Y Combinator is a startup accelerator that invests in a large number of startups twice a year. It created a new model for funding startups. Twice a year, the company invests a small amount of money ($150k) in a large number of startups. The startup accelerator works intensively with the companies for three months, to get them into the best possible shape and refine their pitch to investors. Each cycle culminates in Demo Day when the startups present their companies to a carefully selected, invite-only audience.

Y Combinator

Psychedelics will have a significant global impact by introducing novel and effective treatments for depression, addiction, PTSD, anxiety and other mental health disorders. Receptor invests in this new biotech ecosystem through early and mid stage drug discovery companies.

Receptor

Initialized Capital is an early-stage venture capital firm focused on the seed. Initialized has 6 investing partners and over $3.2B under management over five core funds since its founding in 2012. The firm's startups have created in aggregate over $200B in market value so far.

Initialized Capital

Metaplanet Holdings is an early-stage investment firm that invests in diversified sectors. They support novel and evidence-based innovations that could produce an outsized return for the benefit of humankind. The firm specializes in the fields of business development, venture capital, and financial services.

Metaplanet

K50 Ventures is a purpose-driven, early-stage venture capital firm.  We are the first institutional check and long-term partner to founders who believe technology has the potential to unlock access and affordability for the world’s working class across health, finance, and work.  Since 2016, we’ve invested in over 150 companies that have generated top-decile venture returns for our investors and material impact for millions of people and small businesses.

K50 Ventures

Innovating Capital is a family-office backed technology fund specializing in investing in start-ups, early stage, and growth stage companies. It invests in disruptive sectors and cutting-edge technologies with a focus on enterprise industry verticals such as infrastructure, financial technologies, cybersecurity, life sciences, and insurance technologies.

Innovating Capital

Day One Ventures is a venture capital firm that backs customer-obsessed companies and spearheads their communications. This enables the Day One team to become actively involved in its portfolio companies and plays a real, tangible role in helping them grow.  The firm invests across industries from pre-seed to seed - and occasionally series A, and invests between $100k and $5 million. Day One Ventures was founded by Masha Drokova, who is an angel investor, entrepreneur, communications executive, and Forbes 30 Under 30 Honoree.

Day One Ventures

Lionheart Ventures is a global, seed-stage venture capital firm focused on mitigating civilizational risk. We do this by supporting the wise development of transformative technologies. Our main areas of investment focus are transformative artificial intelligence and frontier mental health technologies. Leading academics estimate a 1-in-6 chance of human extinction by the year 2100, largely driven by risks from emerging technologies. And now, with the exponential growth of AI, predictions are getting worse. Our startups are part of the solution. We invest in exceptional, ethical founders who are developing transformative technologies that have the potential to impact humanity on a meaningful scale, while generating attractive returns for our LPs.

Lionheart Ventures

Negev Capital is a psychedelic medical intervention investment fund with assets of USD$21+ million. We invest in drug discovery, with a focus on preclinical and/or Phase 1 stages of development. We aim to support those early stage companies in need of capital that promote the thoughtful, responsible, and therapeutic use of psychedelic interventions for neuropsychiatric disorders; as well as those who have excellent management and science teams, and robust IP.  Negev believes that psychedelic medications will be not only disruptive to the practice of psychiatry but hold the potential to reduce enormous amounts of human suffering, and is committed to helping the field mature, and further promote ways for these treatments to reach all of those in need.

Negev Capital

Empath Ventures is a venture capital firm that mainly invests in psychedelic medicine companies. The firm specializes in the fields of investment financial services, finance, and venture capital. It was founded in 2021 and headquartered in Los Angeles California.

Empath Ventures

Page One Ventures is an early-stage venture firm.

Page One Ventures

Ayuh Ventures is an early stage fund investing in startups focused on neuroscience to address longevity, and aging

Ayuh Ventures

The Hub Angels Investment Group is an angel group structured as a fund, with more than 100 members acriss its five funds.  Hub invests in technology-focused businesses primarily in the Boston area.  Through 2015, the Hub portfolio includes 38 investments in companies like Zipcar (IPO), CircleLending (acquired by Virgin Money), Intelligent Bio-Systems (acquired by Qiagen), Copiun (acquired by Good Technology), and Incentive Targeting (acquired by Google).  Between its funds and members, Hub has invested more than $25 million, with co-investors adding another $250 million. The Hub Angels Investment Group was founded in March 2000 and is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts.

Hub Angels Investment Group

Psymed Ventures is an investment syndicate that invests in early-stage psychedelics companies. The firm was founded in 2020 by Matias Serebrinsky and Dina Burkitbayeva and is headquartered in San Francisco, California, United States.

PsyMed Ventures

Immeasurable creates companies and invests in founders and fund managers.

