Bill Gates promises $100 million to fund industry, government and startups fighting Dementia, Alzheimer’s

Microsoft co-founder, Bill Gates will invest $50 million in the London-based Dementia Discovery Fund (DDF). It is a venture capital fund run by SV Health that supports industry and government bodies that are working on treating the disease.

The investment is not part of the Billionaire’s philanthropic Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and will be coupled with an additional $50 million in several startup ventures working on research for Alzheimer’s.

“I believe we are at a turning point in Alzheimer’s research and development, which the Dementia Discovery Fund is playing an important role in by exploring new approaches to treat the disease,” said Bill Gates in a blogpost. He has also promised to give away more than half of his wealth to charity.

DDF supports startups that explore less mainstream approaches to treating dementia. Their work does, however, compliment pharmaceutical companies in their work and are thus backed by some of the biggest names including GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, Eli Lilly, Pfizer and Biogen Idec – in addition to the government, charity Alzheimer’s Research UK. Dementia Discovery Fund’s goal is to find a cure for dementia by 2025.

The additional $50 million that Gates has promised to startups aims to promote their “less mainstream” approaches. However, he is yet to specifically identify these companies. He would also like to build a global dementia data platform and award a grant. He says this would make it more convenient for researchers to seek and identify patterns and thus new paths for treatment.

Watch Bill Gates talk about it here: