“Out of all the sectors I’ve invested in, in this last year, that’s my highest return,” said Kevin O’Leary in a recent interview about his investments in two psychedelics companies that have gone public this year.
O’Leary was speaking with Jon Najarian of football and CNBC fame on the Compound Interest podcast.
The first psychedelics company to go public was MindMed (MMED) in March of 2020. O’Leary, of the hit show ‘Shark Tank,’ was an early investor in MindMed and was admittedly skeptical of the investment opportunity.
However, since MindMed’s IPO, investors have experienced enormous gains, as shares currently trade for over three times their debut price on Canada’s NEO exchange.
O’Leary, and many other investors, believe there is much more upside ahead for MindMed and the entire psychedelics industry. In addition to MindMed currently waiting on approval to start trading on the NASDAQ, another company has made a significant splash: Compass Pathways (CMPS).
In the same interview, where O’Leary discusses his best investments of the past year, he also discloses that he is an investor in Compass Pathways. “They’re all doing schedule one narcotic trials with the FDA, and so that’s the difference,” said O’Leary, “Those stocks are up from the seed round, 700% plus.”
Compass Pathways, which is currently trading on the NASDAQ, touts a market cap of over $1 billion. This valuation makes the company the first psychedelic unicorn (nice financial term, right?).
Most observers of the growing psychedelics market are quick to make a comparison to the controversial cannabis industry. O’Leary was quick to differentiate these two markets, as cannabis is illegal on the US Federal level and is mostly marketed to a recreational crowd.
On the other hand, psychedelics are being researched and developed as actual medicine to treat a variety of mental health issues.
O’Leary’s long term take on psychedelics? “Does it have the potential to solve opioid addiction, depression, ADD? All these things? Potentially, and that’s why I’m an investor.”