The life sciences company headed by island-based businessman Jim Mellon, has just announced the successful closure of its Series B round at the targeted $100 million.

Juvenessence Limited is developing therapies to increase healthy human longevity. It was founded by Jim Mellon, Dr Greg Bailey and Dr Declan Doogan.

Juvenessence believes that recent advances in science have greatly improved our understanding of the biology of ageing and seeks to develop therapeutics with the possibility of slowing, halting or potentially reversing elements of this process.

The company is creating a ’longevity ecosystem’, with world class scientists, seasoned drug developers, machine learning experts and a strong team with financial acumen to navigate this emerging new biotech growth sector and to develop 12 therapeutic candidates within the field of healthy ageing.

Chief executive Dr Greg Bailey said: ’This has been such an exciting six months for Juvenescence.

’We have been able to add extraordinary people to the Juvenessence team who will bring our age modifying therapeutics to market.’

Jim Mellon, chair of Juvenessence, said: ’We have recruited a group of sophisticated shareholders from around the world to further our common mission of improving healthy human lifespan.

’Juvenessence has now raised more money that any comparable company, which is testament to the depth of our team and the range of opportunities that we have assembled, in partnership with scientist/entrepreneurs and research institutions.

’As the science of longevity becomes mainstream, we expect significant investor interest and at some point, we anticipate taking Juvenessence public to further accelerate our development.’