Fluence announces final close of seed investment round
Fluence, an educational platform that specializes in training and certification for psychedelic therapy and psychedelic integration therapy, announced today that it has completed a $3 million seed funding round. This completes Fluence’s initial fundraising round, the first close of which was announced on November 4, 2021.
Lead investors in the first close included JLS Fund, Palo Santo, and Neo Kuma, with LearnStart, Evolve Ventures and Foundation, Iter Investments, Baroda Ventures, Matthew Emerman, Michael Cotton, and Noah Levy completing the raise. Fluence will use the funding to launch new courses, trainings, and psychedelic therapy certificate programs, and to bolster the development of training software and expansion of their e-learning platform.
Founded in 2019 by Dr. Ingmar Gorman and Dr. Elizabeth Nielson, Fluence is an expertise-driven educational platform that provides professional certification and training in psychedelic therapy and psychedelic integration. The company, which has trained nearly 1,000 practitioners over the past two years, works directly with licensed healthcare professionals and graduate students to advance clinical skills and knowledge, giving clinicians the tools to provide their patients with effective, compassionate, evidence-based psychedelic therapy and integration services.
“Fluence is proud to provide high-quality professional education about psychedelic therapy for research and community-based clinical practice,” says Elizabeth Nielson, Ph.D., co-founder of Fluence. “The expertise of our team, developed in multiple psychedelic-assisted therapy clinical trials and research positions, translates to meaningful, engaging, and impactful training experiences for our trainees. We look forward to implementing the growth of our team that this funding will support and welcoming the next generation of therapists to our field.”
Today’s funding announcement comes amid growing public interest in psychedelic therapy and its potential as a breakthrough treatment for a variety of mental health conditions. In December 2021, The Harris Poll reported that almost two thirds of Americans suffering from anxiety, depression, or PTSD (65%) believe that psychedelic therapies should be available for them. Another 2021 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.
Michael Kuntz, Fluence’s Chief Operating Officer, says, “This is an exciting milestone for Fluence, and a huge step towards the continued acceleration of our training capabilities and ability to equip tens of thousands of clinicians to practice psychedelic therapy in the years to come. We are proud to be working alongside such a well-established group of investors and partners who share our vision and desire to create greater access to novel mental health treatments through expertise and digital technology.”
Fluence is committed to preparing the next generation of clinicians to meet this new demand with integrity, compassion, and respect. With courses that cover a variety of treatment methods and modalities, Fluence offers students the most current evidence-based techniques in psychedelic therapy. The company has also developed partnerships with leading drug developers including Beckley Psytech, Tryp Therapeutics, Clairvoyant Therapeutics, and others to develop psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy manuals and custom training programs for clinical trial therapists, and will expand its capacity for future enterprise-level partnerships.
With its seed investment round complete and plans for future Series A funding in place, Fluence is better positioned to equip clinicians with the skills to ensure that their patients can integrate and make the most of their psychedelic experiences.
“With psychedelics, we are witnessing the emergence of new psychiatric treatment models,” says Fluence co-founder Ingmar Gorman, Ph.D. “The funding we have received will help us transform today's mental health professionals into psychedelic therapists, and improve our ability to support our drug developer clients to create the psychedelic treatments of the future.”
In preparation for the 2023 implementation of Measure 109 in Oregon and the future licensing of psilocybin facilitators, Fluence is developing a psilocybin-assisted therapy program to meet Oregon Health Authority requirements and train clinicians in this professional capacity.
About Fluence
Fluence is an expertise-driven educational platform that provides professional certification and training in psychedelic therapy and psychedelic integration for psychiatrists, psychotherapists, social workers, and other healthcare practitioners. Fluence’s mission is to give healthcare providers the clinical skills and knowledge to provide effective, compassionate, evidence-based psychedelic therapy and integration services to patients through dynamic, interactive online and in-person training.
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