WPSS.bio

WPSS.bio is a New York-based venture capital firm established in 2019 that concentrates on brain health. It invests in companies developing diagnostics and therapies for central nervous system health, aiming to advance innovations in CNS disorders and related brain health applications.

Daniel Weiss Pick

Co-Founder and Managing Partner

22 past transactions

Gilgamesh Pharmaceuticals

Series B in 2022
Gilgamesh Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a preclinical biotechnology company based in New York, focused on developing innovative psychotropic drugs to address mental health issues. Founded in 2019, the company specializes in creating novel compounds that enhance the benefits of traditional psychedelics, improving parameters such as safety, tolerability, duration, and efficacy. Gilgamesh targets a range of neuropsychiatric conditions, including depression, anxiety, substance use disorders, and stress-related issues. With the growing global mental health crisis, the company aims to accelerate the development of new treatments that meet the urgent need for effective solutions in mental health care, leveraging its expertise in medicinal chemistry and drug development.

Sensorium Therapeutics

Venture Round in 2022
Founded in 2021, Sensorium Therapeutics is a Boston-based company developing novel FDA-approved psychoactive medicines using its proprietary drug discovery platform. The platform employs artificial intelligence and computational methods to accelerate the identification of new drug candidates for treating brain and mental health conditions.

Cordance Medical

Seed Round in 2022
Cordance Medical is a medical device company focused on innovative therapies for central nervous system (CNS) conditions, including primary and metastatic cancers, Alzheimer's disease, and Parkinson's disease. The company has developed a non-invasive ultrasound system specifically designed to open the blood-brain barrier. This low-power ultrasound technology allows for precise and reversible openings of the blood-brain barrier, facilitating targeted delivery of systemically administered medications to specific brain regions. By enhancing access to the brain for therapeutic agents, Cordance Medical aims to create new diagnostic and treatment options for patients suffering from various CNS pathologies.

Osmind

Series B in 2022
Osmind Inc. is a San Francisco-based public benefit corporation founded in 2020 that specializes in developing healthcare software tailored for mental health providers and their patients. The company focuses on advancing evidence-based medicine to support individuals suffering from moderate to severe mental health conditions. Osmind's electronic health record platform is designed specifically for clinicians and researchers, facilitating interventional treatment workflows. It includes features such as journaling tools and support for health plan reimbursement, empowering healthcare professionals to implement innovative therapeutic approaches and precision psychiatry. By providing robust technology, Osmind aims to inform best practices in patient care and contribute to the development of new life-saving mental health treatments.

Blackrock Neurotech

Convertible Note in 2021
Blackrock Neurotech develops advanced neurotechnology platforms for recording bio-potentials from the central and peripheral nervous system. Its precision electrode technology enables innovative brain-computer interfaces, facilitating advancements in neural signal processing and stimulation to improve human lives through clinical applications.

Kadence Bio

Pre Seed Round in 2021
Kadence Bio is a clinical-stage life sciences company developing novel therapeutics, with a focus on small molecule programs addressing sexual and mental well-being. Its lead compound KH-001 is being developed as a treatment for premature ejaculation, reflecting the company’s aim to provide additional options for patients and expand therapeutic opportunities in areas with significant unmet need.

Ceretype Neuromedicine

Convertible Note in 2021
Ceretype has pioneered the integration of fMRI into therapeutic applications in neuropsychiatry. Our uniquely scalable platform makes targeted biomarkers accessible, delivering actionable insights for our pharma/biotech partners. Our decades of expertise across neuromedicine, brain imaging, and industry processes enables innovations that will ultimately transform patient care.

Ksana Health

Seed Round in 2021
Founded in 2019, Ksana Health specializes in digital mental health solutions. Its platform collects user data related to mental health and facilitates its transfer to healthcare practitioners for improved patient care.

Appia Bio

Series A in 2021
Appia Bio is a biotechnology company dedicated to the research and development of off-the-shelf allogeneic cell therapies, with a particular focus on engineered allogeneic cell therapies for various medical indications. The company utilizes its proprietary ACUA technology platform to harness the biology of lymphocyte development, integrating chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) and T-cell receptor (TCR) gene engineering. This innovative approach allows Appia Bio to generate CAR-engineered invariant natural killer T (CAR-iNKT) cell subtypes derived from hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs). By maturing and scaling healthy stem cells into invariant T-cell therapies, Appia Bio aims to provide physicians with safe and targeted cancer treatment options, thereby expanding patient access to advanced therapeutic solutions.

Eikon Therapeutics

Series A in 2021
Eikon Therapeutics is a biopharmaceutical company that uses proprietary live-cell imaging platforms to discover and develop therapeutics for chronic and life-threatening diseases. Founded in 2019 and based in Hayward, California, the company applies super-resolution, single-molecule, and real-time molecular-resolution observations to study how compounds interact with individual proteins in living cells. By integrating biology, engineering, and chemistry, Eikon seeks to identify previously intractable targets, accelerate the drug-discovery process, and expand its clinical pipeline through platforms that reveal target biology and compound-protein interactions in their native cellular context.

OccamzRazor

Convertible Note in 2021
OccamzRazor develops an AI-powered platform for neuroscience drug discovery and development. It combines machine learning with first-in-class biological techniques to integrate unstructured biomedical text with structured data such as genomics, proteomics and phenomics, generating stronger hypotheses for target identification and drug repurposing. The company's technology analyzes diverse data sources to construct a comprehensive knowledge graph that captures all known information about Parkinson's disease, enabling clinicians and researchers to derive downstream therapeutic insights and to guide strategic drug development.

