Say "High" to the World's First Venture Fund Exclusively for Psychedelics
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Say "High" to the World's First Venture Fund Exclusively for Psychedelics

Field Trip Ventures wants drugs like LSD, psilocybin, and MDMA to become the "new wave of the path that's been created by cannabis."

Published on June 13, 2019

Meet Field Trip Ventures, a new Canadian venture capital fund that wants to bankroll psychedelics research by financially supporting scientists, clinics, and pharmaceutical companies investigating these experimental — but very much illegal — substances. 

Field Trip Ventures’ founders, Ronan Levy, Joseph de Moral, and Hannan Fleiman, know a thing or two about investing in risky substances, too. All three are prominent members of Canada’s cannabis industry.

“We strongly believe that psychedelics are the next wave of the path that's been created by cannabis,” Levy told Business Insider. “There's no shortage of investment interest in the psychedelic space right now. Almost everybody who's been participating in the cannabis industry is looking at it.”

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Currently, psychedelics like LSD, MDMA, and psilocybin are being studied as potential treatments for depression, addiction, PTSD, and other psychological challenges posed by terminal illnesses.

Although the FDA considers most psychedelics to be deadly, addictive drugs under the Schedule I category, the administration has, over the years, greenlit research into trippy substances, since conventional pharmaceuticals and psychotherapies have failed to reliably treat certain conditions.

Furthermore, pharmaceutical companies are already looking into psychedelics as the next generation of patented drugs. Public sentiment regarding the illegality of psychedelics seems to be shifting, as well, considering Denver recently decriminalized psilocybin mushrooms, and Oakland decriminalized all natural psychedelics this month.

Field Trip Ventures hasn’t yet declared how much money it plans to raise before kicking off the big investments, but financing should begin this fall.

Because venture capital funds are always high-risk with low probabilities of profitable returns, only accredited investors and venture capitalists (e.g. people with millions in liquid assets) can help fund Field Trip. 

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