Sifted - Would you microdose at work?

Good morning there,

Tech workers are no strangers to rigorous (and sometimes slightly eccentric) morning routines. Ice baths, exercise, matcha lattes etc. But there’s a more left-field addition to that list growing in popularity among some on the UK startup scene: microdosing magic mushrooms. 

Today, I speak to founders and investors who regularly take small quantities of psychedelic drugs to find out how it works, the effects and why more tech folk are considering microdosing to treat mental health and improve work performance. 

Elsewhere, we look at the European startups pitching at Y Combinator’s W24 demo day, dig into the US and Britain’s new AI partnership and Sequoia’s Zoe Hewitt shares her thoughts on how to navigate career progression in the uncertain world of startups.

— Kai Nicol-Schwarz, reporter

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Would you microdose at work?

Have you ever taken psychedelic drugs to improve your performance at work or treat mental health problems?

If the answer is ‘yes’, you’ve joined the ranks of a well-established group of US-based founders, investors and startup operators — which includes Tesla’s Elon Musk and Google cofounder Sergey Brin — who turn to an alternative form of stimulant than a cup of coffee in the morning. 

But while taking small quantities of psychedelic drugs — known as microdosing — has been popular with tech workers in the US for some time, founders and investors tell me it’s becoming more common in the UK, too. 

‘Ben’ (a founder who wished to remain anonymous, considering many psychedelic drugs are illegal in the country) began taking magic mushrooms after finding antidepressants and therapy weren’t “hitting the mark”.

He says they’ve helped him overcome those mental health challenges and improve performance at work. “It gives me mental agility and an ability to take the hits of startup life. I become far more pragmatic and my clarity of thought is infinitely better,” he tells me.

Others are doing it too. “In the past two years I’ve started to hear quite a lot about it,” says Ben. 

Founder and angel investor Oliver (also not his real name) says there’s been a shift over the past 12 months. “When I brought [microdosing] up a year ago when I started, it wasn't very well received. I’ve noticed in the last six months that people can talk about it more,” he says.

Part of the rise is down to founders looking for ways to manage the stress of startup life, he tells Sifted. 

It’s a life that’s become increasingly gruelling as the downturn has led to increased pressure across the tech scene, founders recently told Sifted in a survey. Dozens said that they were considering leaving their businesses in the next year, describing themselves as “overworked”, “exhausted” and “broken”. Nearly half told us they thought their mental health was ‘bad’ or ‘very bad’, and 85% said they’d experienced high stress in the past year. 

“I know a lot of founders that struggle with depression, and I know a lot that are genuinely ill, working 13-14 hours a day and not looking after themselves,” Oliver tells Sifted. “That means people try lots of different things to reduce symptoms.”

But is turning to psychedelic drugs for mental health and work performance a good thing? 

In some ways, there’s nothing alternative about startup workers looking to improve their performance with substances. It’s rare to find anyone on the tech scene who doesn’t drink caffeine in some form, and the brain-boosting supplements industry is booming.

There are, obviously, potential side effects to taking a psychoactive substance, though. People have reported the drug making them feel anxious and Oliver says that after accidentally taking too much one morning he found himself in a meeting feeling dizzy and like his hands were going numb. But microdosing proponents say the long-term benefits of microdosing outweigh potential risks.

The science, while in its early days, is mixed. A number of studies point to the positive effects of microdosing but some suggest the impact could be placebo. Others say they’ve found that taking psilocybin could be as effective as antidepressants at treating depression.

But I want to know what you think. How would you feel about your employee/boss/investor taking magic mushrooms regularly? Have you tried microdosing psychedelic drugs to treat depression or improve work performance? Do you think it’s about time substances like magic mushrooms were considered for their therapeutic benefits, or is this just another tech trend that’ll fizzle out? Let me know (anonymously).

— Kai Nicol-Schwarz, reporter

💰 Two former Revolut employees have quietly raised a £2.5m pre-seed funding round from investors such as Lightspeed and Cocoa VC for their stealth startup Condukt. Other investors in the round include Tiny VC and Atomico partner and former Revolut exec Don Hoang, according to UK Companies House filings. 

• Condukt’s website currently describes the project as “probably just another KYB provider”. KYB (or know your business) is the process of verifying the identity, ownership and activities of a company to ensure compliance before onboarding them as a customer. 

🤝 The UK and the US signed a memorandum of understanding in Washington on Monday to jointly develop advanced AI model testing, following a commitment reached by the two governments at the AI Safety Summit in Bletchley Park, England, in November last year. 

• As part of the deal, both countries, which are creating national AI safety institutes, agreed to perform at least one joint testing exercise on an open-source AI model. They may also exchange personnel between their respective institutes.

🇫🇮 Finnish foodtech startup Onego Bio has raised a $40m Series A led by the Japanese-European VC NordicNinja. The cash injection comes following its €10m seed round in 2022 and will be used to up the manufacturing and commercialisation of the startup’s lab-made egg whites.

• Onego Bio is just one of many European startups that have turned to precision fermentation to produce foods such as dairy products, egg whites and even coffee.

💪 The European startups pitching at YC’s W24 demo day.

🤔 Promotions at an early-stage startup — am I asking too much?

📈 Inside Manchester, the UK's fastest growing fintech sector. (Sponsored by MIDAS)

😮 The $40bn fund that’s gambling with Europe’s climate bet. (Bloomberg)

🇫🇷 French tech reporter Daphné Leprince-Ringuet is heading to R.AI.SE Summit in Paris on April 8. Going to be there? Drop her a line.

🇪🇸 Senior reporter Cristina Gallardo will be at Energy Tech Summit in Bilbao across April 10-11. Want to grab a coffee with her while she’s there? Get in touch. 

London-based Coadjute, a blockchain-based platform used by estate agents, conveyancers, mortgage lenders, buyers and sellers to track transactions, raised £10m in funding from investors including Lloyds Banking Group, Nationwide, NatWest and Rightmove.

Cambridge, UK-based Sparxell, which develops plant-based pigments for makeup, raised $3.2m in funding from investors including Circular Innovation Fund, Future Communities Capital, Joyance Partners, Katapult, PDS Ventures, SNØCAP, Cambridge Enterprise and Granatus Ventures. The round was a mix of equity, grants and awards.

Tallinn-based Supersimple, an AI platform that helps businesses use customer behaviour data to make decisions, raised €2m in pre-seed funding. Tera Ventures led the round and was joined by investors including Specialist VC and Tiny VC. 

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