LONDON, March 05, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Beckley Waves, the first venture studio explicitly formed to build and invest in the thriving psychedelic ecosystem to advance mental health and well-being, today celebrated a series of milestones from 2023, including the 25th anniversary of the Beckley Foundation, new funding and acquisitions. Through its portfolio of operating companies, Beckley Waves has also expanded programs for practitioner training and psilocybin retreats, accelerating the company’s growth.
“Beckley Waves already has an impressive track record of founding and investing in startups that are building the care-delivery infrastructure for psychedelics, and we’re pausing to reflect on a year of notable achievements as we continue this important work,” said Amanda Feilding, Co-Founder and Director of Beckley Waves. “Our new funding and expanded programs across our portfolio will enable Beckley Waves to continue building and investing in startups that will provide the infrastructure and services for expanding safe and legal access to psychedelic therapies worldwide.”
Beckley Waves has so far co-founded Beckley Retreats, which is setting the standard for legal, psilocybin-based retreats in a group setting; Beckley Academy, an ed-tech company for training and preparing therapists and clinicians to work with psychedelic therapies; and in 2023 relaunched The Trip Report, a newsletter and podcast that provides commentary and analysis for people who are curious, fascinated, excited, concerned, and hopeful about legal psychedelics in healthcare, spirituality, and society.
In 2023, Beckley Waves closed a $3.3 million funding round, providing it with additional resources to fund catalytic strategic investments into selected early-stage teams to support and guide them toward successful seed rounds. In September, the company also acquired at-home ketamine therapy provider Nue Life and will continue Nue Life’s work to provide safe and scalable access to ketamine-assisted therapy in underserved areas across multiple US states.
Beckley Retreats recently increased support for its scholarship program, which aims to foster diversity and expand access to psychedelic experiences for those who may not otherwise be able to participate. In 2024, Beckley Retreats will offer dedicated retreats in Jamaica and the Netherlands that will be exclusively for women, veterans, and the BIPOC community.
Beckley Retreats CEO Neil Markey shared his story with the Ninth Circuit US Court of Appeals in 2023, with an amicus brief with case studies and stories to petition for a change of psilocybin’s status as a “Schedule I” substance under the US Controlled Substances Act. The company also continued its ongoing work in veteran suicide prevention by renewing a strategic partnership with the Heroic Hearts Project and Imperial College London (ICL) to further ICL’s research on the benefits of psychedelic-assisted therapies in combatting the veteran suicide epidemic among American service members.
Beckley Academy, which trains practitioners to provide psychedelic-assisted therapy (PAT) with Ketamine, Psilocybin, and MDMA, announced an expanded curriculum in 2023, as well as the open-source publication of its research: A Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy Learning Framework. This industry-first learning framework will serve as a much-needed foundation to advance national training standards for clinicians to provide ethical and effective psychedelic-assisted therapy.
"We are continually evaluating opportunities where we think we can have an outsized impact on the emerging psychedelics field by addressing currently underserved needs," said Daniel Love, co-founder and partner at Beckley Waves. "With our ongoing momentum, we will keep the flywheel spinning and continue to allow the Beckley Waves Ecosystem to play a catalytic role in our shared path to widespread access."
About Beckley Waves
Beckley Waves, a venture studio co-founded by Amanda Feilding, funds, supports, and mentors emerging leaders and entrepreneurs working to foster the operational infrastructure of a global psychedelic ecosystem. Beckley Waves is building the psychedelic ecosystem to advance mental well-being and foster a thriving psychedelic industry rooted in science, innovation, and compassion. Beckley Waves leverages research showing that psychedelics can be the tools to usher in a new paradigm of mental health and well-being that is needed by our society and the planet.
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