BOCA RATON, Fla. — Phyto Partners, LLC (“Phyto”), a top venture capital fund, is launching its fourth private equity fund – Phyto IV, LP – focused on businesses operating in and around neurowellness and brain health and the use of psychedelic compounds for the improvement of mental well-being.
Phyto Partners has partnered with Ambria Capital, LLC (“Ambria”), for the management of Phyto IV. Founded in 2019 by a team of investment professionals with decades of success in the healthcare and technology markets, Ambria combines a comprehensive analytical approach with an unparalleled network of contacts to connect industry leaders with market opportunities.
“Our research indicates that we are on the verge of a neurowellness brain health megatrend that will include the resurgence of Psychotropics/Psychedelics as a Medicine and for all around mindfulness,” said Larry Schnurmacher, Managing Partner. “The neurowellness sector has become one of the fastest-growing and largest markets to emerge in decades, and current regulatory hurdles have created an early-stage funding gap for companies uniquely poised for considerable growth. We believe that addressing this funding gap will be a key catalyst for rapid market expansion. For our latest fund, we have partnered with Ambria Capital, a high-performance team focused on bringing the best mental health and technology innovations to market. Their in-depth industry expertise and relationships will prove vital to the success of Phyto IV.”
“We are seeing an increased focus on mental health and well-being among our peers and the broader public,” added Cody Shandraw, Managing Partner. “As early pioneers in the psychedelics space, we are naturally excited for the tremendous growth potential, but more importantly, we are grateful to be playing a role in the development of new forms of medicine with real promise to benefit people’s lives. As more people begin to realize the possibilities within neurowellness, we believe awareness will continue to swell, driving normalization and further industry growth.”
Amid growing awareness of the potential for psychedelic treatments for common mental health disorders, the U.S. FDA has authorized over 100 ongoing human clinical trials and has already granted breakthrough therapy designations for MDMA and psilocybin compounds, expediting their development and review due to the potential for substantial improvements over currently available therapies. As research accelerates, stigmas are being debunked and new innovations are developing an industry with a clear path to commercialization. The U.S. psychedelic drugs market is projected to reach nearly $7 billion by 2027, according to Data Bridge Market Research.
“We are seeing emerging companies developing specific solutions for an industry in its infancy, in a market primed for explosive growth,” continued Schnurmacher. “We are early, perhaps very early, but we believe the neurowellness space may develop and unfold much quicker than the cannabis market. We estimate that some of our target companies have a real chance of becoming industry leaders in the next few years.”
