People Science, a direct-to-consumer scientific research company, closed a second seed round of funding for $5.3 million.
The round, which was announced earlier this month, was led by Acre Venture Partners with participation from Bluestein Ventures, THIA Ventures and FORM Life Ventures. People Science’s total seed funding has reached $8.5 million. The prior seed round was supported by Noetic Fund, Woven Science, and LifeForce Capital.
The company will use the capital to support its expansion into nutrition and food as medicine, alongside its existing research efforts on natural and synthetic psychedelics, the microbiome and cannabis.
Lucas Mann, co-founder and managing partner at Acre Venture Partners, will join the People Science board of directors. People Science generates revenue through its two offerings: clinical research services and the Software as a service licensing of its mobile app.
“We invest in companies that are innovating in food and agriculture to improve the health of people and the planet, both what we eat and how we grow it,” Mann said in a release. “We think this platform has the potential to be transformational in unlocking robust evidence and data-based claims that are often lacking in the ‘food as medicine’ space — and such claims have the power to not only propel consumer products forward, but also the adoption of more food-driven practices by the medical community.”
People Science is building a clinical research infrastructure for alternative medicines that is designed to connect people, doctors and scientists through its technology platform, the Consumer Health Learning and Organizing Ecosystem. The platform combines a mobile app with a clinical research arm. Consumers can use the app to help understand which alternative medicines work best for their needs. Sponsored clinical studies with the platform began late last year.
“There are many solutions for humans to stay well and get better, and some of these have been in use for millennia,” Noah Craft, co-founder and co-chief executive of People Science, said in a statement. “However, until now, there has not been any great clinical research infrastructure to study these alternative medicines with real people and with rigorous science at scale. More than ever before, people are defining their own path to wellness and trying to figure out what makes them better. We are bringing the tools of science directly to the people to help them find answers and to share this knowledge with society.”
