Did you know that an estimation of 1 billion people is affected by mental health issues such as depression, anxiety or addiction? This is the issue that atai life sciences is trying to resolve through the usage of substances such as LSD, psilocybin—the active ingredient in magic mushrooms—and MDMA.
atai is a biopharmaceutical company that leverages a decentralised platform approach to incubate and accelerate the development of highly effective mental health treatments that address the unmet needs of patients.
The company is the brainchild of Angermayer, who was joined by co-founder and current CEO Florian Brand to “enable people to live healthier and happier lives” by “bringing back formerly vilified drugs like psychedelics into the legal realm.” It is backed by billionaire investor Peter Thiel, Mike Novogratz, Angermayer’s own family office Apeiron Investment and smaller investors such as Malmö-based money manager Mikael Petersso.
atai is dedicated to acquiring, incubating and efficiently developing innovative therapeutics to treat depression, anxiety, addiction, and other mental health disorders. atai's business model combines funding, technology, scientific and regulatory expertise with a focus on psychedelic therapy and other drugs with differentiated safety profiles and therapeutic potential.
By pooling resources and best practices, atai aims to responsibly accelerate the development of new medicines across its companies, seeking to effectively treat and ultimately heal mental health disorders. atai's mission is to bridge the gap between what the mental healthcare system currently provides and what patients need. atai is headquartered in Berlin, with offices in New York.
Atai's launches its IPO on June 18th 2021
The company's Initial Public Offering raised $225m in fresh money after pricing its shares on the top end of the range, listing on the New York Stock exchange at a valuation of $2.6bn. The shares rose as much as 40% in early trading.
According to venture capital tracker CB Insights, VC deals in psychedelics have risen substantially in the last three years: 2018 and 2019 saw less than $100 million of venture capital invested in psychedelic start-ups, but 2020 saw $346 million. By April 2021, VCs had already invested $329 million in the industry.
Source: Hedgenordic, Sifted, CNBC