Canada-Based Field Trip Opens in Santa Monica, Joining a Growing Wave of Ketamine Clinics in LA

Keerthi Vedantam

Keerthi Vedantam is a bioscience reporter at dot.LA. She cut her teeth covering everything from cloud computing to 5G in San Francisco and Seattle. Before she covered tech, Keerthi reported on tribal lands and congressional policy in Washington, D.C. Connect with her on Twitter, Clubhouse (@keerthivedantam) or Signal at 408-470-0776.

Canada-Based Field Trip Opens in Santa Monica, Joining a Growing Wave of Ketamine Clinics in LA
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By Tania Tbul's own admission, she's not "a drug person." But the memories of the sexual and physical abuse she endured starting at 12 stayed with her through a marriage, the birth of four children, a divorce and a handful of suicide attempts along the way.

And so, at the age of 45, she walked into Ketamine Clinics Los Angeles in Culver City.

"I was actually pulled out of my body and I was hugging my 12-year-old self and forgiving myself... I was actually out of my body," Tbul said about the first treatment. "After the first treatment, I felt like that gaping wound was starting to heal up. It was like closing up and it wasn't sore anymore."


The growing body of evidence that ketamine — once known as club drug "special k" — can be used to treat mental health disorders along with its increasing acceptance has caused a spring of clinics in Los Angeles ready to cash in on psychedelic mental health treatments. Ketamine Clinics Los Angeles was the first to open its doors to L.A. in 2014, and now Toronto-based psychedelic company Field Trip is establishing a presence in the city, utilizing ketamine as a vehicle for therapy.

"Cognitive behavioral therapy works, it just tends to take a long time to break down the defenses, get past the ego and get to really what's happening," said Field Trip co-founder Ronan Levy. "Psychedelic therapy just accelerates the process of breaking down those walls so you can start to do the work and the processing."

History of Ketamine

Developed in the wake of the Vietnam War, ketamine replaced phencyclidine (better known as PCP) as an anesthetic before its antidepressant properties were well-studied.

This allowed physicians like anesthesiologist Steven Mandel, who co-founded Ketamine Clinics Los Angeles in 2014, to use it for off-label purposes to treat depression and other mental health disorders.

At the same time, people were using it to get high. The Drug Enforcement Agency lists it as a Schedule 3 drug, along with low doses of codeine and testosterone.  

In 2019, the FDA approved a version of ketamine called esketamine for mental health treatment. The drug is an antidepressant nasal spray. The move was a landmark for psychiatrists who were operating with an arsenal of oral drugs that stemmed from the 1950s.

"For the last 30 years, we've basically been using old old drugs," said David Olson, a professor at University of California, Davis. "And ketamine was really the first new exciting drug that worked differently than a lot of these previous drugs and that really opened up a whole bunch of new horizons."

Mandel has a brisk clientele. His Westchester clinic has administered more than 12,500 treatments, which consist of six ketamine intravenous treatments over a two- to three-week period. His patients run the gamut, from ages 18 and 80. Most come in for anxiety, post traumatic stress disorder and depression. But the treatments are also used to battle issues stemming from postpartum depression and suicidal ideation.

"Ketamine works for disorders, PTSD, and especially for suicidality — works in hours to a few days," he said. "This is the quickest, the safest and the most effective of all the agents that address major depression, bipolar depression and suicidality."

But the treatment has critics. Some argue the FDA was too eager to embrace the esketamine antidepressant, saying there wasn't enough evidence in the trials that the drug was better than a placebo. And, of course ketamine still has addictive properties.

Blue Cross Blue Shield Massachusetts is the only insurance company that covers intravenous ketamine injections. Treatments can cost thousands of dollars. Other insurance providers normally don't cover the procedure because it is not FDA approved, making it accessible only to those who can afford it.

Tbul came across ketamine while researching alternative treatments to the cocktail of medications she was put on as a child. She listened to a podcast interview in which Lamar Odom talked about using ketamine to cope with his struggles with mental health. Her daughter pointed out its reputation as a club drug, but after taking it, Tbul vehemently disagreed.

"It's completely wrong. Completely wrong," Tbul said. "It's somebody who's suffering from something they cannot erase from their mind."

Tbul's first treatment at Ketamine Clinics Los Angeles, in which she said she was able to console her teenage self, allowed her to forgive herself for the emotions that had weighed her down for years.

"After the treatment, it's like an acceptance. I'm very at peace with my own body," Tbul said.

The experience is common. Often patients say the drug allows them to confront traumatic situations from a distance, and look at situations with more objectivity and empathy.

