If money talks, then it’s official: Nootropics (aka “smart drugs”) have gone mainstream. And they’re getting multi-million dollar investments from the world’s most successful venture capitalists. Mega-successful VC firm Andreessen Horowitz (they’re the people who bet and won big on Facebook, Skype, Airbnb, and dozens of others) just announced a $2 million investment in smart drug startup Nootrobox. Nootropics/smart supplements use single or blends of ingredients to improve cognition, memory, focus, attention, and/or energy. Most of these supplements aren’t prescription drugs, and many are derived from or feature only natural ingredients.
Image Credit: Andreessen Horowitz
But there’s one piece of information you won’t find in news reports on the deal. And it’s something you have to learn from a lot of testing and comparisons of the market’s leading smart drugs. We’ve reviewed Nootrobox’s products before, and their current lineup is hopefully just the tip of the iceberg. Our testers were enthusiast on their RISE and SPRINT supplements, though their ingredient combos aren’t entirely new in the space. To be fair, Nootrobox is pretty transparent with their ingredients, labeling, and dosages, which we appreciate. As far as transparency, we place them alongside all-natural or earth-grown blends from some other manufacturers, which are also well sourced and transparent.
Illustration by Morgan Schweitzer
Nootrobox seems eager to use at least some of their new funding to research new stacks and products. Nootrobox’s blog announcement comes at a time when nootropic manufacturers are making big leaps forward in taking their products from niche supplements to worldwide popularity; increasing product diversity and creating supplements that stand as unique will be crucial in that push. We’ll be monitoring the company (and its competitors) closely, testing out the latest products to see which are actually pushing the envelope on quality and effectiveness.