Peptides for Mental Health: Emerging Functional Approaches in 2025
The conversation around mental health treatments is evolving rapidly — moving beyond SSRIs and traditional talk therapy into a frontier of precision functional interventions. One of the most compelling areas drawing both scientific and investor attention in 2025 is peptide therapy.
What Are Peptides, and Why Now?
Peptides are short chains of amino acids that act as signaling molecules in the body. Unlike broad pharmaceuticals that often affect multiple systems at once, peptides can be designed to interact with specific receptors and pathways, offering targeted effects with fewer side effects. In mental health, this translates to interventions that can regulate mood, reduce anxiety, and support resilience in ways that feel more tailored to the body’s own biology.
The growing interest in peptides coincides with a broader functional medicine shift — an emphasis on treating root causes, restoring balance, and integrating the nervous system into psychiatric care.
Leading Players and Research
Protagenic Therapeutics — Their lead candidate PT00114 targets anxiety and mood disorders. Early data points to fewer side effects than benzodiazepines and SSRIs. The company has raised $13M+ to date (Crunchbase), with backing from investors including Alpha Capital Anstalt.
Cerevel Therapeutics — A neuropsychiatric biotech spun out of Pfizer and Bain Capital’s life sciences fund. Cerevel raised $440M via IPO in 2020 (PitchBook) and continues to explore peptide-based therapeutics alongside its small molecule pipeline.
Selank and Semax — Originally developed in Russia, these neuropeptides are seeing renewed research interest in the West. While not FDA-approved, clinics in Europe and research programs at institutions like the Institute of Molecular Genetics (Moscow) are building momentum.
Bachem Holding AG — The Swiss peptide manufacturing giant (market cap: ~$14B) underpins much of the infrastructure for startups working in psychiatric and cognitive peptide therapeutics. In 2024, Bachem expanded its U.S. operations with a $100M+ investment into GMP-grade facilities, supporting the scalability of next-gen mental health peptides.
Market Dynamics
The global peptide therapeutics market is projected to surpass $55 billion by 2030 (Grand View Research), with neuropsychiatric peptides representing an increasingly important slice.
Investor Activity: PitchBook reports a doubling of early-stage financings in peptide-focused neuro startups between 2022–2024.
Geography: While Switzerland and the U.S. lead in peptide infrastructure, Asia-Pacific is becoming an emerging hub with Japan and South Korea funding academic peptide-to-mental-health programs.
27K Ventures Take
At 27K Ventures, we view peptide therapy not just as a molecular innovation, but as part of a paradigm shift in mental health:
Personalization over generalization — targeted molecules for precise states
Regulation over suppression — supporting balance rather than numbing
Integration of biology and lived experience — combining lab-driven insights with patient-centered care
The investable opportunity lies in identifying the bridge-builders: companies translating peptide research into scalable, accessible interventions. As adoption grows, expect convergence between functional medicine clinics, biotech startups, and venture-backed mental health platforms.
Peptides won’t replace therapy or community, but they may reshape the pharmacological toolkit in ways that make recovery gentler, more effective, and deeply aligned with the body’s natural rhythms. For investors and founders alike, this is a frontier worth not only watching — but building into.