity ventures are stepping on the gas.

Foxo Health plans to open its first centre in Bengaluru within the next six months before scaling up to other cities. “We have 1,000 people on the waitlist," said Panigrahi, adding that it is looking to raise additional capital soon.

Biopeak opened its first clinic in August and has so far worked with 250 clients. “Our next phase is to replicate the Biopeak model and AI platform across metros, adding follow-up programmes, longitudinal monitoring, and advanced therapies," said Pardal.

Vieroots, which recently secured $1 million in funding from Abu Dhabi-based real estate investment group 4 Quadrant Holding Llc, operates one centre in Kochi and partners with about 40 independent centres across the country.

Nair said the firm has seen increasing interest from tier-II towns, such as Coimbatore and Chandigarh, in recent months.

The quest to live long is also drawing corporate interest. Mumbai-based physician Dr. Marcus Ranney’s venture Human Edge works with clients such as professional advisory firm KPMG and advertising firms Publicis and Ogilvy, as well as channel partners like online pharmacy Tata 1MG.

“We are not shy about charging a premium for the quality of care and insights we provide," said Ranney, adding that the firm recently launched a lower-priced, digitally delivered version of its product to reach a wider audience.

“The clinical data we’re seeing is very strong—showing a 10-12% improvement in metabolic, cardiac and immune health outcomes, and a reduction in biological age of over two years."

Investors also see a rise in demand. “Today it’s still early—mostly users across metros. But we’ve seen this story before. Fitness tech was ‘niche’ five years ago; now tens of millions track their steps. Longevity services will likely follow the same trajectory, but the language will shift from ‘living longer’ to ‘living better,’" said Kumar of Rainmatter.

Not a silver bullet

The longevity ventures are careful to differentiate themselves from the broader “biohacking" label.

For investors, these companies must be backed by data and show measurable results. “Many interventions in this space still lack longitudinal data. That’s why we prefer investing in companies that treat longevity as a byproduct of better health—not a silver bullet," said Kumar.

Biohacking and longevity clinics remain a topic of hot debate globally, due to inconclusive evidence on the effectiveness of such hacks in humans. While the research—like epigenetic reprogramming, cellular interventions that attempt to reset molecular ageing clocks, and experimental drug or supplement candidates—has produced compelling molecular and animal findings, robust human clinical data remains limited.

India-specific data is also scarce, warned experts.

“To understand longevity in the South Asian population, we need to define Indian standards—we are genetically different from the Caucasian population," said Dr. Satish Koul, senior director and unit head of internal medicine at Fortis Hospital, Gurugram.

“We have early onset of cardiac disease, our metabolism rate is different, our fat content is different, our inflammation is higher… these biomarkers need to be redefined for the Indian population," he added.

Academic efforts are underway, he said, citing the Indian Institute of Science’s large-scale clinical study aimed at identifying early disease indicators, investigating ageing biomarkers, and developing new therapeutics and technologies for healthy ageing. The study was launched in 2024.

Besides, currently, the longevity industry occupies a grey area between wellness and science, with research still in its preliminary stages and regulation largely absent—similar to other wellness categories, such as nutraceuticals and skincare.

Even as demand rises, several popular longevity and wellness startups in the US are scaling down. The Modern Age longevity clinic shut down in 2024 after failing to raise additional funding. Supplement companies such as Care/of and Rootine closed in late 2024 and early 2025, respectively.

Even Bryan Johnson, who became the face of biohacking, is considering winding down his venture, Blueprint.

But regulation has started taking shape. Abu Dhabi has introduced a specific framework for longevity clinics, including evidence-based licensing criteria effective 1 April 2025.

Agarwal said regulation will eventually catch up with innovation. “At some point, this will have to be better regulated—it will be delivered as a therapy, and there will be a protocol around it," he said, adding that this will also accelerate the sector’s mainstreaming.

Until then, the anti-ageing business remains as aspirational—and as elusive—as longevity itself.