This is the Novamind pitch deck to raise a $10m seed round in 2020.
About
Novamind Ventures is an early-stage investment firm that seeks investments in infrastructure for specialized practitioners to administer psychedelic medicine.
As the psychedelics industry grows, companies are attempting to position themselves as leaders of different verticals within the space.
Some are focusing on drug development for regulatory approval, while others are choosing to build out networks of clinics that will be able to deliver those medications to patients. Still, others are attaining licenses to import and distribute substances while a handful is running “psychedelics retreats” in jurisdictions where such programs are legal.
Novamind, a Toronto-based company with operations in the US and Europe, is trying to do a little bit of everything.
The company is focused on building out an infrastructure that offers a “spectrum of services,” Novamind CEO and cofounder Yaron Conforti told Business Insider. Novamind currently has clinics in Utah that are set up to administer ketamine-based treatments to patients with mental health conditions. The company also says it oversees clinical trials of existing compounds and runs psilocybin retreats in Europe and Central America.
Novamind is the latest psychedelics startup looking to list publicly on a Canadian exchange. The company follows in the footsteps of at least a dozen others who have listed publicly in the past few months.
Most companies have gone public on Canadian exchanges like the Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE). Compass Pathways, the only psychedelics company to list on the NASDAQ, went public in September and currently has a market value of more than $1.7 billion. Compass is developing psilocybin-based medications to treat mental health illnesses.
Pitch Deck Review Summary
Structured Summary Review
Words
Most of the slides are just a list of bullet points with an image slammed on the side.
Slide length
The deck is on the short side. There is a hell of a lot that should be in the deck that is not.
Headers
They refer to what the content on the slide might be about and expect you to read everything.
The headers are the most important part of the slide.
Appearance
It looks good. They got a designer. The point is that the founders look at it and think it looks ok so the content must be good.
Narrative
There isn’t really any. There are a bunch of slides that if done properly could be structured together to make a good deck, but as it stands, there is no narrative I can tell.
Structure
How you structure slides is very important. You want to be consistent and boring. It’s not the worst deck, but it could be easily improved.
Slides
This is sort of an introduction to doing happy retreats. I have no idea why I would want to invest in this business.
Slide by Slide Review
Remove all the stuff in the footer. It’s not needed.
Even investment bankers hate having disclaimers in their pitch deck. Don’t bother. It’s not like you’re going to sue.
Holly hell, really? Do you need two disclaimer slides? If you absolutely have to, stick in the end, but just don’t even go here.
There is a pointless image on the right that takes up a lot of space and adds no value.
They continue on with the whole “our deck is so special” on the bottom right-hand side so it’s confidential and not for distribution.
The company highlights thing is not a terrible idea, but I have no idea what they do yet so it’s rather assumptive.
This is probably better placed at the end of the deck.
I hate when people write one or two words in the header. “Our focus” basically translates to we can’t be bothered to explain what’s actually going on in the slide, so read everything and figure it out yourself.
I’m guessing the point of the slide might be that they have different brands so they want to introduce them, but having 4 brands is about far from having a “focus” as you can get…
They don’t start out explaining the industry and what the problem is for me to have any grounding in what is going on. And now plop, something about global access and a map of the world?
They’re not making a coherent point, it’s sort of a hodge podge of stuff that might be interesting, but there isn’t a reason for me to care yet, because I don’t understand what’s going on.
Look at this slide and tell me what the point is in 10 seconds. I can’t.
There is a lot on the slide and it is hugely presumptive that a VC is going to read it all and then figure out what the point of the slide is.
I mean it is a nice-looking slide, but is it really what you want to put in a pitch deck to raise money?
This is probably a slide that you bring in to the start when explaining the industry that the startup operates in.
Great there is an image and three links. You want me to read all the links to get the point?
BIG assumption.
It would be far better to show one or two charts and show adoption and perhaps forecasts. Charts are easy to look at and prove points.
I like sources, but sparingly. If you have a URL, then turn it into a short title and embed the link to shorten the space. There is a whole reading list going on.
They’ve jacked up the font size of the header here and it is a bit overwhelming.
I think the point is that happy pills are now Kool and the Gang to start getting high on prescription supply?
I think this could be presented in a much more engaging manner.
I guess this is the traction slide? They think the image is half as important as all the actual information on the left.
This is why I hate designers doing pitch decks. The slides look good when you don’t actually read them.
If there wasn’t an image it would be just a list of bullet points which is just about as boring as you can get.
Delete the image and what is there? A bunch of bullet points.
The content is a bit nerdy. There is an assumption that they are pitching investors who understand the science bit. There are ways to explain things simply (and commercially).
This isn’t a literary review for a white paper. Why do investors need to see this presently? Btw, met a Prof at Imperial into the Psychadelics – cool guy.
There’s no information in the deck which is actually commercial, Do you know how they make money?
Ok they are doing retreats. I know the dude that started Synthesis and my friend did the ‘retreat’ there.
There is a plan here, but the whole deck is very fragmented and lacks cohesiveness. It’s a real struggle to read.
You only need to have the people that investors are investing in on the deck. Do they really need to add Nolan (BTW, you’re not even meant to say you are doing the CFA, only when you are completed)?
For a SaaS startup, I wouldn’t go here. If you are doing science magic then the scientific board might be interesting, but only so much.
I would want to know if any of these people have invested cash. How much are they really doing?
You don’t need to add your board in a seed deck. You can always explain who they are later. Three team slides is very indulgent.
No. You do not need to have an exit strategy in a deck. The point is to grow.
This is a flarking seed deck. They have a long way to go before an exit is even a consideration.
Does anyone really give a toss? This is literally what you would see from some big corporate.
Why do you think investors will see this and suddenly think “holy batmarang, Robin, let’s hand over cash to these radical jokers!”
There is never a reason to have a values slide in a deck.
Ever.
Using quotes is lame. You’re just sticking it in to make up for the fact you don’t have something better to show. Is this really how you want to end?
Deck Collection
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