Introduced by Andreas Munk Holm, this EUVC Live at GoWest series spotlights the thought leadership of policymakers, institutional investors, GPs, corporates, and public capital leaders around one defining question:
How does Europe mobilize its own capital to secure its technological future?
Across the sessions, one theme emerges repeatedly:
Europe does not lack talent.
It does not lack innovation.
It does not lack savings.
It lacks coordination.
Everyone wants to live longer.
But at what cost?
In this keynote, Paolo Pio, Co-founder and General Partner at Exceptional Ventures, reframes longevity from lifespan to healthspan and ultimately to joyspan.
The goal is not lifespan.
It is healthspan.
And ultimately, what he calls joyspan.
Because extending life without extending vitality simply prolongs decline.
Longevity without agency is not progress.
Health Is Moving at the Speed of Technology
For most of human history, life expectancy increased slowly and linearly.
Antibiotics.
Vaccines.
Sanitation.
Modern surgery.
Breakthroughs were rare and incremental.
That model no longer applies.
Health innovation is now moving at tech speed.
Consider the compression of timelines:
The Human Genome Project: 20 years to sequence one genome → now completed in hours
mRNA vaccine development: 60 days → soon potentially 60 hours
Personalized medicine: treatments designed around individual DNA
Technology compounds.
And health is now riding that exponential curve.
The result is not just better medicine.
It is a structural shift in what is possible.
AI Is Rewiring the Health Stack
Capital is following the shift.
Of the 11 AI unicorns created in Q1 last year, 6 were in health.
HealthTech has now surpassed FinTech in capital inflows.
That is not cyclical.
It is directional.
Health is becoming the most capital-intensive frontier in deep tech.
But capital attracts noise.
Longevity has historically been vulnerable to hype — supplements, miracle compounds, biohacking theatrics.
Paolo is explicit:
Innovation without evidence is speculation.
That’s why Exceptional Ventures focuses on:
Science
Data
Evidence
In longevity, separating signal from pseudoscience is not optional.
It is the work.
From Treatment to Prevention
Healthcare systems were designed for intervention.
The next generation will be designed for anticipation.
Exceptional Ventures’ investment framework rests on three pillars:
1. Preventative Health
Intervening before deterioration begins.
2. Early Detection & Diagnostics
Shifting disease detection years earlier through biomarkers, AI models, and molecular screening.
3. Smarter Care Delivery
Using software, automation, and data systems to improve access, reduce cost, and enhance outcomes.
The ambition is not marginal improvement.
It is a structural redesign.
Longevity as Infrastructure
Longevity is often marketed as individual optimization.
Paolo reframes it as systemic capacity.
Longer, healthier lives impact:
Workforce productivity
Pension systems
Healthcare expenditure
Economic growth
Intergenerational wealth
Healthspan is an economic infrastructure.
If people remain cognitively and physically capable longer, societies compound differently.
This is not just biotech.
It is macroeconomics.
The Core Thesis
Longevity is no longer science fiction.
It is becoming programmable.
But the frontier is not how long we can extend life.
It is how well we can extend vitality.
Lifespan measures time.
Healthspan measures function.
Joyspan measures meaning.
And that shift from survival to vitality is what makes health the most exciting frontier in deep tech today.