Immeasurable

Mindstate Design Labs

Mindstate Design Labs is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing the next generation of psychedelic-inspired therapeutics for intractable mental health conditions. The company maps the biological basis of the varieties of psychedelic experiences and uses that map to design psychoactive effects to be applied in medically supervised settings to heal the root causes of mental health disorders.

<div>Mindstate Design Labs is a biotech startup focused on psychedelic drugs for mental health treatment. The company is known for its Osmanthus platform, an AI-driven technology that aims to predict and design altered states of consciousness for therapeutic uses. This platform analyzes and classifies psychedelic experiences from a diverse range of sources, including internet forums and clinical data, to aid in the design of therapeutics aimed at mental health conditions. This enables the precise engineering of psychedelic experiences, tailored to individual therapeutic needs.&nbsp;</div>

Promising research and receding stigma are giving investors cannabis-boom flashbacks.

Psychedelic Medicine

Mindstate Design Labs raised an $11.5M seed round for psychedelic-inspired therapeutics

<div>
 
 Mindstate Design Labs is a biotech startup focused on psychedelic drugs for mental health treatment. The company is known for its Osmanthus platform, an AI-driven technology that aims to predict and design altered states of consciousness for therapeutic uses. This platform analyzes and classifies psychedelic experiences from a diverse range of sources, including internet forums and clinical data, to aid in the design of therapeutics aimed at mental health conditions. This enables the precise engineering of psychedelic experiences, tailored to individual therapeutic needs.&nbsp;
 
 
 
 
 As of May 2024, the company has identified six probe candidates under the Osmanthus screening platform. These are intended to show unique therapeutic utility when combined with a lead primer compound​.
 
 
 
 
 Funding and Financials
 
 
 
 In February 2022, Mindstate Design Labs raised USD 11.5 million in a seed funding round co-led by Initialized Capital, Negev Capital, Day One Ventures, K50 Ventures, and Page One Ventures. The round also saw participation from angel investors such as Max Hodak (co-founder of Neuralink), Naval Ravikant (former AngelList CEO), Fred Ehrsam (Paradigm co-founder), and Apoorva Mehta (Instacart founder). The proceeds were expected to be&nbsp; channeled for product development and team expansion initiatives.
 
</div>

<div>
 
 Canadian biotech firm Core One Labs maintains three primary business operations: 1) developing novel delivery systems for psychedelic medicines, 2) psilocybin manufacturing, and 3) medical clinics to provide psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy. The company has developed proprietary technology with infused strips that dissolve immediately when placed in the patient&rsquo;s mouth to deliver molecules with a higher level of bioavailability. The company plans to advance this technology to incorporate psychedelic molecules, particularly psilocybin.&nbsp;
 
 
 Core One Labs also claims it has discovered a patentable method of producing high-quality psilocybin, which it may license to pharmaceutical companies. Additionally, the company has two psychedelic clinics in Vancouver that currently support clinical trials and maintain a database of more than 275,000 patients. The company acquired Vocan Biotechnologies and Akome Biotech in May 2021 for undisclosed amounts. Akome is developing a patent-pending psychedelic drug formulation for the treatment of Alzheimer&rsquo;s Disease.&nbsp;
 
 
 Core One Labs is listed on the Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE) and OTC markets.
 
 
</div>

Core One Labs

<div>
 
 Vancouver-based Lobe Sciences (formerly GreenStar Biosciences) is a biotechnology company developing psychedelic medicines (microdose applications) and medical devices for efficient drug delivery. The company&rsquo;s main focus is the treatment of mild traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It is also conducting early studies on psilocybin combined with N-acetylcysteine (NAC), and MDMA combined with NAC as a treatment. Lobe is also developing a patent pending nasal mist transducer device for the delivery of medicines directly to the brain&rsquo;s olfactory bulb.&nbsp;
 
 
 In June 2020, Lobe acquired Eleusian Biosciences, a company focused on the development of psychedelic medicine which expanded its intellectual property portfolio with three US patent applications for psychedelic therapeutics. Lobe is also collaborating with the University of Miami&rsquo;s Miller School of Medicine to conduct preclinical studies. After its restructuring and name change, the company started trading on the Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE) in November 2020.
 
 
 
</div>

Lobe Sciences

<div>
 
 Cybin is a psychedelic biotechnology company developing treatments for psychiatric and neurological conditions. Through its Serenity Life Science division, Cybin conducted Phase II of clinical trials on using psilocybin to treat major depressive disorder. Additionally, the company's Nature's Journey division focuses on creating non-psychedelic medicinal and nutraceutical mental health products.
 
