A unique benefit such as stemcell storage—one that most companies don't offer—may keep young,forward-thinking employees from jumping ship in a competitive labormarket (Image: Shutterstock)

As MyCrypto mulled what benefits to offer employees, the newblockchain startup asked them what they wanted.“Surprisingly, we found that the traditional health benefits and 401(k)benefits—they had no interest in those,” said Taylor Monahan, thecompany's founder and chief executive.

If employees didn't want two of the biggest reasons to befull-time, what did they want? “They're early adopters and they'retech-minded people, so the concept of living forever turns themon,” said Monahan. “That's how we figured Forever Labs would be agood fit.”

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A stem cell storage company that promises thechance for a longer and healthier life, Forever Labs asserts thatyoung, healthy cells may someday be used for what Chief ExecutiveOfficer Steven Clausnitzer calls “health maintenance.” These cells,the company claims, could come in handy for treating a variety ofmaladies, such as heart disease, Parkinsons, and Alzheimers— thatis, assuming medical technology catches up.

“We are a longevity company helping to extend life spans,”Clausnitzer said. “It's not so dissimilar to being healthy andactive. People have healthy diets and lifestyles. This is one ofthose things that you could do as well, to be prepared for theinevitable.”

The human body contains many different types of stem cells;Forever Labs stores what are known as the mesenchymal variety. Onbehalf of its employees, MyCrypto pays the $2,500 fee to gatherstem cells via a bone marrow collection procedure (there's acheaper $1,500 procedure if you happen to be getting liposuction).Additionally, MyCrypto covers the $250-a-year storage fee—untilworkers quit or get fired.

A majority of MyCrypto's 21-person staff is under 30, and manystill use their parents' health insurance. A unique benefit such asthis—one that most companies don't offer—may be what keeps themfrom jumping ship in a competitive labor market, Monahan said. “I'malways looking for ways to keep people for longer,” she said. “Theturnover rate in crypto is very high.”

Over at Forever Labs, being a benefits provider was novelterritory. So far, only one other company, Promanas Group, aMichigan-based real estate investor, came to them to provide stemcell benefits. John Bogdasarian, chief executive of Promanas, saidit's helped with retention, recruitment and morale. Both companiescame to Forever Labs through their CEOs, who had already had theprocedure done themselves. Monahan, 28, likened it to having an“insurance policy.”

Figuring out how to live longer has historically drawn theattention of billionaires and technologists. Companies such asForever Labs offer that glimmer of invincibility—the thought thatdeath is hackable—for just a few thousand dollars. As a graduate ofseed accelerator YCombinator, the company has become a darling ofthe tech set.

But much like egg freezing—a benefit that Google Inc.,Facebook Inc. and other big companies have begun offering oflate—stem cell banking promises more than it delivers. Critics haveaccused egg-freezing clinics of preying on women's fears aboutaging out of motherhood, when only a tiny percentage of frozen eggsresults in live births.

Similarly, it's unclear how useful young stem cells will be inthe future.

“There is no way to extend anybody's life with stem cells,” saidSean Morrison, the former president of the International Societyfor Stem Cell Research. While there are many ongoing clinicaltrials, he said there's no convincing evidence yet that stem cellscould reverse brain- or heart-related illnesses. For diseases thatcurrently benefit from stem cell treatments, like blood cancers,most people don't use their own. “There's no reason to think peoplewould benefit from banking their own stem cells,” he said.

Forever Labs contends that it isn't promising anything more thanpossibility. “We're not trying to claim more than the science,”said Mark Katakowski, the company's chief science officer. Hepoints to the growing number of clinical trials as evidence of thepromise of stem cells. “There's a lot of potential here. There'snot much downside to banking your own biology.”

Still, despite a lack of viable uses right now, clinicspromising results have proliferated across the U.S.

“Dozens of companies come up with claims about how they are ableto cure any number of incurable diseases,” Morrison said. “Peoplecan make a lot of money with snake oil. With patients who aredesperate, there's a remarkable capacity to suspend disbelief.”

There's also the potential for injury. After some people wentblind, thanks to an unauthorized stem cell procedure to treatmacular degeneration, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration movedto block two clinics. (Forever Labs doesn't do any treatments; itmerely stores the cells for later use.)

So far, nobody at Forever Labs has dipped into itsthree-year-old stem cell bank. Clausnitzer said he expects thefirst case will be to serve someone who wants their cells to treata blood cancer.

Still, for companies such as Promanas and MyCrypto, the benefitmay already be paying off, regardless of the science. After all,while insurance pays for health care and a 401(k) providessecurity, a stem cell benefit provides something much more elusive:hope.

“The return on investment on having a great employee who isexcited to work for you outweighs everything else,” saidMonahan.

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