New Drug Horizons

There are more than two hundred ketamine clinics scattered across the U.S., but Santa Monica caught the eye of Field Trip, which opened a clinic in September with the goal of collecting data from ketamine-based therapy sessions and studying the effects of psychedelic drugs, while also developing and testing its own psilocybin-based treatments.

"Because we're going to have access to so much data about what makes a difference in these therapies, we can actually take that data and make sure that when we pair the therapy with our own products, we're going to get to the best outcomes," co-founder Levy said.

The Canadian company — created in 2019 by former cannabis startup founders — is best known for its research and development into psychedelic drugs. The company rolled out an app to enhance the psychedelic experience and went public in October on Canada's stock exchange.

The clinic is outfitted with mid-century furniture, fluffed-up cushions and shaggy rugs, almost like an Architectural Digest spread came to life. In-person ketamine injections and subsequent therapy sessions at its Santa Monica center offer depression, anxiety and PTSD-related treatments for upwards of $5,000.

Ketamine Administration Room

It's a hefty price for depression treatment (insurance doesn't cover it — the ketamine injection at Field Trip is administered through the muscle, not the vein). The price covers six sessions, each involving a ketamine shot that lasts 45 minutes to an hour followed by traditional psychotherapy administered by trained therapists. The process, Levy said, is meant to make therapy sessions more productive and allow patients to get more out of each session.

"The psychiatrist's arsenal — what they use to treat these illnesses — a lot of these drugs were identified kind of by accident many, many years ago and haven't really identified anything new," Olson said.

The world looks much different now.

Alternative treatments to health problems are becoming increasingly popular, and legal bodies are working to invest in their research. Oregon became the first state to legalize psychedelic mushrooms to treat depression — though the rules and restrictions around it are still being hammered out — and the FDA is conducting clinical trials on the efficacy of psilocybin as a mental health treatment. Field Trip itself is researching and developing psilocybin-based treatments.

Meanwhile, innovation around ketamine has fallen by the wayside, in part due to the fact the patent expired in 2002. Any new drugs that could emerge from it, through financially-intensive research and development and clinical trials, would not be as profitable as new patented compounds.

"They're super, super expensive," Olson said. "Companies want to ensure they can recoup those costs associated with the development."

Even as ketamine clinics continue to pop up their development, experts said, is likely to be limited. But, the use of these once recreational drugs isn't likely to die down for people like Tbul who are willing to shell thousands of dollars every year for treatment.

"I wish it was more accessible to people who are really suffering," she said. "Because not everybody can afford how much it costs per treatment."

Lead art by Carolyn Figel.

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The $260M Robot Revolution Happening in Torrance

🔦 Spotlight

Hello Los Angeles,

Forget rockets. This week, the loudest move in the defense tech scene came from a factory floor in Torrance, where Hadrian secured $260 million to fuel its robot-run revolution.

The company, which builds AI-powered, robot-run factories for America’s aerospace and defense industries, announced the massive Series C raise, led by existing investors like Lux Capital and Founders Fund, along with a factory expansion loan facility arranged by Morgan Stanley. The funding will power Hadrian’s third factory (in Arizona), unlock full product manufacturing, and accelerate its mission to bring American manufacturing roaring back faster, smarter, and more automated than ever.

And here’s what makes them fascinating: Hadrian isn’t just churning out parts. They’re reinventing what a factory is. Their facilities look more like giant humming circuit boards than the smokestacks of old, packed with robots, AI, and ambition to move at the speed of software.

It’s the kind of vision you’d expect from a founder who speaks about reshoring U.S. manufacturing as if it were a moral obligation and then backs it up with billion-dollar contracts and steel-and-silicon proof.

We’ll be watching closely to see what Hadrian assembles next. One thing’s certain: the robots are already working overtime, and if you’re smart (or a robot whisperer), you might want to join them.

🤝 Venture Deals

LA Companies

  • Boulevard, a SaaS startup that helps salons and self-care businesses manage scheduling and operations, has raised an $80M Series D led by JMI Equity at a valuation near $800M. The funding will fuel enhancements to its AI-powered scheduling tools and support continued product innovation and market expansion. - learn more
  • Rwazi has raised $12M in Series A funding to expand its AI-powered decision-making platform, which helps businesses replace gut-based decisions with real-time insights and simulations based on consumer behavior. The round was led by Bonfire Ventures and will support the growth of Rwazi’s simulation engine and data infrastructure to help companies make more precise, data-driven decisions across marketing, product, and operations. - learn more
  • Lexington Bakes, an artisan bakery known for its gluten-free, organic oat bars and luxury brownies, has raised $1M in a seed round. The investment was led by Rainfall Ventures. The funding will help the company transition to co-manufacturing, expand its retail reach from about 100 to a projected 1,000 doors in the next year, and scale up its team and operations. - learn more

