Investing in Longevity (Nils Regge, Apollo Health Ventures)

Joining Chris on the podcast today is Nils Regge, Co-founder and Managing Director of Apollo Health Ventures.  As a social entrepreneur, company creator, and biotech expert, Nils built Apollo Health Ventures in 2016 to help health tech companies develop methods to prevent and reverse the aging process and extend the healthy human life span.   At Apollo, Nils makes use of his dealmaking skills, business knowledge, and prior experience growing startups to help boost the success of biotech and health companies.  As the general public becomes increasingly interested in longevity and medical advancements continue to take place at rapid rates, Apollo is a leader in funding and fueling efforts to ensure  healthier  and longer human lifespans. At the moment,  things are looking up as there is a lot of excitement  in the industry - however, Regge finds it important to temper that enthusiasm with the right kind of skepticism.   In a field in which any new advancement is seemingly revolutionary, it’s crucial to stay grounded.  The Finer Details of This Episode:  Incentive and organizational structures Filtering for good ideas Apollo’s portfolio of companies  Fusing European and American techniques to company building The heightened need for funding Bringing drugs into the clinic Quotes:  “If you have something that makes you live 10 years, 20 years, longer, healthier, I think it's the biggest market ever.” “We do company creation, but we also invest in outside companies.” “Because we are in this for the long run, we want to make investors money, we want to show the investors that this is a good place to invest or a good space to invest. And then ultimately, we want to be able to raise more money from other bigger institutional investors.” “You want to create an incentive structure and organizational structure that encourages the right kind of skepticism…you almost want to avoid a certain kind of optimism early on.” “But because of the excitemen