Psilocybin startup Compass Pathways goes public at more than $1B. Here’s why Wall Street is starting to see the value in psychedelics.

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For several years, investors and psychonauts have predicted that psychedelic medicine would become the next billion-dollar industry, with some value estimates as high as $100 billion. They said substances like MDMA or psilocybin mushrooms would follow a similar regulatory path that cannabis took to the mainstream, going from a Schedule 1 narcotic to a legal, regulated, and highly lucrative medicine.

At least some of these predictions have rung true. On September 18th, Compass Pathways Plc., a London-based company developing psilocybin into a prescription drug in assisted psychotherapy, went public, listing on Nasdaq. The company’s stock jumped 71 percent on its first day of trading and is now estimated to be worth $1.3 billion. Compass Pathways declined to comment for this article. Numinus Wellness Inc and Champignon Brands Inc are two other psychedelic companies that have gone public this year.

This month, another psychedelic research company, Mind Medicine Inc. (“Mindmed”), announced their intent to appear on Nasdaq, as well, and some analysts predict it will soon be the next billion-dollar psychedelic company. Havn Life Sciences, which has earned permission from the Canadian government to work with psilocybin, also squeezed onto the Canadian Stock Exchange in September.