The Bay Area’s biotech darling Unity Biotechnology just pulled the ultimate startup self-destruct move, laying off literally everyone , including its own CEO. Talk about a epic corporate meltdown.

From Startup Superstar to Ghost Town

Remember when Unity was the cool kid on the block, promising to solve aging like it was just another coding problem? Jeff Bezos and Peter Thiel were throwing cash at them faster than a venture capitalist at a pitch competition. They raised a jaw-dropping $700 million valuation and had tech bros dreaming of immortality.

The Rise and Spectacular Fall

But here’s the tea: after years of burning through mountains of cash and failing multiple clinical trials, Unity is now basically a zombie company. They’ve gone from 65 employees in 2021 to a whopping zero in 2025. Their market cap? A sad $19 million , basically pocket change in Silicon Valley.

What Even Happened?

Their big dream was targeting senescent cells to basically trick your body into not aging. Spoiler alert: it didn’t work. Their osteoarthritis and eye disease trials crashed harder than a Bird scooter on Market Street. Now they’re exploring “strategic alternatives” which is startup speak for “we’re totally screwed”.

Bottom line: another Silicon Valley moonshot just became a shooting star , bright, flashy, and then poof, gone forever. Turns out solving aging is slightly more complicated than building an app.