LA Venture Funds

  • TCG (The Chernin Group) participated in Substack’s latest $100M funding round, joining Andreessen Horowitz, and other investors. Their investment underscores confidence in Substack’s vision to grow its subscription publishing platform and expand its tools for independent writers and creators. - learn more
  • Acre Venture Partners participated in Zucca’s $5M funding round to help the Seattle startup scale its platform, which uses AI to design and develop plant-based food products faster and more efficiently. Their investment will support Zucca’s mission to create sustainable, health-focused foods and expand its operations. - learn more
  • Sound Ventures joined XMTP’s $80M Series B to back its vision of redefining how people communicate in the web3 world. With this funding, XMTP plans to scale its decentralized, privacy-focused messaging protocol, enabling secure, wallet-to-wallet conversations across the blockchain ecosystem. - learn more
  • Morpheus Ventures and Sage Venture Partners participated in Datavations’ $17M Series A funding round, with Morpheus joining as a new investor and Sage returning as an existing backer. Datavations, an AI-driven analytics platform for the building materials and home improvement industries, uses machine learning to deliver actionable insights on pricing, inventory, assortment, and supply chains. The funds will be used to grow the team, accelerate development of its Commerce Alert Hub, and expand its presence across North America. - learn more
  • Mucker Capital led the $3.3M seed round for Bidbus, an AI-powered consumer-to-dealer used car marketplace in the U.S. The platform enables car owners to auction their vehicles online and receive competing offers from dealers, while dealers gain access to high-quality inventory more efficiently. The funding will help Bidbus enhance its AI capabilities and expand into new markets. - learn more
  • Creative Artists Agency (CAA) participated as a strategic investor in Moonvalley’s $84M funding round, signaling strong industry confidence in the company’s development of a fully licensed, AI-powered video generation platform tailored for professional filmmakers and studios. CAA’s investment reinforces Moonvalley’s commitment to ethical AI practices and provides it with a direct pipeline to top-tier creative talent and entertainment partners. - learn more
  • MANTIS Venture Capital joined Zip Security’s $13.5M Series A funding round, backing the company's mission to deliver automated, AI-driven cybersecurity and compliance solutions. Their participation supports Zip’s efforts to expand its engineering team, build deeper platform integrations, and scale into regulated industry verticals like defense, finance, and healthcare. - learn more
  • Rebel Fund participated in Apolink’s oversubscribed $4.3M seed round, joining other notable backers such as Y Combinator and 468 Capital. By investing in this 19‑year‑old–led space tech startup, Rebel Fund is supporting Apolink’s mission to deliver continuous LEO satellite connectivity and facilitate its planned demo missions and constellation build‑out. - learn more

    LA Exits
    • Retina AI is to be acquired by Onar in a deal that will enhance Onar’s AI-powered customer analytics and personalization offerings. By integrating Retina’s predictive customer lifetime value technology, Onar aims to provide businesses with deeper insights into customer behavior and more precise targeting. The acquisition highlights Onar’s commitment to delivering data-driven solutions for optimizing customer relationships. - learn more
    • Nearsure, a U.S.-based tech services company with over 600 professionals across 18 Latin American countries, has been acquired by Nortal to bolster its AI and enterprise solutions in the Americas. Known for its AI-driven transformation, custom software, and partnerships with major platforms, Nearsure will merge into Nortal’s U.S. operations and rebrand later this year. The acquisition allows Nearsure to expand into U.S. and European markets while enhancing its AI, cybersecurity, and enterprise offerings. - learn more
    • InsideOut Sports & Entertainment, the event production company behind high‑profile sports events like The Pickleball Slam, Pro Padel League, and Major League Pickleball, has been acquired by GSE Worldwide, marking GSE’s first foray into live event production. Founded by tennis legend Jim Courier and Jon Venison, who will now serve as EVP and head of the new GSE Productions division, InsideOut’s team will integrate into GSE to help scale its live-event operations into new markets. - learn more

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      From Sunset Boulevard to Outer Space: LA’s Latest

      🔦 Spotlight

      Good Morning Beliebers and Los Angeles!

      While Justin Bieber’s new album dropped last night, here’s what else is making headlines in Los Angeles this week.

      Luma has opened its Dream Lab on Sunset Boulevard, boldly positioning itself at the forefront of AI-powered creativity. Known for transforming ordinary photos into cinematic 3D scenes, Luma is combining cutting-edge research with practical tools to build a playground for artists, engineers, and anyone ready to push the boundaries of visual storytelling. In their words: “From Hollywood blockbusters to the next generation of immersive media, this is where the magic happens.”

