Key points from article :
UK longevity startup GlycanAge has raised €7.4 million to push its glycan-based ageing diagnostics closer to routine clinical use. The funding round was led by Fifth Quarter Ventures, with support from several European and international investors, and will be used to expand clinical development and make glycan testing more widely available to doctors. There is no lead scientific author or academic journal associated with this announcement, as it is a company and funding report.
GlycanAge, founded in 2020 by Professor Gordan Lauc and his daughter Nikolina Lauc, focuses on glycans—complex sugar molecules that coat cells and modify many human proteins. These molecules play a major role in immune function, inflammation, and cell communication. The company’s core technology analyses specific glycan patterns linked to chronic inflammation, a key driver of ageing, to estimate a person’s “biological age” rather than just their chronological age.
Its flagship tool is an “inflammaging” clock based on changes in IgG glycosylation, which aims to show how lifestyle, stress, and environmental factors influence ageing over time. With the new funding, GlycanAge plans to develop clinical tools targeting areas such as cardiometabolic health, stress and resilience, weight management, and hormones, and package them into practical products for healthcare providers.
The company is also moving toward hospital use, with plans to develop lab-developed tests and validate its diagnostics through collaborations with major medical centres, including Mayo Clinic and Northwestern University Hospital. Pilot programmes are already underway in hospitals in Europe, and GlycanAge is expanding into the Middle East, including setting up its first laboratory in Saudi Arabia, as it works to bring glycan testing into mainstream preventive healthcare.
