Iter Investments, which aims to deploy capital primarily in businesses involved with the burgeoning psychedelic industry, recently announced the final closing of its successful round of funding. The initial goal of the fund was to raise $20 million, but increased investor interest generated over $20 million committed.
Founded by Dustin Robinson, Esq., CPA (pictured), the founding partner of one of the leading law firms in the psychedelic industry, in partnership with seasoned private equity investor Robert Velarde, the Iter Investments team consists of experts and professionals within the psychedelic space representing the end-to-end psychedelic value chain, enabling investment opportunity sourcing, diligence and portfolio management.
“Our mission has been and continues to be aiding entrepreneurs as they build great companies that use medical and scientific research to reimagine the health care industry’s approach to the underserved mental and behavioral health sectors,” Robinson says. “It has been a very successful year launching our initial fund and we have built incredible partnerships along the way. We are closely watching the emerging trends and research surrounding the psychedelics industries and are excited for all that the industry has to offer.”
In launching Fund I, Iter Investments has established an active portfolio of 16 companies with special access to several new investments on the horizon. Iter Investments’ portfolio consists of companies across the entire value chain, including suppliers of psychedelic active pharmaceutical ingredients, such as Psygen; drug discovery and drug development companies, including Psilera, Beckley Psytech, Clairvoyant, Reset Pharma, Apex Labs, Wesana, Awakn Life Sciences and Freedom Bio; clinics including Awakn Life Sciences and Wesana; and technology and other supporting infrastructures, such as Tripp, aNUma and Fluence.
Iter Investments’ portfolio is also diversified across a wide range of compounds, including psilocybin, DMT, 5-MeO-DMT, MDMA, LSD, ketamine, psychedelic analogs and new chemical entities, as well as a wide range of indications, such as alcohol use disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), cancer-related distress, depression, anxiety, gambling addiction and behavioral health conditions.
Recognizing gaps in the psychedelic industry, Iter Investments also launched its own company, Nucleus, a holding company for various media, data, and technology assets, including Psychedelic Invest, Neuly, Matter Academy, Psyrise and Particles. The venture capital firm is also particularly interested in digital therapeutics for mental health, including being the lead investor in aNUma’s seed round investment. aNUma is developing digital group therapeutics combining virtual reality with the science of psychedelics, creating deeper human connections to address the global mental health crisis.
“We have seen an incredible amount of investor interest over the past year, and combined with the continued progress in R&D and clinical trials, confirms our view of the great potential for the psychedelics industry,” Velarde says. “We’re looking forward to continuing to serve the funding gap between psychedelic drug research and mass commercialization while aiming to offer portfolio companies what we consider to be expert guidance to support their growth and success.”
