FPA congratulates its client, Psylo, on their recent seed round close. Psylo completed a first close on a US$8m (~A$12m) funding round.
Psylo is an innovative, fast-paced small molecule drug discovery company developing next-generation neuroplastogens for brain health. Psylo is ably led by Josh Ismin (CEO) and Sam Banister (CSO) along with an exciting team of contributors across the company. Psylo is currently headquartered in the US, with the bulk of their R&D continuing in their laboratories at UNSW in Sydney, Australia and in Boulder, Colorado, USA. Psylo’s R&D program includes several pre-clinical candidates across different chemical series, and plans to progress their lead candidate into the clinic in 2025. Their most advanced asset is a non-hallucinogenic neuroplastogen, PSYLO-100X.
FPA has advised Psylo since they emerged from the UNSW Founders Bio 10x accelerator program in 2022. FPA has leveraged our extensive experience in devising strategies to maximize Psylo’s IP rights and offer commercially relevant advice. This has included advising on benefits and risks of each decision as FPA helps build and grow Psylo’s patent portfolio.
The team at FPA are deeply knowledgeable in all aspects of biotech intellectual property, and have played a huge role in cementing the IP bedrock that Psylo is built upon. We have developed a huge degree of trust in working with FPA in engaging with regulatory bodies around the world to protect our research, and look forward to continuing to work together in the exciting years ahead. – Josh Ismin, Psylo CEO
We elected to work with Danny and the team at FPA due to their deep familiarity and understanding of small-molecule synthetic chemistry, and have been consistently impressed with the comprehensive advice they offer. They have been incredibly supportive in helping us survey the landscape and ensure we are making the most strategic choices, and we consider them part of our extended team. – Dr Sam Bannister, Psylo CSO
Psylo also takes a collaborative approach to their ongoing R&D, establishing partnerships with Daiichi Sankyo, the Brain and Mind Centre at the University of Sydney, the computational biology team at RMIT, in addition to their substantial in-house research programs at UNSW. Psylo is now backed by VC-funds including TenMile, Main Sequence Ventures, Possible Ventures, Palo Santo, and others.
FPA looks forward to continuing to support Psylo as it advances their R&D programs and help enable them to make a significant impact on delivering new neuro-pharmaceuticals to the market.
