Money can buy everything, the saying goes, except for good health and more years on the clock. Startup Tally Health intends to challenge that. The New York City-based biotech company wants to build a business out of slowing the impacts of aging, offering tailored suggestions to help people stay healthy—and, in turn, perhaps live longer.
The company racked up a 270,000-person waitlist ahead of its February launch, and on Thursday announced $10 million in seed funding, led by Kirsten Greene’s Forerunner Ventures and L Catterton, which incubated the company. Investors include a handful of A-list celebrities—John Legend and Chrissy Teigen, Pedro Pascal, and Zac Efron among them. Greene has also joined Tally’s board.
The brainchild of David Sinclair, a Harvard researcher on aging, and venture capitalist Whitney Casey, Tally Health sounds a bit like it came from the future. Sinclair and his team showed he could reverse the effects of aging in mice in a study published in Cell. Aging, he realized, is affected by DNA methylation—which is when a molecule called a “methyl group” is added to DNA, which can impact the genes expressed by a given cell.
“The research shows that aging can be treatable and longevity and health span can be increased,” says Melanie Goldey, Tally Health’s CEO.
Tally Health’s longevity platform has three pillars. The first is an age test done by a cheek swab. The swabs are sent to Tally’s lab where they are analyzed to determine a client’s biological age, which may be different from their chronological age.
Next, Tally’s platform creates personalized recommendations for clients based on their test results and a lifestyle survey of their diet, fitness, and mental health. The platform lists the potential impact of each change but also creates a list so people have options if, say, they don’t want to give up wine with dinner. Tally also has a daily supplement (unlike the lifestyle recommendations, the supplement is one-size-fits-all) with five different ingredients that target the hallmarks of aging. “By far the most impactful part is the lifestyle changes,” Goldey says.
Clients can take the aging test every three months to see how the supplement and lifestyle changes have impacted their health. Tally Health costs $199 a month for one test, a month of supplements, and the personalized recommendations. The company also offers plans that cost $159 per month for six months, or $129 per month for a yearlong subscription—offering an alternative to pricey anti-aging clinics. Tally declined to disclose the number of tests it has processed since launch but states that it has thousands of customers.
Goldey says the company’s test algorithm was developed using DNA methylation data from 8,000 people between the ages of 18 and 100—divided equally by gender and comprised 30% of BIPOC participants—in a beta study that began last June. Many participants converted into members when Tally launched and have just received their second test.
“Everyone ages,” Goldey says. “We want to have a personal approach that helps people stay happy and healthy and have the highest-quality years that they can.”
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