How Psychedelic VCs do Due Diligence on Potential Investments - Sam Tabone, Empath Ventures

Today’s guest is Samantha Tabone.  Sam is a Partner at Empath Ventures where she leads in-depth technical and scientific due diligence on Empath’s psychedelic biotech investments. In this episode, Sam breaks down the due diligence process that Empath uses when evaluating potential investments in psychedelic biotech companies. We go deep in this one, and spend almost 2 hours getting into the details of analyzing Team, Intellectual Property, Scientific Foundations and Strategy.

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Prior to Empath, Sam served as the VP of R&D for PurMinds, a neuromedicine startup developing novel therapeutics for neurodegenerative diseases.  As an independent consultant she’s led projects for leading psychedelic companies including Beckley Psytech, advised family offices on Life Science investment strategies, and worked as a temporary strategic director at several biotech startups.

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Sam has been fascinated with neuroscience and psychedelics (especially DMT) since she was in her teens.  She’s most excited about funding psychedelic startups working towards solutions for complex neurological disorders.

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She holds a B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Toronto and attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Pharmaceutical Sciences Master’s program.

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