      Meanwhile, well beyond our skyline, SpaceX reportedly hit an eye-popping $400 billion valuation in a recent share sale, making it one of the most valuable private companies ever. The milestone reflects both investors’ fervor for the commercial space race and LA’s unrivaled role as the launchpad of aerospace innovation.

      LA continues to prove it can deliver on the ground, in the cloud, and far beyond the stars. See you next week.

      🤝 Venture Deals

      LA Companies

         
      • Varda Space Industries, the El Segundo–based company manufacturing pharmaceuticals in microgravity, has raised $187M in a Series C round led by Natural Capital and Shrug Capital, bringing its total funding to approximately $329M. The funds will support an increased launch cadence of robotic drug-production capsules, expansion of its El Segundo lab for biologic drug crystallization, and broader efforts to scale commercial microgravity-driven drug formulation and hypersonic reentry testing. - learn more

      LA Venture Funds

      • Rebel Fund participated in Vellum’s $20M Series A round, which was led by Leaders Fund. The company helps businesses build and optimize LLM-powered applications. Vellum plans to grow its team and speed up product development with the new funding. - learn more
      • Bold Capital participated in a $31M Series B funding round for Aqtual, a Hayward, California based precision medicine startup developing a cutting edge cell free DNA (cfDNA) multiomics platform. The capital will help commercialize Aqtual’s flagship rheumatoid arthritis diagnostic, currently being tested in a 1,300 patient trial, and support expansion into other chronic and autoimmune diseases. - learn more
      • Strong Ventures invested in VERAMORE, a skincare brand focused on addressing early signs of aging in women. Since launching in March 2022, VERAMORE has grown over 300% annually, expanded to more than 16 products, and entered markets including Japan, Singapore, Vietnam, Taiwan, Europe, and Korea. The funding will support its D2C growth, product-driven marketing, and planned global expansion starting with Japan in 2025 and the U.S. and Europe in 2026. - learn more
      • Mucker Capital joined a $3.7M seed funding round for Velvet Capital aimed at launching its DeFAI operating system and $VELVET governance token. Velvet’s vertically integrated DeFi toolkit combines AI-powered trading, portfolio management, APIs, and a native token to streamline on-chain investment for funds, DAOs, and individual traders. The funding will accelerate platform development, the rollout of its tokenomics, and broader adoption of its intent-based DeFi suite. - learn more
      • Btech Consortium Fund participated in a $8.5M Series A funding round for Castellum.AI, a New York based financial crime compliance platform that uses in‑house risk data, AI, and screening tools to help financial institutions manage AML/KYC compliance. The funds will be used to expand their team, enhance integrations with financial institutions, and accelerate adoption of their AI‑powered compliance solutions. - learn more
      • Bold Capital Partners joined the oversubscribed $45M Series A round for Centivax, a South San Francisco biotech company dedicated to developing a universal flu vaccine using a proprietary mRNA-based immune-engineering platform. Led by Future Ventures, the funding will help Centivax advance its lead candidate into Phase I clinical trials and expand its broader universal immunity pipeline targeting pathogens like RSV, HIV, and malaria. - learn more
      • Alpha Edison participated in Honor Education’s $38M Series A funding round for the San Francisco–based learning platform. Honor uses AI‑enhanced, mobile-first courses and credentialed programs to improve engagement and leadership development. The funding will be used to scale AI capabilities, personalize learning experiences, and expand the company’s operations and customer‑success teams to meet rising demand. - learn more
      • Wasserman Ventures participated in a $7M seed round for Fantasy Life, the fantasy sports platform founded by Matthew Berry. The funding will support the launch of Fantasy Life’s revamped platform, featuring new “Guillotine Leagues,” a modernized app experience, and enhanced content and tools to scale its audience and technology offerings. - learn more

      LA Exits
      • El Segundo based Kaye Capital Management, a fee only RIA with approximately $700M in assets under management and $300M in assets under advisement, was acquired by Modern Wealth Management, marking its 17th acquisition and pushing its total AUM over $8.5B. The deal strengthens Modern Wealth’s presence in California and adds Kaye’s institutional retirement plan expertise to its suite of financial and retirement solutions for clients. - learn more
      • NIRx Medical Technologies was acquired by Gilde Healthcare’s private equity fund and combined with Artinis Medical Systems to form a world-leading neuroimaging group. Both companies will retain their brands and locations while collaborating on R&D, product development, and global expansion of their functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) tools to advance research in mental health, neurodegenerative diseases, and stroke rehabilitation. - learn more
      • Emotive, a conversational SMS marketing platform, has been acquired by Privy to create a unified solution for e-commerce brands that combines email, SMS, pop-ups, and real-time customer conversations. The integrated platform will help over 10,000 merchants simplify their marketing, personalize customer interactions, and strengthen relationships with dedicated strategists and transparent pricing. - learn more

