Tune in, SPAC on, drop LSD

Whats up and welcome again to Equity, TechCrunch’s enterprise capital-focused podcast, the place we unpack the numbers behind the headlines.

For this week’s deep dive, Alex and Natasha and Danny determined that it was time to speak about medicine. No, not like medicine for enjoyable, however as a substitute medicine that you just might need thought-about enjoyable, however are actually being redirected to assist bolster your well being.

Yep, that’s our theme in the present day. Because it seems, there are a selection of startups and even nascently public firms which are pursing utilizing medicine that we would take into account leisure for severe well being functions. Which is neat, as our behavior of decrying any drug that makes you’re feeling higher as immoral has doubtless held us again from studying rather a lot about them.

• Enterprise capital funding in psychedelic startups, per CB Insights, rose from sub-$100 million ends in 2018 and 2019 to $346 million final 12 months.
• Vice clauses, nevertheless, can pause a authentic challenge for traders who would possibly wish to minimize a verify within the area.
• From the startup angle, NUE Life Well being lately raised $3.3 million, and Osmind is as much as some neat stuff concerning psychological well being.
• From the general public markets, Atai Life Sciences, Compass Pathways, and MindMed are the businesses value watching.

Frankly this was a enjoyable one to file, even when the subject at hand is definitely moderately severe. Chat Friday morning!