Palo Santo
Central Avenue, Highland Park, IL, 60035, United States
Overview
The future of mental wellness is being built today. Through its diversified investment fund, Palo Santo is positioned to increase the supply of clinically effective, affordable, and accessible mental health and addiction treatment solutions needed in today’s world. Supported by a rapidly growing body of evidence and strong FDA support, psychedelic-assisted treatments represent a paradigm shift in mental health care. Yet the emerging ecosystem of business opportunities is highly fragmented and, with a lack of institutional capital available, Palo Santo is targeting high growth opportunities within biotech & drug development, health care services, and digital health solutions led by passionate, experienced, and ethical management teams. These businesses are positioned to have a profound impact on treating conditions such as depression, PTSD, anxiety, OCD, drug and alcohol dependence, chronic pain, Alzheimer’s, and a range of inflammatory-related illnesses.
- Total investments
- 13
- Lead investments
- 1
- Investments · 12mo
- 1
- Active investors
- 1
Sector focus
- Biopharma
- Biotechnology
- Health Care
- Pharmaceutical
- Therapeutics
- Wellness
Investment portfolio
- Beacon Biosignals
Participated · Series B · Apr 2026
Beacon Biosignals develops FDA-cleared wearable EEG technology combined with advanced AI to capture and analyze real-world neural data. Its platform provides clinicians and biopharma partners with objective measures of brain function intended to accelerate research, improve diagnostics and guide new treatments across neurology, psychiatry and sleep medicine. The company is led by CEO Jacob Donoghue and is based in Boston, MA. Beacon reported cumulative funding of over $132M following the Series B extension. The company plans to use the new proceeds to further scale at-home EEG deployments and expand its analytics capabilities to support diagnostics, clinical trials and precision medicine.
- Psylo
Participated · Seed · Jun 2024
Psylo is a biotechnology company focused on developing next-generation neuroplastogens, led by CEO Joshua Ismin and CSO Samuel Banister. Its flagship candidate is PSYLO-100X, a non-hallucinogenic 5-HT2A agonist intended to treat depression and other mental health disorders. The company’s platform has produced a candidate designed for safe at-home administration without clinical supervision. Psylo plans to use the newly raised capital to accelerate advancement of PSYLO-100X through development activities. The company raised $8M in Seed funding to support these efforts. Leadership frames the raise as validation of Psylo’s translational approach and the therapeutic potential of its pipeline. Psylo is developing novel mental-health therapeutics inspired by psychedelic compounds such as psilocybin. The company leverages AI and computational chemistry to design and streamline molecules intended to deliver the proposed therapeutic benefits of psychedelics without hallucinogenic effects. Psylo aims to apply these approaches to treat mental illness as an alternative to traditional antidepressants. At the Purpose Conference in Sydney the company noted that Australians are heavy users of traditional antidepressants, which it said are only about 20% more effective than placebo. Psylo has raised $5 million in a seed funding round to advance its therapeutic development and operations. The seed capital is intended to support its drug-design and development efforts.
- Reunion Neuroscience
Participated · Series A · May 2024
Reunion Neuroscience is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company advancing RE104, a proprietary serotonergic psychedelic prodrug of 4‑OH‑DiPT. RE104 is designed as a fast-acting, short-duration therapy targeting the serotonin 2A receptor to deliver durable antidepressant effects while limiting in-clinic time to about half a day. In a Phase 1 study RE104 produced psychedelic effects similar in intensity and quality to psilocybin but lasting roughly 3–4 hours and demonstrated a favorable safety profile. The company expects to begin enrolling patients in the RECONNECT Phase 2 trial in postpartum depression, with results anticipated in Q2 2025, and is evaluating expansion into other indications including adjustment disorder in cancer. Reunion was acquired by MPM BioImpact in August 2023 and positions RE104 as the only 4‑OH‑DiPT prodrug in clinical development. The recent financing will support the RECONNECT trial and broader clinical advancement into psychiatric indications with high unmet need.
- Journey Clinical
Participated · Series A · Jan 2023
Journey Clinical provides licensed psychotherapists and eligible patients access to psychedelic-assisted psychotherapies, supplying clinicians with tools to deliver PAP and connecting patients to a medical team and network of licensed mental-health professionals. The company began with Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP) and plans to expand to other psychotherapeutic treatments as they are validated, researched, and approved for broader FDA use. Since opening its platform in February 2022, Journey Clinical has grown its KAP clinician network from 30 to about 700 and has treated over 1,000 patients nationwide. The company is co-founded by Jonathan Sabbagh (CEO) and Myriam Barthes (COO). Financially, Journey Clinical raised an $8.5M Series A, bringing total funding to roughly $12M. The company intends to use the funds to continue scaling its offerings across the U.S. Journey Clinical operates a decentralized clinic model that enables licensed psychotherapists to provide legal psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy, beginning with ketamine. The platform handles the pharmacology and access to prescribing clinicians while therapists deliver customized psychotherapy treatment plans. Therapists pay a $200 monthly membership for services including access to a prescriber, a white-label EHR, KAP training, a directory profile, and a peer community. Patients pay $250 for intake consultations and $150 for follow-up consultations. Journey says the market is disparate, with over a million licensed mental health professionals lacking the infrastructure and access to prescribers needed to offer these treatments. The team includes co-founder and CEO Jonathan Sabbagh, psychiatrist Kyle Lapidus MD, Ph.D., and Brigitte Gordon DNP.
- Gilgamesh Pharmaceuticals
Participated · Series B · Dec 2022
Gilgamesh Pharmaceuticals pursues discovery and development of improved neuropsychiatric drugs, using a platform that combines neural-circuit translational methods with AI and machine learning to optimize safety, efficacy and dosing. Its pipeline includes the ibogaine-analog GM-3009 (supported by a $14 million NIDA grant), the oral NMDAR antagonist GM-1020 (completed Phase 1 SAD/MAD and progressed into Phase 2), non-hallucinogenic neuroplasticity candidates now in IND-enabling stages, and projects targeting M1/M4 receptors. In August 2025 the company completed a strategic divestiture of clinical-stage candidate GM-2505 to AbbVie for up to $1.2 billion, and it has a separate AbbVie collaboration that included a $65 million upfront payment and up to $1.95 billion in option/ milestone payments plus royalties. The company assembled a leadership team with extensive CNS drug-development experience and intends to use recent financing to fund clinical and preclinical programs and continued discovery efforts. Gilgamesh was founded in 2019 by Jonathan Sporn and Andrew Kruegel.
Team
Daniel Goldberg
Founder
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