Sana Health

Seed Round in 2020
Sana Health, Inc. is a digital health company based in Lafayette, Colorado, with an additional office in Mill Valley, California. Founded in 2015, the company specializes in developing bio-therapeutic devices designed to promote relaxation and alleviate pain and tension. Its flagship product, Sana, is a non-addictive mask and headphone combination that utilizes audiovisual stimulation to enhance the balance between the left and right sides of the brain, facilitating a deep meditative state. This device employs coordinated pulses of light and sound to guide users into relaxation, mimicking the benefits of long-term meditation practices. Sana Health is also engaged in multiple clinical studies, focusing on applications for conditions such as fibromyalgia and neuropathic pain, as well as trials related to anxiety and PTSD. The company offers its products for sale online and provides a mobile application accessible via major app platforms.

Delix Therapeutics

Convertible Note in 2020
Delix Therapeutics is a neuroscience company focused on harnessing the power of psychoplastogens—novel neuroplasticity-promoting therapeutics—to better treat mental health disorders at scale. The company was founded in 2019 and is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts.

Enable Medicine

Venture Round in 2020
Founded in Menlo Park, California in 2019 by Aaron Mayer and Sunil Bodapati, Enable Medicine is a biotechnology company specializing in accelerating insight discovery through spatial biology data generation, management, and analysis on its cloud platform.

Perception Neuroscience

Convertible Note in 2020
Perception Neuroscience is a biopharmaceutical company dedicated to creating innovative therapies for neuropsychiatric conditions. The company's primary focus is on developing arketamine, an NMDA antagonist designed to offer effective treatment for serious psychiatric disorders. Arketamine has shown promise for its rapid-acting antidepressant properties and potential anti-suicidal effects, positioning the company at the forefront of advancing mental health treatment solutions.

Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies

Funding Round in 2020
MAPS is a 501(c)(3) non-profit research and educational organization that develops medical, legal, and cultural contexts for people to benefit from the careful uses of psychedelics and marijuana. The organization is focused on developing psychedelics and marijuana into prescription medicines, training therapists and working to establish a network of treatment centers, supporting scientific research into spirituality, creativity, and neuroscience, and educating the public honestly about the risks and benefits of psychedelics and marijuana. MAPS was founded in 1986 by Rick Doblin and is headquartered in Santa Cruz, California.

OpenBiome

Seed Round in 2020
OpenBiome is a nonprofit organization dedicated to expanding safe access to fecal microbiota transplants (FMT), and to catalyzing research into the human microbiome. Founded by a team of doctors, scientists and public health advocates, OpenBiome has two primary objectives.

Alto Neuroscience

Seed Round in 2020
Alto Neuroscience is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on redefining psychiatry through the integration of patient neurobiology into the drug development process. Utilizing an AI-enabled biomarker platform, the company combines diverse information about patients' brain activity and behavior to create personalized and effective treatment options. Alto Neuroscience is developing several clinical assets, including ALTO-100, ALTO-202, ALTO-101, and ALTO-300, primarily targeting depressive disorders and schizophrenia, identified through independent brain-based biomarkers. By moving away from traditional trial-and-error methods, the company aims to align its innovative therapies with the specific needs of patients, ultimately improving the management of mental health conditions.

Cambrian BioPharma

Series A in 2019
Cambrian BioPharma specializes in developing innovative therapeutics aimed at extending healthspan, the period of life spent in good health. As a Distributed Development Company (DisCo), it focuses on advancing scientific breakthroughs targeting biological drivers of aging, initially treating specific diseases and later deploying these interventions preventatively to enhance overall quality of life.

ATAI Life Sciences

Secondary Market in 2019
ATAI Life Sciences is a biotechnology company focused on developing therapies for mental health disorders, leveraging psychedelic compounds and neuroscience-based approaches. It operates a platform for mental health drug discovery and development and collaborates with partners and research institutions to advance its pipeline, which includes VLS-01, a buccal-film DMT candidate for treatment-resistant depression, and EMP-01, an oral MDMA therapy for social anxiety disorder, along with a drug discovery program aimed at identifying non-hallucinogenic 5-HT2A receptor agonists for depression. The company is based in Munich, Germany, with additional offices in Berlin and London.

COMPASS Pathways

Convertible Note in 2019
COMPASS Pathways is a UK-based mental health care company dedicated to accelerating patient access to innovative treatments for mental health challenges. The company focuses on developing psilocybin therapy, administered in conjunction with psychological support, for patients with treatment-resistant depression who have not responded to conventional treatments.

Psy Therapeutics

Seed Round in 2019
Psy Therapeutics is a biopharmaceutical company dedicated to discovering and developing innovative therapies for central nervous system (CNS) disorders. The company specializes in addressing conditions such as anxiety, depression, and dementia, aiming to enhance neuropsychiatric care. Psy Therapeutics employs a research strategy that focuses on identifying effective drug targets and utilizes advanced screening platforms to facilitate the development of its therapeutic candidates. By leveraging a flexible approach to research and development, the company seeks to provide healthcare professionals with effective treatment options that address critical CNS disorders.
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