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      Tinder, Starlink, and Apple’s New Studio: This Week in LA

      🔦 Spotlight

      Happy Independence Day, Los Angeles! 🇺🇸

      While you're celebrating freedom, here are some electrifying updates lighting up LA’s tech, satellite, and music scenes:

      🔥 Tinder mandates Face Recognition in California

        Image Source: Tinder

      Tinder is now requiring all new users in California to complete a biometric face check, a brief video selfie processed via FaceTec, to verify profiles are genuine. The video is deleted post-verification, though an encrypted face map remains while the account is active. This West Hollywood based move could redefine trust, safety, and privacy in mainstream consumer apps.

      🌐 Starlink clears hurdle to launch in India

      Elon Musk’s SpaceX backed Starlink has cleared most regulatory and licensing hurdles with India’s Department of Telecommunications, marking a key step toward launching satellite broadband in one of the world’s fastest growing markets. Final approvals from the national space regulator are pending, and services, expected to deliver high speed connectivity to underserved regions, could launch in the coming months. This is a major milestone for Starlink’s global expansion.

      🎧 Apple Music opens Culver City creative hub

        Image Source: Apple

      Apple Music is celebrating its anniversary by launching a brand new 15,000 square foot, three story studio in Culver City. The facility, featuring a 4,000 square foot soundstage, spatial audio suites, podcast booths, and more, is designed by Eric Owen Moss and slated to open mid August. It solidifies LA’s reputation as a creative powerhouse and reaffirms Apple’s commitment to investing in and nurturing our city's cultural ecosystem.

      From dating apps to deep space to sound stages, LA isn’t just watching the future unfold, we’re building it.

      Here’s to independence, imagination, and everything this city dares to launch next. Happy Fourth, Los Angeles.

      🤝 Venture Deals

      LA Companies

      • Castelion has raised a $350M Series B round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners alongside Altimeter Capital to scale its hypersonic missile production capabilities. The El Segundo-based defense startup plans to use the funds to expand manufacturing, accelerate testing through its SpaceX-inspired rapid development model, and position itself as a cost-effective supplier of hypersonic weapons to the U.S. military and its allies. - learn more
      • Earth Sama, a Calabasas, California–based climate-tech platform that helps rural farming and Indigenous communities generate and manage carbon credits, secured investment from Omtse Ventures. The funding will support the rollout of Earth Sama’s blockchain-powered field app, climate-creator platform, and smart-contract tools to scale community-led carbon credit projects globally under the Paris Agreement’s Article 6.4 framework. - learn more

                LA Venture Funds

                • Plassa Capital participated in Metafide’s $3.275M funding round. Miami based Metafide, the creator of SURGE, a gamified trading platform that combines AI neural networks and human insight, will use the funds to scale and launch SURGE into the market. - learn more
                • BOLD Capital Partners participated as a founding investor in Syntis Bio’s $33M Series A round, with an additional $5M in NIH grants. The Boston-based biotech is developing oral therapies for obesity and rare diseases, and the funding will help advance its SYNT platform, moving its lead obesity treatment, SYNT-101, into Phase 1 trials and supporting development of SYNT-202 for homocystinuria. - learn more
                • BAM Ventures participated in Cred’s $15M seed round for its predictive intelligence startup. San Francisco based Cred uses AI to unify company data with real time market signals and deliver actionable insights for sales and operations. The funding, led by defy.vc, will be used to scale Cred’s platform, expand its customer base, and grow team and product capabilities. - learn more
                • BOLD Capital Partners participated in Gallant’s $18M Series B round to advance its ready-to-use stem cell therapies for pets. The funding, led by Digitalis Ventures with additional support from NovaQuest Capital, will help Gallant bring its off-the-shelf regenerative treatments to market. - learn more
                • Rebel Fund joined the seed round for Rocketable, contributing to the $6.5M raised to build a portfolio of fully automated SaaS companies. San Francisco-based Rocketable, backed by True Ventures and others, uses AI agents to operate acquired software products, and Rebel’s support will help scale both the platform and acquisitions. - learn more 
                        LA Exits
                        • Leasepath, a cloud-first provider of equipment lease and loan management software, has been acquired by Solifi to enhance its mid-market offerings. The deal allows Solifi to expand Leasepath’s Microsoft Dynamics-based platform into new global markets while keeping Leasepath’s team and leadership in place. - learn more

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