Wavepaths provides adaptive music for psychedelic therapy, in collaboration with world-class artists
Wavepaths, the world's leading producer of music for psychedelic therapy, announced today that it has successfully raised $4.5 million in its initial seed investment round.
Participants in the funding round included Heron Rock, Reflex Capital, Bridge Builders Collaborative, Palo Santo, Lionheart Ventures, Sanjay Singhal of the Nikean Foundation, Empath Ventures, Neo Kuma Ventures, Miton Psychonauts Fund, and Tabula Rasa Ventures, among others. The funding will be used to further develop Wavepaths’ personalization and music-generation algorithms, scale the platform, and increase functionality for a wider range of healthcare practices.
Co-founded by Dr. Mendel Kaelen and Anna Rickman in 2019, Wavepaths is a digital platform that builds upon pioneering scientific research showing that music plays an essential role in creating positive outcomes for psychedelic therapies such as ketamine, psilocybin, and MDMA. Wavepaths has quickly emerged as the world’s most advanced generative music system, giving psychedelic therapy practitioners the tools to optimize therapeutic outcomes for their clients.
“Music has a profound impact on therapeutic outcomes, but many therapists are in the dark on how to best work with music in their practice,” says Dr. Kaelen. “Our adaptive music technology enables care providers to work with music in a fully person-centered way, with the same ease by which one may adapt the temperature or light in the room. It is humbling to witness how Wavepaths is changing life for both providers and seekers of mental healthcare around the world.”
Wavepaths has worked with a variety of musical artists to create an AI-powered auditory landscape designed to be responsive to every moment of a therapy session. With Wavepaths, practitioners create unique soundscapes that channel the evocative sounds of visionary producers like Jon Hopkins, Greg Haines, Robert Rich, and Christina Vantzou. During sessions, the platform’s interface allows practitioners to seamlessly transition between emotional atmospheres, levels of depth and activation, and instrumentation in real time, based on a patient’s evolving mood or therapeutic needs.
“Providing individualized care to each client who comes to me for ketamine therapy is important to me,” says therapist Dr. Sara Herman, founder of Soft Reboot Wellness, and Harvard-trained board-certified anesthesiologist. "With Wavepaths, I can actively curate a journey that will resonate with client emotions and encourage transformative experiences even after leaving my office.”
“Wavepaths has become an essential part of my practice that allows for me to work collaboratively with patients to create a musical experience that is in alignment with their intention and therapeutic goals,” says therapist Trevor Bidstrup, MA, LMHC of Northwest Ketamine Clinics. "Wavepaths has been helpful to my patients because it allows them to take a more active role in creating the musical atmosphere; allowing for new levels of insight, collaboration, and consent to be achieved that otherwise would not be possible.”
Today’s funding announcement comes amid growing public interest in psychedelic therapy and its potential as a breakthrough mental health treatment. A recent survey conducted by The Learning Network found that nearly half (47%) of all clinicians have had patients ask about psychedelics to treat mental health issues, and that clinicians are overwhelmingly (87%) interested in learning more about psychedelic therapies.
As these promising modalities continue on their path toward mainstream acceptance, practitioners have only just begun to explore the power of music in helping to facilitate transformative psychedelic experiences. Wavepaths is working in close partnership with research institutions, universities, and psychedelic therapy companies to optimize therapeutic outcomes and improve our understanding of how music can contribute to the effectiveness of these therapies.
“We are very excited to partner with Mendel Kaelen and his talented team,” says Dr. Adam Blackman of Heron Rock, who led the investment round. “We believe that Wavepath’s AI-driven, personalized music software will not only become an essential tool used by clinicians providing psychedelic assisted therapy, but also a world-changing music technology promoting mental health and wellbeing.”
“We appreciate Wavepaths’ dedication to supporting human flourishing and transformation through the use of music that can be supportive of the psychedelic-assisted therapy journey,” says Charlie Hartwell, Managing Director at Bridge Builders Collaborative. “We are excited for the Wavepaths platform as a tool for people to connect more deeply with themselves or with something greater than themselves.”
“From the first day we tried Wavepaths, we fell in love with the product, and the clinical data bears out the tremendous therapeutic value music can have during psychedelic sessions,” says Tim Schlidt of Palo Santo. "For this reason, Palo Santo is proud to be supporting the work Mendel Kaelen has been pioneering for years, and we cannot think of a better team to be spearheading this project.”
Existing research by Dr. Kaelen, whose work has been published in over 40 academic papers and cited in over 3,000 others, has shown that music can unlock meaningful results in psychedelic therapy by evoking strong emotions and personal memories.
Wavepaths is currently being used in over 29 countries, with over 5,000 practitioners on the waiting list for the public release. The Wavepaths app is in closed beta, with its public release expected later this year.
ABOUT WAVEPATHS
Wavepaths is the world’s first person-centered music solution for psychedelic therapists and mental health practitioners. Developed from peer-reviewed research into the use of music in psychedelic therapy, Wavepaths is designed to support therapeutic work with PTSD, depression, end-of-life anxiety and other conditions, with or without psychedelic-assistance. To request an invitation to Wavepaths’ private beta and learn more about the research, visit wavepaths.com.
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