Category Archives: Technology & Science

BioTech for Longevity: Inside the Irish Startup Aerska’s $21M Raise

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By Gaia Mambelli

The role which technology plays in longevity is still unfolding. How can technology meaningfully improve people’s lives? Aerska was founded on this question, driving progress in MedTech with a long-term vision. Real impact takes time, but with sustained research, innovation, and commitment, the effects can be life changing.

A new year also brings new plans and ambitions. Aerska, a biotech company headquartered in Dublin, had already laid the groundwork by October 2025. The company closed out the year with a $21M seed round to advance antibody-oligonucleotide conjugates designed to systemically deliver RNA interference (RNAi) medicines to the brain, one of the most ambitious challenges in today’s medicine landscape.
In BioTech, the most powerful goals are those that can change lives. At Aerska, that ambition is already in motion.

Founder’s Track of Records.

Founded by Jack O’Meara, Stuart Milstein, and David Hardwicke, the company is built on extensive expertise in RNA interference (RNAi). This rapidly emerging therapeutic modality precisely silences disease-causing genes and addresses conditions with high levels of unmet medical needs in neurology.


O’Meara, CEO and co-founder of Aerska, had previously led Ochre Biotech; another company focused on RNA-based therapies. His co-founder Hardwicke; a PhD graduate and Foundation Scholar at Trinity College Dublin, had also previously ran a company developing oral drug-delivery technologies. Hardwicke later relocated to London, where he continued to deepen his expertise in RNAi mechanisms.


O’Meara is joined by fellow Ochre alumnus David Coughlan, who serves as Aerska’s Head of Early Development, as well as Mike Perkinton, former Head of Discovery at AstraZeneca Neuroscience. Aerska’s Clinical Development and Operations teams are based in London, which acts as the company’s central hub for the planning, oversight, and execution of its clinical programs.

Aerska’s Delivery Model – “Brain Shuttle” Approach & Patient-Matching and Data Strategy.

Think of Aerska as a delivery model. The brain has a security wall, the Blood-Brain Barrier (BBB). While BBB restricts contact with harmful toxins and germs, it simultaneously limits the functionality of most medicines. The difficulty in treating these diseases stems from the inaccessibility of brain cells, as effective drugs must cross the blood–brain barrier to reach targets inside them. Here is where the genetic medicine RNAi comes into play. RNAi works by silencing the genes that cause brain diseases to occur, genes which are bound to certain antibodies in the brain. Such antibodies are better known as “Brain Shuttles”. The medicine shuttles from the bloodstream to the inside of the brain. Once inside, the RNAi medication enters the affected neurons, thus switching off the disease-causing genes and providing aid to the correct part of the body. “We’re pairing this with a strategy to match the intervention to the right patient, at the right stage of their disease”, Jack stated in the Oct. 1 release.

Investment & Post-Seed Growth – Details of the Deal.

Aerska has developed a proprietary delivery system capable of crossing the blood-brain barrier (BBB), entering brain cells, and selectively switching off the genes responsible for neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. So, what does this mean for the future of the field? This breakthrough approach differentiates the company in a highly competitive BioTech landscape, and is a key reason leading investors to advocate its vision.

Following this, Aerska closed a €17 million seed financing round, co-led by Age1, Backed VC, and Speedinvest, with participation from BlueYard Capital, Lingotto (Exor), Norrsken VC, Kerna Ventures, PsyMed Ventures, and Ada Ventures. This investment round reflects strong investor confidence in Aerska’s science, team, and long-term potential in neurotherapeutic operations.

The Challenge.

BioTech is not an easy business. It operates within one of the most highly regulated environments, shaped by strict laws and compliance requirements. At the same time, patients ultimately depend on the treatments and technologies provided by clinics and healthcare professionals, placing deep trust in the system.


The need for effective neurological solutions has never been more urgent. Aerska addresses some of the most critical neurological illnesses affecting Irish society today. While its R&D work is based in London, the company is headquartered in Dublin to stay close to Ireland’s dynamic innovation ecosystem and its strong network of pharmaceutical and biological players. This setup lets the team tap into top scientific talent on the research side, while positioning the business at the center of a growth-oriented life sciences hub.

