Latvian fund LongeVC invested in biotech startup Freedom Biosciences

Latvian biotech fund LongeVC has invested in San-Francisco-based psychedelics startup Freedom Biosciences, which develops combination therapies with ketamine and other psychedelics to treat mental health conditions. The amount of investments is undisclosed.

Startup's founder Dr. Krystal discovered ketamine's antidepressant effects. He worked on research in developing Janssen’s Spravato Esketamine spray, which received FDA (US food and drug administration) approval for patients with treatment-resistant depression in 2019. According to the company,  its product makes psychedelic therapeutics more accessible, for example, Freedom Biosciences's ketamine treatment program FREE001 can offer longer-lasting anti-depressant effects, reducing the need for clinic visits which can normally last about 2 hours.

LongeVC is a venture company with offices in Riga and Lugano (Switzerland). It was established in 2016 by Garri Zmudze, Sergey Jakimov, and Ilya Suharenko. Its portfolio companies are deploying AI to find new treatments for chronic illnesses, developing SaaS tools to accelerate life-changing medical research and more.  A €35M fund backs startups across the US and Europe.

Freedom Biosciences was founded by Yale University professor Dr. John Krystal, Dina Burkitbayeva (co-founder of San Francisco-based venture company PsyMed Ventures), and others in 2021. The startup is supported by other psychedelics, biotech, longevity-focused funds, and business angel investors, including Marat Kichikov from Latvia.