Psychedelic Investor Survey Q3 2025
Topline results from the latest in our series of psychedelics investor surveys. Produced by Noah Smith and Josh Hardman. ∎
Our last Psychedelic Investor Survey was conducted in Q3 2024, right before the U.S. elections. A great deal has changed since then, with a new U.S. administration promising upheaval in healthcare and pharma, a deluge of psychedelic policy initiatives floated at the state level, and movement internationally, with countries like the Czech Republic and Germany making significant announcements related to access to psychedelic-based therapies.
It is against this backdrop that we polled investors in the psychedelics field once more. In this Q3’25 edition, we had 182 respondents, which is up substantially from Q3’24, when we had just north of 100.
Below, you will find headline results from the survey. More in-depth, qualitative findings will be shared with our Pα+ subscribers shortly (learn more and subscribe here).
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Type of Investor
In our Q3’24 survey, we observed a decline in retail investor participation relative to accredited investors, family offices, and corporate investment firms. Over the past year, however, this trend has reversed, with retail concentration climbing back to levels last seen in our Q2’22 survey.
Amount of Capital Allocated in Past 12 Months
Although one might expect that a higher concentration of retail investors would correspond with growth in smaller-sized commitments, the share of respondents reporting annual investments of $0–5,000 has continued to decline across our last four surveys. Instead, the past year has seen stabilisation (and in some cases growth) among larger ticket investments.
This shift in capital allocation may reflect increasing confidence in the long-term prospects of the remaining companies within the psychedelic sector.
Type of Investments
Investment routes across investor classes have remained largely consistent with prior years. Accredited, corporate, and VC investors continue to account for the majority of private financings, as well as a significant share of investments made through funds and syndicates. This is unsurprising, given the limited access retail investors have to private investment channels.
Current Sentiment
As in previous years, we asked investors to rate their overall sentiment toward psychedelics investments. Over the past two years, responses were relatively stable, with very few investors expressing strong pessimism (rating 1) and most clustering around neutral to moderately positive sentiment.
This year, however, sentiment has become decidedly more positive. More than half of respondents now report feeling moderately to highly optimistic about their investments. By contrast, only ~12.5% of respondents expressed neutral or pessimistic views, down sharply from 43% in last year’s survey.
Comparing this year’s responses with those from the same quarter last year shows that the shift in overall sentiment is driven largely by retail investors moving to the right on the optimism scale. Last year, fewer than 5% of retail respondents described themselves as highly optimistic (rating 5) about psychedelic investments in 2025, and 14% rated themselves moderately optimistic (rating 4). One year on, retail sentiment has surged: more than 80% now report moderate-to-high optimism (ratings 4–5).
Larger investors, too, are more positive, with VCs and corporates expressing high levels of optimism at a greater rate than in last year’s survey.
New Administration, New Perspectives
Last year’s significant downward shift in sentiment can be attributed, at least in part, to the FDA’s rejection of Lykos Therapeutics’ MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD new drug application (NDA).
To understand changes in investor sentiment this year, we asked: “How has the new U.S. administration affected your sentiment regarding investing in psychedelics, if at all?”
Based on responses, the new administration appears to have contributed to greater investor optimism: more than 65% of respondents reported that the evolving U.S. political and regulatory landscape had a positive effect on their sentiment.
This positive effect is strongest among VC and corporate investors, with over 40% of respondents in those groups reporting a highly positive shift in sentiment.
Most and Least Attractive Psychedelic Value Chain Segments
Each year, we ask respondents to rank the attractiveness of each psychedelic value chain segment. In addition to the traditional segments included since the survey’s inception, we introduced a state-level markets segment last year to capture interest in regionally focused investments following regulatory changes in jurisdictions like Oregon and Colorado.
Drug discovery and development remains the most attractive segment for investors. Although sentiment toward this segment has softened slightly over the past year, it is essentially as attractive to investors now as it was in late 2022.
By contrast, interest in segments such as manufacturing and CPG & adult-use has fallen: more than 40% of respondents now rate manufacturing as unattractive, and about 55% rate CPG & adult-use as unattractive. State-level markets likewise remain broadly viewed as unattractive, likely reflecting their currently limited market size.