Longevity is not a future promise; it is a responsibility. By combining scientific research, a brain-delivery platform, and investors’ trust, Aerska is tackling one of medicine’s most complex challenges head-on. In the fast-aging Irish society with growing neurological need, the company’s long-term commitment to precision RNAi therapies positions it not just to advance MedTech, but to redefine how brain diseases are treated: patient by patient, gene by gene.

US/China AI Wars Escalate as China Effectively Bans Major US Developers.

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By Michael Fennell

Prior to the economic, cultural, and seemingly unending prominence of Artificial Intelligence, the US had unequivocal control in chip development. American companies like Intel and AMD dominated the space. But the industry has changed. A company once known for making graphics cards for gaming PCs is now a multi trillion dollar empire on the cutting edge of the most burdening industry in the world.
Nvidia chips have been viewed as an industry flagship with the ability for massive parallel processing, a crucial part of training AI and the execution of AI prompts. What once lay in the gaming PCs now lines server warehouses across the world. And the country of the company who makes them has a big say in who can buy them and when.


China’s Interest in the AI Industry
AI has undoubtedly become a gigantic industry, one which many speculate is not just here to stay, but to change the world. China wants to be the major player in this space for a number of reasons. Most notably the economic growth; if anything akin to the tech boom of the early 2000s, this has the potentiality to create trillions in GDP growth, tens of thousands of jobs, as well as international esteem. Not only is there a positive ambition, but a defensive one too. A reliance on the US in these tumultuous times with fluctuating relations could cause serious trouble for China. But if the roles were reversed, they would have serious bargaining power.


China Battling US Strategy
Despite the excitement around AI, China has a dilemma on their hands. Unfortunately for them the new major chip manufacturer in the space, Nvidia, is another American company. Almost all cutting edge AI technology is being developed and operated with Nvidia at their core. For China, this means that in order to compete in the present, they need to depend on the United States, who are controlling and regulating Nvidia and their exports.


In July the US Commerce secretary took to the media to explain that the US plan to both profit off of China and prevent any AI leapfrogging from them. He stated the only chip they’d be able to buy was the H20, an inferior chip which he repeatedly referred to as the “fourth best”. He said China would become “addicted to the American technology stack” and that this would stifle their domestic innovation, keeping them from the AI mantle both in terms of chips and software.


Whether it was the interview in which the US Commerce secretary made the US economic strategy abundantly clear, or the Chinese government seeing the writing on the wall, they immediately sought to ban all US chips as quickly as possible, preventing all Chinese companies from the future purchase of Nvidia chips. This was something that Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang referred to as “disappointing” in a BBC interview, a comment which was not surprising considering the potential profits Nvidia could have made from a US China arms race with Nvidia in the middle. Now China seeks to develop their own Nvidia, with companies such as Cambricon, one which is working closely with Chinese AI powerhouse Deepseek.

While undoubtedly sub the standard of Nvidia, the prospects of a new chip making powerhouse in the AI space excited investors, thus skyrocketing stock prices. Now seemingly cash rich, it would appear as though the Chinese chip industry is well armed in their race against the US. Even prior to the banning, the Chinese technology company Huawei seemed desperate to catch up to Nvidia in the AI race, massively ramping up funding by billions in the AI chip space.


Consequences for China and the US
In the immediate future, China’s inability to obtain top of the line chips will undoubtedly stifle their ability to adapt and evolve in this ever-emerging industry. Despite backing domestic manufacturers, Deepseek too may take a hit with less access to domestic chips for servers and AI training. Although with their seemingly relentless pursuit from the Chinese government who are providing deregulation to fuel innovation and massive capital investments, a catch up in some way is not out of the realm of possibility. The US opium wars style tactics of dependency against China have failed, but they themselves are also investing heavily in AI both with huge sums of private capital and through the federal government through shared data factories, US AI is being fostered for world domination.


Despite their failure to export to China, the rest of the world seem eager to embrace the top of the line tech, including the UAE who recently secured a billion dollar a year investment agreement with the US for the securing of Nvidia chips.