Silo Wellness Goes Public - CEO Explains Business Plan After $5M Placement

Silo Wellness, an Oregon-based psychedelics company, announced the closing of its reverse take-over with FlyOverture Equity Inc., resulting in the listing of its stock on the Canadian Stock Exchange under the symbol 'SILO,' starting Friday.

The company recently closed a round of $5 million in the financing, which will be used to support business operations and attract talent across the industry.

CEO Douglas Gordon told Benzinga that the company was founded on the principle of making medicinal psychedelics available to as wide an audience as possible through the legal means available today.

“There are a lot of folks struggling out there. And we have access to this wonderful plant medicine that can make a material difference in their lives. And so the commercialization of our business is first and foremost to be able to facilitate getting that medicine to as many people as can get it. And that's what going public has done for us, it has given us access to the capital that we can utilize to further that mission,” said Gordon.

Psychedelics Retreats: Oregon and Jamaica

Silo is currently offering ketamine-assisted psychotherapy retreats in Oregon and psilocybin retreats in Jamaica, where the “magic mushroom” compound is decriminalized.

Oregon passed a measure to legalize and regulate the therapeutic use of psilocybin last November. However, the measure establishes a two-year period for the development of a psilocybin program.

“We have to wait until the regulations are in place to govern how different psychedelic retreats can be handled,” says Gordon.

For the time being, the company hosts physician-supervised retreats in the Beaver State using Ketamine, a legal dissociative drug commonly used in anesthesia, which boasts significant potential in treating mental health disorders.

“We're going to definitely build those out and then host more of them, and really take advantage of the fact that we're operating in the state now, so that when the [psilocybin] regulations do come in place, we're well-positioned to be able to activate in Oregon,” said Gordon.

Concurrently, Silo is developing its model for psilocybin retreats in Jamaica, by offering in-person retreats in the Caribbean country.

“This strengthens our position when [psilocybin] becomes legal in different jurisdictions around the world because we'll have a template that's working,” said Gordon.

Psilocybin R&D: Nasal Spray and Mushroom Cultivation

Silo developed a patent-pending psilocybin nasal spray, invented as a novel method for the administration of the compound in psychedelics-assisted psychotherapy sessions.

“The beauty of it is that, at the end of the day, you need to have a way of getting the psilocybin to the patient in a manner that's properly dosed. And what we have here is a very effective vehicle to do that,” Gordon commented. 

The company is “in active discussion” with different partners for licensing the spray, and expects to begin commercialization soon.

Silo also operates a facility that cultivates psilocybin mushrooms in Jamaica. The products are used to supply Silo’s own retreats as well as other retreat entities.

In the facility, Silo is developing formulations for possible microdosing products and other psilocybin products.

Functional Mushrooms

The sale of non-psychedelic functional mushrooms is another vertical for the company. These are sold as dietary supplements and are already available to purchase.

“We've been selling functional mushrooms as a ‘proof of concept’ for the past six to eight months. We have a line now, and so what we're doing is we're currently reviewing our product lineup so we can add new SKUs and refine our offerings,” Gordon told us.

The exec said that Silo plans to scale up the commercialization of these products to hit mainstream consumer markets in the short-term.

“We're now developing some brand partnership opportunities which will allow us to truly scale that across North America and beyond,” says Gordon.

The brand’s functional mushroom line currently offers 16 SKUs composed of 8 products in two sizes. New products will be added “in the non too distant future,” according to Gordon.

Benzinga Photo