A venture studio for the psychedelics sector is seeking capital from everyday investors.
Nucleus, a company that incubates psychedelic industry startups, will kick off an equity crowdfunding campaign on Wefunder on Wednesday. The venture launched this year after Fort Lauderdale's Iter Investments acquired Neuly, a platform that enables people to access data about the industry and connect with related professionals, and Psychedelic Invest, a company that provides information for psychedelic investors.
Nucleus aims to raise $3 million through the equity crowdfunding campaign, where investors can receive an ownership stake in the company in exchange for capital. The first $100,000 in investments will be in a Future Equity Agreement (SAFE), which grants an investor the right to obtain equity at a future dateif the startup sells shares in future financing. SAFEs are typically used by early-stage startups raising funds from accredited angel investors.
CEO Logan Lenz said the goal is to offer ownership opportunities to anyone who sees potential in psychedelic-assisted therapy.
“The stronger the community backing is in the industry, the greater the likelihood of changing the perception of psychedelics in medicine," he added.
New medical research suggests psychedelic substances like psilocybin (the active ingredient in "magic mushrooms") and ketamine could be used in combination with therapy to treat conditions such as major depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. Several South Florida investors and startups, including Iter Investments and Miami's Nue Life, are already entering the burgeoning industry, arguing psychedelics could be a promising alternative to traditional prescription medications.
But there are risks: Most psychedelics drugs are still illegal in most of the U.S., with a few exceptions. And the impacts of using those substances as part of a long-term mental health treatment plan are still unclear.
Nucleus' goal is to "own and operate assets that we hope connect people with the psychedelics industry" and "provide supporting infrastructure that empowers organizations with the psychedelic industry to make data-driven decisions," according to its Wefunder page. It operates a portfolio of 12 brands and reports it has an audience of 50,000 subscribers, users and followers.
The company is not profitable yet, but anticipates it can achieve profitability over the next year if it hits its fundraising goal.
"We are presently focused on building our audience and tools and technologies that will allow us to offer premium content and self-service products that will establish larger profit margins and a frictionless ability to scale," the Wefunder page stated.
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