Noetic Fund

Managing Partners Sa’ad Shah and Warren Wright lead investment decisions, supported by Principal and Scientific Lead Sri Teja Mullapudi. Both Shah and Wright spent over a decade at DGAM, the asset management firm acquired by The Carlyle Group, where Wright served as CIO of Carlyle Liquid Markets Group. The small senior team structure ensures that every investment passes through operators who previously managed multi-billion-dollar institutional portfolios.

Noetic’s sourcing blends deep scientific networks with operator referrals. Principal Sri Teja Mullapudi maintains ties to academic research institutions through his doctoral work at the Max Planck Society, while Venture Partner Jeffrey Becker, a practicing psychiatrist, provides clinical-trial visibility and patient-need signals. The firm’s early bets on now-public companies like COMPASS Pathways and MindMed have also created a referral cycle from exited founders and clinical collaborators.

Noetic Fund operates as a private equity firm running multiple pooled venture funds — it is not a single family office. It manages a series of closed-end vehicles (Fund I and Fund II) with external limited partners, investing in early-stage CNS and wellness companies. The Carlyle-alumni leadership team gives it an institutional process edge over many independent healthtech VCs.

The firm makes direct equity investments in startups, predominantly at the seed and early-stage phases. Publicly disclosed holdings such as Cybin, COMPASS Pathways, Delix Therapeutics, and Beckley Psytech are all direct company stakes. There is no public evidence of a fund-of-funds or LP-commitment program.

Noetic focuses on seed, start-up, and early-stage growth rounds, often providing first institutional capital to preclinical or Phase I CNS companies. Its dual-fund structure allows for follow-on investments as portfolio companies advance through clinical milestones. The firm’s website describes a strategy spanning emerging and early-stage wellness and pharmaceutical enterprises.

Noetic’s mandate is explicitly concentrated on mental health and CNS-targeted therapeutics with related wellness applications. The firm does not invest in general digital health, oncology, metabolic disease, or medical device sectors outside its mental-health and wellbeing thesis. Its website limits focus to drug therapeutics, psychedelic-assisted therapies, digital health, medical devices, wearables, and evidence-backed wellness solutions.

Specific limited partners have not been publicly disclosed. The managing partners’ trajectory through Northwater Capital, DGAM, and The Carlyle Group suggests relationships with institutional allocators, family offices, and high-net-worth investors who backed prior Shah-Wright vehicles. The fund’s recruitment of a General Counsel with regulated-health-products expertise also indicates compliance infrastructure suitable for institutional LP due diligence.