Neurotech, Psychedelics & the Future of Mental Health: re.Mind Capital’s Joao on What’s Coming Next

🎙️ Episode 22 - Neurotech, Psychedelics & the Future of Mental Health: re.Mind Capital’s Joao on What’s Coming Next

In this episode of ReeThink, Rudi Adigbli sits down with Joao Barbosa Da Silva (MD, Imperial College London), Investor and Managing Partner at re.mind Capital, a $130M venture fund dedicated to neuroscience and behavioral health. From psychedelics to neurotechnology, Joao shares why he believes we are at the beginning of a massive wave of innovation in brain health, and how founders can build the next generation of tools for mental health, cognition and human performance.

Joao explains his transition from clinical medicine and academic neuroscience into venture capital, and why he got obsessed with translating cutting‑edge research into real‑world therapeutics instead of waiting decades for traditional funding cycles. He walks through re.mind’s thesis: investing across neurotechnology (devices that read and write to the brain), novel therapeutics (from psychedelics to new mechanisms in psychiatry and neurology), and digital health models that rethink how care is delivered at scale.​​

A big part of the conversation dives into neurotechnology trends: non‑invasive focused ultrasound for deep‑brain stimulation, temporal interference, advances in EEG and next‑gen brain‑reading methods and why Joao believes neurotech is the only real path to precision psychiatry. He breaks down how commercialization paths differ for invasive BCIs, non‑invasive devices and digital tools, why he prefers starting “clinical‑first” for credibility and evidence, and where consumer plays can still make sense.​

Rudi and Joao also explore the emerging field of neuro‑AI: using neuroscience to build more robust, safer AI systems, and using AI to extract more signal from messy brain data. They discuss why current AI models are hitting scaling limits, how insights from human intelligence might shape the next wave, and what this means for founders building at the intersection of cognitive AI tools, brain‑computer interfaces and mental health.

Finally, Joao offers a candid view on the future of mental health care. He argues that one‑to‑one therapy, while important, will never be scalable enough to solve the global crisis, and that the next decade will be defined by interventional mental health: higher‑effect‑size tools like TMS, psychedelics, neurostimulation and next‑gen therapeutics that can be deployed at scale. If you’re a founder, investor or clinician trying to understand where brain optimization for business and health is heading, this episode is a roadmap.

00:00 – Welcome and introducing Joao & the re.mind Capital fund
02:00 – From medicine and psychedelics research to neuroscience VC
05:20 – Why venture can sometimes answer scientific questions faster than academia
10:40 – Building re.mind’s thesis: from psychedelics to full‑stack brain health
16:20 – Commercialization paths in neurotech: invasive BCIs vs. non‑invasive devices
22:10 – Hybrid routes: consumer devices, supplements and the path to regulated therapeutics
39:40 – The rise of neuro‑AI: using brain insights to build safer, more capable AI
43:30 – Scaling limits of current AI models and why neuroscience matters next
50:40 – Joao’s outlook: the next 5–10 years of brain health and neurotech innovation