📢 Q2 2023: PsyMed Ventures Update

Successful close of two new portfolio investments, the inaugural Frontier Mental Health (Un)conference, new frontiers we're exploring, and more

Welcome back to the PsyMed Ventures newsletter! 👋

We’re excited to share a fund update, a recap on our San Francisco (Un)conference, frontiers we’re exploring, noteworthy online and in person participation, the latest Business Trip episodes, and our favorite photos from Q2 2023 events. 

It has been a remarkably busy and productive quarter - let’s get started!

📈 Fund Update 

PsyMed Ventures Fund I Portfolio Update

Here’s a roundup of our Fund I portfolio investments. We recently invested in two companies in neurotech and artificial intelligence in Q2 2023. 

• Freedom Biosciences - Drug developer for second generation ketamine and psychedelic therapeutics. Freedom’s lead program seeks to extend its efficacy 

• Delix Therapeutics - Drug developer for novel neuroplasticity-promoting therapeutics for central nervous system diseases such as depression and post-traumatic stress disorder

• Journey Clinical - platform enabling licensed therapists to offer psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy.

• Motif Neurotech - A therapy for treatment resistant depression via a minimally invasive implant powered by magnetoelectric transfer. Once the Motif neural pacemaker is implanted patients can manage at home, taking less than 20 minutes of their day. 

• Neurotech (stealth) - non-invasive breakthrough technology  for mental health illnesses

• Marketplace (stealth) - marketplace for transformational mental health modalities. This includes therapies that can achieve meaningful impact in a few sessions and address the root cause.

• Neurotech (stealth) - Transcranial-electric stimulation for mental health

• Artificial intelligence (stealth) - AI assisted therapy tool for therapists

🌉 Frontier Mental Health (Un)conference Recap

PsyMed Ventures hosted our inaugural (un)conference in San Francisco, CA. The intimate summit included researchers/founders/investors in areas we're most excited about in mental health including psychedelic medicine, neurotech, optogenetics, metabolic & microbial psychiatry.

We couldn’t have been more pleased with the outcome. Attendees shared breakthrough ideas, academia got to network with industry, and the optimism in the room was palpable.

We shared an article about how we launched the Frontier Mental Health (Un)conference and a tweet sharing attendee feedback that inspires us to continue the summit.

🔬 Frontiers we’re exploring

1. Ketogenic diet and its ability to improve mental health. The field has been coined “metabolic psychiatry”. The ketogenic diet is high in fat and low in carbohydrates. It causes the body to break down fat into molecules called ketones. Ketones become the main source of energy for many cells in the body. The ketogenic diet has been used to treat epilepsy for almost 100 years, it’s been a popular weight loss diet for the past 20 years, and now researchers are finding it effective in treating mental health conditions ranging from bipolar disorder, schizophrenia to migraines. We believe technology will be essential in this field – e.g. helping patients adhere to protocols, developing ketogenic nutritional products, keto product marketplaces. We’re excited about the potential of mitochondrial and metabolic therapies for mental health. 

2. The microbiome and its ability to improve mental health. The field has been coined “microbial therapeutics”. There are 40 trillion microbes in the human body. These symbiotic organisms decrease susceptibility to infection and enhancing resistance to a range of diseases. Increasing evidence demonstrates that microbial imbalances influence bodily functions – ranging from mood to pain. There’s already an FDA-approved microbial therapeutic for treating diarrhea and colitis. We’re interested in companies that are developing microbial treatments for mental health.

🌎 PsyMed Ventures in the World 

1. Psychedelic Therapeutics & Drug Development Conference: Matias moderated a panel on what VC’s look for in psychedelic medicine companies with $100M+ size funds: Breakout Ventures, Jazz Ventures, and Village Global.

2. California Neurotechnology Conference: Greg participated as a panelist and BCI competition judge with over 300+ students at University of California Los Angeles.

3. Brain Capital Innovation Summit: Matias participated as a panelist to discuss PsyMed’s investment strategy in neurotechnology for mental health in an invite-only summit hosted by Broadreach Global with leading founders, investors, and researchers in brain health.

4. Chacruna: Matias joined Graham Pechenik, Founder of Calyx Law, Ann Harrison, Co-Founder and Managing Editor of Lucid News, and Simeon Schnapper, Founding Partner of JLS Fund, focusing on plant-based and psychedelic medicines to discuss the Psychedelic Business Landscape.

5. EvolutionFM Podcast: Greg was a guest on a podcast hosted by Scott Britton to discuss the psychedelic investment tension, precision psychiatry, the pros and cons of neurotech that claims to drop people into jhanas or enlightened states, and more.

6. Dimes y Billetes by Moris Dieck: Matias was a guest in one of Mexico’s top finance podcasts where he discussed psychedelic investing, the indigenous history of psychedelics, and opportunities for mission-driven investing with a global audience.

7. Ludlow House: Greg joined Zach Haigney to discuss the complexities, nuance, and bigger picture behind mainstream media headlines about psychedelics in this live, interactive event in New York City.

8. Hubspot for Startups: Caitlin discussed serious mental illnesses, burnout, mental health modalities and PsyMed’s mission at a global webinar of 600+ attendees focused on  founder mental health.

🍄 Business Trip

• Stanford Psychedelics: Robert Malenka - the 1st of a 3-part series on Stanford’s multidisciplinary and collaborative approach to psychedelic research.

• Live from Psychedelic Science 2023 - Greg records a series of interviews and talks at MAPS’ psychedelic conference of over 12k attendees.

• What VC’s Look for in Psychedelic Companies - a live recording of Matias’s panel at the Psychedelic Therapeutics & Drug Development Conference.

• Developing Non-Hallucinogenic Psychedelics: Bryan Roth - topics include the therapeutic effects of psychedelic and non-hallucinatory compounds, the transition from animal model studies to human trials and the journey of turning deep academic research into viable commercial entities.

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We’re energized for the next quarter!

If you enjoyed reading this Q2 2023 update, please feel free to forward to anyone else who might be interested in learning more about the work we’re doing in frontier mental health at PsyMed Ventures.

Best, 

The PsyMed Ventures Team

P.S. Here are photos from our Q2 2023 in person events!

Stealth co private event and live demo in Los Angeles

Frontier Mental Health (Un)conference in San Francisco

Matias at the Brain Capital Innovation Summit in Santa Clara

Greg at the California Neurotechnology Conference in UCLA