In August 2025, the Wall Street Journal reported that a number of Silicon Valley leaders are spending tens of thousands of dollars on advanced genetic testing for their children – screening for disease risks and even potential markers of intelligence. While still fringe, the phenomenon highlights a provocative question: what if the next economy is not only digital or carbon-neutral, but also biological?
From Digital Capital to Biological Capital
For decades, markets have been defined by the rise of intangible assets – software, data, and intellectual property. Yet a parallel economy is emerging where genomic data, reproductive technologies, and cognitive enhancement could become investable classes in themselves. The global genomics market, valued at over $30 billion in 2024, is forecast to more than double by 2030, propelled by advances in sequencing, CRISPR gene-editing, and AI-assisted diagnostics. For investors, this suggests a new asset frontier: companies that can secure early intellectual property and scale ethical applications of genetic intelligence.
A New Kind of Human Capital Market
The idea that enhanced intelligence could provide a hedge against the risks of artificial intelligence, as some scientists told WSJ, reframes human capital itself as a strategic economic resource. If education and training were the key growth drivers of the 20th century, genetic optimisation may become the contested edge of the 21st.
For leaders, this raises two parallel realities:
- Institutional demand: Early adoption could lead to new private education models where genetic insights shape enrolment, teaching, and career pathways.
- Market segmentation: Unequal access may reinforce new socio-economic divisions, with profound implications for labour markets, productivity, and political stability.
Policy, Ethics, and Market Reaction
History suggests markets can move faster than regulation. In the 1990s, the Internet outpaced legal frameworks; by the 2020s, crypto assets did the same. Genetic intelligence services may follow a similar trajectory: private capital flowing ahead of regulatory consensus. The likely outcome is geographic divergence: permissive jurisdictions may attract biotech investment, while stricter regions risk capital flight.
From a financial perspective, this creates both risk arbitrage and opportunity selection:
- Biotech and AI-health convergence firms could benefit from high growth multiples.
- Education, insurance, and healthcare industries may face disruption as genetic risk data challenges existing actuarial models.
- Long-term investors may need to account for bio-divergence risk – the possibility that inequality in access to enhancement reshapes social contracts and political stability.
The 10-Year Outlook: A Biocapitalist Layer to the Next Economy
By 2035, the “next economy” may not be defined solely by clean energy grids or digital capital, but by a biocapitalist layer – markets where genetic data, cognitive potential, and biological resilience are priced, traded, and insured.
For investors, the question is not whether this is ethical, but whether capital flows will make it material. With global genomics already a $30 billion industry expected to double by 2030, the momentum is undeniable. By 2035, markets may trade not only in energy, data, and software, but in genetic intelligence and resilience.
Sectors Likely to Lead
- Biotech & Genomics
- Winners: Firms at the intersection of AI and genetics – Illumina (ILMN), Thermo Fisher Scientific (TMO), and up-and-coming CRISPR platforms like CRISPR Therapeutics (CRSP).
- Rationale: Falling sequencing costs and AI-driven pattern recognition could widen adoption, moving from rare-disease diagnostics into mainstream cognitive and health forecasting.
- Investor note: Early volatility likely; look for companies with defensible IP and diversified revenue streams.
- Healthcare & Insurance
- Winners: Insurers that successfully integrate genomic data into underwriting – potentially UnitedHealth Group (UNH) or AXA.
- Disruptors: Traditional actuarial models may be upended if genetic intelligence becomes part of risk assessment.
- Investor note: Expect legal challenges; regulation could delay but not prevent repricing of risk pools.
- Education & EdTech
- Winners: Platforms integrating cognitive analytics into personalised learning – Duolingo (DUOL), Pearson (PSO), or regional EdTech players in Asia.
- Rationale: If genetic data guides early cognitive profiling, adaptive learning tools could see exponential demand.
- Investor note: Monitor countries with permissive data rules (Singapore, UAE) as early adopters.
- Frontier Funds & ETFs
- Thematic ETFs: ARK Genomic Revolution ETF (ARKG) or Global X Genomics & Biotechnology ETF (GNOM) offer diversified entry points.
- Private equity/VC: Expect an arms race in seed-stage biotech start-ups. Family offices may lead given the high risk/return skew.
Macro Forces for Investors to Watch
- Cost Curve of Sequencing: A drop below $100 per genome could expand adoption beyond elites, creating mass-market potential.
- Regulatory Divergence: The US and parts of Asia may push ahead; Europe likely slower, creating geographic arbitrage.
- Consumer Acceptance: Markets will scale only if genetic intelligence is framed as preventive healthcare rather than elitist enhancement.
- AI Synergy: The most valuable firms will be those merging biological data with AI diagnostics, accelerating predictive power.
Portfolio Strategy (2025 – 2035 Horizon)
| Allocation Theme | Risk Profile | Potential Return Drivers | Hedge / Risk Control |
| Core Biotech & Genomics (10–15%) | High volatility | CRISPR breakthroughs, falling sequencing costs | Diversify across platforms & ETFs |
| Healthcare & Insurance (5–10%) | Medium | Genetic underwriting, new risk models | Regulation may cap upside |
| EdTech & Cognitive Analytics (3–5%) | Emerging | AI-driven adaptive learning, global adoption | Early-stage, avoid over-concentration |
| Frontier VC / Private Equity (5%) | Very high | First-mover advantage in gene-intelligence start-ups | Only for sophisticated investors |
| Green & Digital Infrastructure (10–15%) | Stabiliser | Non-correlated growth themes | Balances biocapitalist exposure |
Bottom Line for Leaders and Investors
By 2035, biological capital could sit alongside financial and digital capital as a growth driver. For forward-looking portfolios, early exposure to genomics, AI-health convergence, and EdTech will offer asymmetric upside – albeit with regulatory and reputational risks.
For business and political leaders, the stakes are broader: access, equity, and governance will define whether this becomes a narrow elite market or a mass transformation of human capital.
Either way, the capital already flowing into this frontier suggests one outcome is clear: biology will be financialised.
Sources
- Wall Street Journal, via RBC summary: Silicon Valley leaders investing in genetic testing for “smarter” generations (Aug 2025).
- OECD (2025): Trends in intangible and human capital investment.
- MarketsandMarkets (2024): Genomics market forecast 2024–2030.
- World Economic Forum (2023): The Future of Human Enhancement report.
- Nature Biotechnology (2024): Advances in CRISPR and gene editing adoption.