Leafy Tunnel, a UK-based VC firm, has announced the closing of its $30 million fund. The money will allow them to invest in up to 15 companies, of which it has already made 7 investments (e.g. Beckley Psytech, Maya Health).
Leafy Tunnel Ltd, an early-stage venture capital firm that acts as the investment adviser to Leafy Tunnel Fund 1, has announced the first closing of its Guernsey-based fund that invests in medical cannabis and psychedelics. The investment strategy of the fund focuses on European medical cannabis and global medical psychedelics companies at Seed and Series A stages. The fund is the first one of its nature to be approved in Guernsey and the Leafy Tunnel team believes that this jurisdiction, alongside the UK, will play a vital role in facilitating the growth of medical cannabis and psychedelic medicine in the near future.
The $30-million fund plans to invest in 15 companies and has already made 7 investments across the fund’s investment strategy. These investments include Beckley Psytech, Tetra Pharm Technologies, Iuvo Therapeutics, Maya Health, Prohibition Holdings, Tactogen and Ceretype.
Mental health and pain disorders affect one out of every four people in the world. Left unaddressed, the toll on society will come at a huge cost and result not only in a continuous spike of mental health disorders, but also in lost human capital wealth. Medical cannabis and psychedelics are being increasingly recognised by health professionals for their superior safety and efficacy compared to conventional pharmaceuticals. The Leafy Tunnel team has embarked on the mission to address these urgent healthcare challenges and rally investors looking to capitalise on financial opportunities these medicines hold.
Nikolay Tretiyakov, a Co-Founding Partner of Leafy Tunnel, commented that “the departure of Big Pharma from neuroscience has left a void when help is most needed. Exacerbated by Covid-19, the already huge mental health toll on society continues to surge. However, a sacred place is never empty and radically new therapies emerge quickly, which is what we see happening with psychedelic medicine. It could be a paradigm shift for traditional psychiatry and a long-awaited breakthrough in innovation for psychiatric treatment due to its extraordinary safety and efficacy.”
Bek Muslimov, a Co-Founding Partner of Leafy Tunnel, said that “cannabis had been used as a medicine for more than 3,000 years before it was banned. Due to its illegality and stigma, patients greatly suffered from an inability to access this medicine. Should patients have had access to this medicine earlier, we could have prevented a huge opioid epidemic in the US. In recent years cannabis has also become a game-changer in improving patients’ lives, from treatment of epilepsy, neurological, and pain disorders to oncology, and we are only just scratching the surface of its medicinal properties. The recent multi-billion acquisitions of cannabis pharmaceutical companies demonstrate ever-increasing interest from Big Pharma players around the globe.”
The Leafy Tunnel team would also like to thank our advisors which include DLA Piper UK LLP, Imperium Fund Services Limited, Carey Olsen LLP and the firm’s Principal Midmar Capital LLP for their assistance, expertise and support throughout the fund formation process.
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Leafy TunnelLeafy Tunnel is a venture capital firm investing in psychedelic medicine to address mental health and pain disorders. The firm closed its first fund of $30 million in January 2022 and has already made 7 out of the estimated 15 investments the fund will make.