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Don’t invest unless you’re prepared to lose all the money you invest. This is a high-risk investment and you are unlikely to be protected if something goes wrong. Take 2 mins to learn more

The “o2h human health KI EIS fund” makes an investment into Neurocentrx
May 12 2022

Cambridge, UK, 12 May 2022: o2h Ventures is pleased to announce an EIS investment into Neurocentrx Pharma Ltd, a collaborative biotech company based in Edinburgh developing orally delivered drug products formulations of ketamine that are primarily aimed to treat mood disorders like Depression.

Neurocentrx’s broader interests lie in psychiatric, mental health and mood disorders, neurodegenerative diseases and complex pain management in cancer and palliative care. Their focus is to provide existing approved drugs in new and improved formats for patients – through reformulation, reindication, clinical development and product in-licensing. Neurocentrx is currently commencing phase 1 development with one of their proprietary oral ketamine formulations.

The investment was made from o2h Ventures human health knowledge-intensive EIS fund which is Britain’s first HMRC-approved knowledge intensive fund solely focused on investing in knowledge-intensive EIS qualifying companies focused on novel drug discovery and AI technologies. o2h Ventures has a track record of supporting and investing in some of the UK’s most innovative early-stage biotech firms and have now invested into >25 companies over the last three years from the human health funds.

Sunil Shah, CEO at o2h Ventures said: “We are really excited to back Carmel on this journey to develop an oral ketamine drug for the treatment of depression. Looking forward to supporting her on this journey.”

Carmel Reilly, CEO at Neurocentrx said: “Our investment partners have joined us at an exciting time as we start our growth phase and we commence our first clinical trial with oral ketamine. This investment will help us build our executive team, plan our approval studies, and build partnerships with academic and commercial partners. We are delighted to have Sunil and 02h Ventures as our backers alongside Neo Kuma, Meltwind, Old College Capital, Equity Gap and Scottish Enterprise in this new syndicate as a key part of our support team.”

About Neurocentrx

Neurocentrx is a collaborative biotech company based in Edinburgh, focused on medicines to treat patients with neurological conditions. The company is developing existing drugs, in new oral delivery formats, for unmet clinical needs.

Neurocentrxs’ interests lie in psychiatric, mental health and mood disorders, neurodegenerative diseases and complex pain management in cancer and palliative care. They are developing oral ketamine formulations for clinical trials in these areas.

Ketamine has been shown by others to be useful in treating Depression. Ketamine seems to act quickly for responding patients. This is key, as most antidepressants take many weeks to work, or to fail. Long term effects of Ketamine and its mechanism of action are not yet fully understood, but much research worldwide continues in these areas.

For more information, please see – https://www.neurocentrx.com/

About o2h ventures

The o2h Ventures ‘Human Health’ funds make tax-efficient EIS and SEIS investments in Pre-Seed and Seed stage companies that address human disease: we fund the development of novel therapeutic treatments; we help build new services and tools offerings throughout the biotech ecosystem, and we spur the creation of software & artificial intelligence that will change healthcare.

The o2h team are leaders in the biotech community and have been actively involved as investors, holding various board/industry positions as well as being engaged in grassroots scientific activity for over 20 years. o2h Ventures operates from their proprietary 2.7 acre Mill SciTech Park where they are developing a unique model for incubating small life science companies.

For more information or to invest in the fund, please visit www.o2hventures.com

Media Contact:
Ajit Guller
Marketing Manager
ajit@o2h.com

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Please refer to the relevant fund’s full risk warnings contained in their Information Memorandums.
Your capital is at risk. Investing in early stage businesses involves risks, including illiquidity, lack of dividends, loss of investment and dilution, and it should be done only as part of a diversified portfolio. o2h Ventures’ funds are targeted exclusively at sophisticated or high net worth investors who understand these risks and make their own investment decisions. Tax relief depends on an individual’s circumstances and may change in the future. In addition, the availability of tax relief depends on the company invested in maintaining its qualifying status. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance. You should not rely on any past performance as a guarantee of future investment performance.
o2h ventures Limited is regulated and authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FRN 812245). Capital at risk, only suitable for high net worth and sophisticated investors
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Risk Information

Due to the potential for losses, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) considers this investment to be high risk

What are the key risks?

1 – You could lose all the money you invest

• If the business you invest in fails, you are likely to lose 100% of the money you invest. Most start-up businesses fail.

2 – You are unlikely to be protected if something goes wrong

• Protection from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), in relation to claims against failed regulated firms, does not cover poor investment performance. Try the FSCS investment protection checker here. (https://www.fscs.org.uk/check/investment-protection-checker)

• Protection from the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) does not cover poor investment performance. If you have a complaint against an FCA-regulated firm, FOS may be able to consider it. Learn more about FOS protection here. (https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/consumers)

3 – You won’t get your money back quickly

• Even if the business you invest in is successful, it may take several years to get your money back. You are unlikely to be able to sell your investment early.

• The most likely way to get your money back is if the business is bought by another business or lists its shares on an exchange such as the London Stock Exchange. These events are not common.

• If you are investing in a start-up business, you should not expect to get your money back through dividends. Start-up businesses rarely pay these.

4 – Don’t put all your eggs in one basket

• Putting all your money into a single business or type of investment for example, is risky. Spreading your money across different investments makes you less dependent on any one to do well.

• A good rule of thumb is not to invest more than 10% of your money in high-risk investments (https://www.fca.org.uk/investsmart/5-questions-ask-you-invest)

5 – The value of your investment can be reduced

• The percentage of the business that you own will decrease if the business issues more shares. This could mean that the value of your investment reduces, depending on how much the business grows. Most start-up businesses issue multiple rounds of shares.

• These new shares could have addition rights that your shares don’t have, such as the right to receive a fixed dividend, which could further reduce your chances of getting a return on your investment.

If you are interested in learning more about how to protect yourself, visit the FCA’s website here (https://www.fca.org.uk/investsmart)