Across investor classes, average sentiment toward each segment is fairly consistent. Retail respondents tend to rate segments a little more favourably across the board, but VC/corporate and accredited investors report no materially different views on the attractiveness of the available investment opportunities.
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Least attractive:
By investor type:
Next 12 Month Investing Plans
Looking ahead, a clear majority of investors expect to deploy the same or greater capital into psychedelics over the next 12 months: fewer than 15% of respondents said they plan to invest less. That marks a meaningful reversal from Q3 2024, when more than 35% of respondents indicated they would reduce their investment over the following year.
Breaking the data down by prior-year ticket size shows continued confidence among large investors. Of respondents who invested more than $250,000 last year, not a single one plans to reduce their allocation this year.
Investing Time Horizons
Once again, responses indicate that a majority of investors are prepared to wait more than three years for a return, likely reflecting awareness of the time required to obtain marketing authorisation for a drug product, as well as launch and scale-up activities.
However, a notable trend this year is a 20% increase in the share of VC and corporate respondents willing to wait between one and three years for a return. This shift may partly reflect a growing number of exit opportunities observed since early 2025, including high-value mergers and acquisitions, and this investor class’ belief in a continuation or intensification of that trend.
What are Investors Most Excited About?
We asked investors to share a line or two about what they’re most excited about. We then coded their answers to a dozen or so themes, with frequency shown in the following doughnut chart. For more in-depth analysis of investors’ free-text responses, subscribe to Pα+.
Investor excitement continues to centre on new therapies and imminent drug-development milestones. This year, however, the regulatory and legislative landscape has emerged as a prominent additional driver of interest, a marked change from last year when it registered almost no excitement.
That shift appears tied in part to the new U.S. administration and the favourable messaging that followed, and it aligns with an uptick in reform proposals from policymakers and regulators both in the U.S. and abroad.
The growing focus on regulation also parallels increased investor interest in the social impact and broader acceptance of psychedelics; more reform activity may be read as growing acceptance of these compounds as legitimate medical treatments, which helps reduce stigma, which has been a longstanding barrier to scientific and commercial progress.
Aside from these new dynamics, many investors remain optimistic about the commercialisation potential of psychedelic medicines and the opportunities for returns.
What are Investors Most Concerned About?
We asked investors to share a line or two about what they’re most concerned about. We then coded their answers to a dozen or so themes, with frequency shown in the following doughnut chart. For more in-depth analysis of investors’ free-text responses, subscribe to Pα+.
Investor enthusiasm for bringing psychedelic therapies to market remains strong, but regulatory hurdles continue to be the dominant concern. Additionally, although most investors view changes in the U.S. administration positively, a growing share cites political uncertainty as a concern.
At the same time, attention is shifting toward commercial viability after approval: investors increasingly worry about rollout challenges, infrastructure and workforce gaps, and uncertain reimbursement pathways. Conversely, anxiety about trial outcomes and development timelines has abated, likely buoyed by several positive readouts since the start of 2025.
Investors’ Personal Experience with Psychedelics
Investor self-reported use of psychedelics edged down every so slightly this year. Although overall patterns remain similar to Q4 2022, fewer respondents now report moderate-to-high use compared with the same time last year, while a larger share report little-to-no use in 2025.
Sustainability of Interest in Psychedelics
A larger share of respondents now express high confidence that current interest in psychedelics is sustainable. Although the overall distribution has been broadly stable since Q4 2022, relatively few investors view that interest as neutral or moderately unsustainable. In fact, nearly 50% of respondents say present interest is entirely sustainable, the highest share we’ve ever recorded.
The gain is most pronounced among VC and corporate investors: nearly 20 percentage points more in those groups now characterize current interest as entirely sustainable.
Further Analysis
In our Pα+ survey analysis, we take a closer look at investors’ qualitative responses to provide a better picture of their key areas of interest and concern.
This content is coming soon for our Pα+ subscribers. Learn more and subscribe.
