The Conscious Fund

The firm targets pre-seed through Series A rounds, typically writing initial checks in the six-figure to low-seven-figure range, depending on the round structure and syndicate composition. The fund participates in both priced equity and convertible-note rounds. Its mandate covers drug developers, digital therapeutics platforms, and enabling technologies within the psychedelic supply chain.

Known portfolio companies include atai Life Sciences, the biotech platform that listed on Nasdaq in 2021; Mindset Pharma, a developer of next-generation psychedelic compounds; and Synthesis Institute, a Netherlands-based psilocybin retreat and therapist-training provider. The firm's public-disclosure cadence reflects the variable public-reporting practices of its private portfolio, so the full portfolio may be larger than what is publicly confirmed.

The fund's entire capital and diligence apparatus is built around the specific regulatory, clinical, and intellectual-property dynamics of psychedelic medicine — a depth of focus that generalist healthcare VCs do not replicate. This gives the firm an edge in deal sourcing and technical diligence for Schedule I drug-development programs, where domain networks matter. The trade-off is portfolio concentration in a single regulatory-risk category.

The fund raised its first formal vehicle from family offices, high-net-worth individuals, and a group of mental-health practitioners aligned with the thesis. It has not publicly reported institutional LP participation, which is consistent with the fund's size and specialist mandate early in a sector's institutional-capital lifecycle.

North America and Europe are the primary deployment regions, reflecting the jurisdictions where psychedelic medicine regulatory reform has advanced farthest. The firm also selectively evaluates opportunities in the UK and Australia, where clinical-trial infrastructure and regulatory frameworks for psychedelic-assisted therapy are evolving.

Co-founders Henri Sant-Cassia and Matt Schmidt lead the fund as managing partners, jointly responsible for investment decisions. Sant-Cassia's background includes cannabis-sector and early-stage venture investing; Schmidt's prior experience spans operations and capital markets. The firm has not publicly disclosed a formal investment committee beyond the two partners.

Yes — the fund's thesis explicitly encompasses companies working with Schedule I compounds such as psilocybin and MDMA, which are being developed under FDA-authorized clinical trial frameworks and Breakthrough Therapy designations. The firm acknowledges the binary regulatory risk inherent in this mandate and incorporates it into portfolio construction and LP communication.