 
 Cybin is actively building a patent portfolio, including chemically-synthesized compounds, delivery mechanisms, protocols, and new drug formulations. It has also filed an International Patent Application through the Patent Cooperation Treaty, potentially covering 153 countries.&nbsp;
 
 
 In July 2023, the company announced 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/20076">
 EMBARKCT, 
 </a>
 a streamlined version of its EMBARK training program for pivotal studies of lead candidates, CYB003 for major depressive disorder and CYB004 for generalized anxiety disorder, respectively. In 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/27577">
 March 2024
 </a>
 , the company received a breakthrough designation from the FDA for CYB003, and expects to initiate Phase III clinical trials for the program by mid-2024.
 
 
 Cybin implements an M&amp;A strategy to grow in the psychedelic industry. It did a reverse takeover of Charmin in June 2020, raising CAD 45 million (USD 35.5 million) for clinical studies. It acquired Adelia Therapeutics in December 2020, adding novel treatments and patent applications. Also in 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/21335">
 August 2023 
 </a>
 it acquired 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/companies/470858">
 Small Pharma 
 </a>
 in an all-share transaction to strengthen its psychedelic portfolio.&nbsp;
 
 
 Founded in 2019, Cybin is listed on the NEO exchange under the ticker symbol &ldquo;CYBN&rdquo; and was uplisted to the NYSE American Stock Exchange in July 2021 under the same symbol. For FY2023, the company reported a decrease in net loss by 29.7% YoY to CAD 47.5 million (USD 35 million).&nbsp;
 Further in 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/33849">
 September 2024
 </a>
 , it completed a 38-to-1 share consolidation of its common stock which reduced the number of outstanding common shares to ~20 million. 
 
 
 Key customers and partnerships&nbsp;
 
 
 In July 2020, Cybin expanded its operations and research activities in the European region via research partnerships and transferred its intellectual property assets to its fully-owned Irish subsidiary (formed in May 2021). In July 2023, the company partnered with 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/20455">
 Worldwide Clinical Trials
 </a>
 to develop new psychedelic-based treatment options for mental health conditions, including major depressive disorder. Further, in September 2023, the company partnered with 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/22180">
 Fluence
 </a>
 to support Cybin's EMBARK facilitator training program.
 
</div>

Cybin

<div>
 
 Canadian cannabinoid-based therapeutics company BioNxt Solutions
 (formerly Xphyto Therapeutics) announced in November 2020 that it has expanded its drug development program to incorporate a number of psychedelic compounds. This includes substances such as psilocybin, mescaline, LSD, MDMA, and DMT. Xphyto&rsquo;s initial focus is on developing standardized drug formulations with efficient delivery mechanisms for therapeutic use.
 
</div>

BioNxt Solutions

<div>
 
 New York-based Gilgamesh Pharmaceuticals is a biotechnology company developing psychedelic-inspired medicines for neuropsychiatric conditions such as depression, anxiety, addiction, and cognitive deficits. The company has three research programs in its pipeline: 1) Serotonergic Micro-Dose&ndash;a non psychedelic therapeutic treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and mood/anxiety disorders, 2) Arylcyclohexylamine&ndash;an improved molecule of ketamine for treatment-resistant depression and opiate use disorder, and 3) Novel Ibogaine Analogue&ndash;for the treatment of substance use disorders.&nbsp;
 
 
 Gilgamesh is one of the few psychedelic companies launched by the startup accelerator Y Combinator, and as such enjoys the accelerator&rsquo;s world-famous business expertise and network.
 
 
 Key customers and partnerships
 
 
 In 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/29382">
 May 2024
 </a>
 , the company partnered with AbbVie to leverage AbbVie's psychiatric expertise and Gilgamesh's research platform to create novel &quot;neuroplastogens.&quot; 
 
 
 Funding and Financials
 
 
 In 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/27575">
 March 2024
 </a>
 , the company received a grant of&nbsp; USD 14 million from the National Institute on Drug Abuse to develop the GM-3009 compound. Prior to this, it raised USD 39 million in a 
 <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/15359">
 Series B 
 </a>
 funding round led by Prime Movers Lab in December 2022. 
 
</div>

Gilgamesh Pharmaceuticals

Companies conducting research on psychedelic compounds and developing novel therapeutics.

Companies operating digital platforms to deliver psychedelic therapies including psychedelic integration, virtual experiences, and mental coaching and tracking. AI drug discovery companies specializing in psychedelic therapeutics are also included.

Companies operating clinics and treatment centers to deliver psychedelic therapies.

Companies supplying psychedelic compounds through cultivation, chemical synthesis and biosynthesis for medical research and drug development.

Companies building a patent portfolio of novel analogs and derivatives of first-generation psychedelics and new drug delivery mechanisms. 

Mindstate Design Labs

About EDGE

Contact Us

Resources

Area of Focus

Technology Research Made Effortless