VCs in $125m round for Atai Life Sciences

Also participating in the round were existing investors Future Ventures and Galaxy Investment Partners, alongside new investors Falcon Edge Capital and Pura Vida Pro.

The round also includes $32m in convertible debt.

Atai Life Sciences aims to use the fresh capital to fund the clinical and pre-clinical development of its mental health therapy development programmes, as well as to expand its drug candidate pipeline and to advance its core platform technologies. According to a statement, this should include two phase-II data readouts, as well as the completion of phase-I trials, and initiation of phase-II trials for four further programmes.

Atai acquired US-based biopharmaceutical company Kures in July 2020 in a deal that aimed to facilitate the further development of Atai's opioid abuse therapeutics.

Previous funding
Atai was launched via a seed round of $12.6m in 2018, backed by the company's founders, as well as Apeiron Investment Group (the family office of co-founder Christian Angermayer), HCS, family office Galaxy Investment Partners, and the co-founders of Compass Pathways, Ekaterina Malievskaia and George Goldsmith.

In September 2018, Atai raised a $24.4m series-A round backed by business angels Thor Bjorgolfsson and Mike Novogratz.

In March 2019, Subversive Capital led a $43m round for Atai, joined by Aperion Investment Group, Bail Capital and Pura Vida.

Company
Founded in 2018 and based in Berlin, Atai develops psychedelic and non-psychedelic compounds for use in mental health treatment. It aims to use its therapies to treat conditions including resistant depression and opioid use disorders.

People
Alai Life Sciences – Florian Brand (CEO, co-founder); Christian Angermayer (founder).
Thiel Capital – Jason Camm (managing director, chief medical officer).
Catalio Capital Management – George Petrocheilos (co-founder, managing partner).

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