💲 Cann $27M Series A / Cansativa $15M Series B
Jones Soda raises $11M. InterCure to acquire Better for $35M. Edibles kept pace with growth of overall U.S. Cannabis market. Trulieve x Khalifa Kush. Columbia Care opens second dispensary in WV.
👥 Follow on LinkedIn for more real-time updates. Subscribe to the newsletter here.
🌿 Industry
Led by gummies, edibles keep pace with growth of overall US cannabis market.
Gummies accounted for nearly $1B in retail sales last year, capturing more than 70% of the category’s share across six recreational cannabis markets (California, Colorado, Michigan, Nevada, Oregon and Washington) tracked by Headset. Overall edibles sales grew by more than 20% from $1.15B in 2020 to $1.38B in 2021. The total marijuana Cannabis market, by comparison, grew 18.4%.
California wholesale cannabis prices rebound from slump. A bear run in California’s volatile wholesale cannabis market appears to be over. The price of bulk flower – which hit rock bottom in November and squeezed growers financially – is starting to rebound amid an uptick in sales, according to several operators who told MJBizDaily they closed the books last month on a high note. The average price per pound of cannabis flower is up to about $750 to $1,100 for quality, big buds and $300-$450 for smalls, according to Autumn Shelton, owner of Autumn Brands. That’s up from November, when prices bottomed out at $400/lb for AAA-grade flower amid a glut of marijuana. But the rebound hasn’t been the same for every farmer, noted Sequoyah Hudson, the CEO of Humboldt County-based cultivator Humboldt Sun Growers Guild. Hudson told MJBizDaily via email that her company has experienced a minor increase in wholesale pricing, up to $250-$500/lb for outdoor-grown flower, up from lows of $150-$250/lb in November and December. That moderate hike, Hudson said, still has some farmers opting to destroy their crops instead of paying state cultivation taxes, which can cost farmers more than they make from selling wholesale at rock-bottom prices.
GTI, NAACP and Vicente Sederberg LLP partner to support social equity cannabis license applicants. GTI, NAACP Greater New Haven and Vicente Sederberg LLP have partnered to support social equity cannabis license applications. The three organizations are hosting a free 5-day webinar series for Connecticut residents interested in pursuing social equity licensing opportunities in the state’s forthcoming adult-use cannabis market. The series kicks off with a comprehensive overview of the Connecticut adult-use cannabis licensing process.
Topics covered by the series include:
February 22, 2022: Adult-use Cannabis Licensing 101
March 8, 2022: Qualifying as a Social Equity Applicant
March 22, 2022: Navigating the License Application Portal
April 5, 2022: Operating a Cannabis Business in Connecticut
April 19, 2022: Beyond Licenses: Other Opportunities
💵 Deals
Cann — $27M Series A. The funding round coming from fresh institutional capital, existing investors like Imaginary Ventures doubling down, and a roster of new celebrity investors including Nina Dobrev, Adam Devine, Zoey Deutch, Jordan Cooper, Sara Foster and Rosario Dawson. In addition to this milestone funding round, Cann is also announcing its first international expansion with the brand's launch in Canada. Cann's Canadian expansion (partnering with Truss Beverage, a JV between MolsonCoors Canada and HEXO) and Series A funding comes on the heels of an explosive year of growth that saw nearly tripled sales and expansion into three new U.S. states: Illinois, Massachusetts and Arizona.
Cansativa Group — Closes $15M Series B to Become the 'Amazon' of Cannabis for Europe. The funding round was led by Casa Verde with participation by Argonautic Ventures and Munich-based family office Alluti. This represents Casa Verde's largest investment in Germany and in Europe to date. As one of Germany's largest cannabis businesses, Cansativa is building the 'Amazon' of cannabis for Europe, offering its customers a B2B platform to manage every stage of the value chain from importing goods to distributing them to thousands of pharmacies across the country. Given its exclusive relationship with German regulator, the Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (BfArM), Cansativa is the only company permitted to distribute domestically-grown medical cannabis. The company will use the funding to expand its medical cannabis product portfolio and build out its recreational platform ahead of legalization in Germany.
Clever Leaves Portugal and Cansativa entered a three-year commercial supply agreement, where Cansativa will purchase a minimum of €2M of high-THC cannabis flower from Clever Leaves Portugal’ Portuguese facilities.
Jones Soda — Completes Acquisition of Canadian Reporting Issuer and $11M in Concurrent Financings. Jones Soda completed the previously announced acquisition of all the issued and outstanding common shares of Pinestar by way of a plan of arrangement under the Business Corporations Act. Pinestar completed an offering for subscription receipts for aggregate gross proceeds of $8M at a price of $0.50. As part of the closing of the arrangement, each subscription receipt automatically converted into one Pinestar Share and one share purchase warrant of Pinestar (exercisable at $0.625/share for 24 months from the date of issuance). Jones also completed an offering of $3M in aggregate principal amount of 3.00% unsecured convertible debentures due February 9, 2023, convertible into units of Jones at a conversion price of $0.50 per unit, with each unit consisting of one Jones Shares and one Jones Special Warrant.
InterCure — Signs Definitive Agreement to acquire Better for $35M. Better is a pharmaceutical grade medical cannabis company, with leading expertise in cannabis cultivation, marketing, commercialization, and research of medical cannabis products for a variety of medical indications. The purchase price of $35M will be paid with InterCure shares at the valuation of $10.00/share (closed yesterday at $6.69), which is the same share valuation that was used in connection with the SPAC and PIPE transaction in April 2021. The shares issued will be subject to a three-year lock-up.
Schwazze — Closed Acquisition of assets of Brow 2. The planned transaction includes a 37,000 square foot building and equipment designed for indoor cultivation. The consideration for the acquisition was $6.7M and was paid in cash at closing.
YourWay x Airo Brands — License Agreement for Arizona. Under the terms of the Agreement, the Company has exclusive right and license to manufacture, produce, promote, distribute, and sell certain popular AIRO products in Arizona, including the AIROPro®, AIROSport™, and AIROX®, featuring formulations from AIRO's Strain Series, Artisan Series, and Live Flower Series, plus additional products. A leader in the cannabis inhalation space, AIRO is one of the top-selling brands in several markets including Nevada, Colorado, Illinois, Maryland and Washington. AIRO is available in more than 1,300 dispensaries across the United States and Puerto Rico.
TILT x Toast — Multi-State Agreement to Manufacture and Distribute Toast. Initial product rollout will begin in Massachusetts through TILT subsidiary Commonwealth Alternative Care (CAC). Pending regulatory approval, TILT will launch Toast™ in Pennsylvania and Ohio through its Standard Farms subsidiaries with new SKUs created for each market. TILT will provide full-service wholesale manufacturing, packaging and distribution for several existing Toast™ SKUs, as well as collaborative R&D services to create new products and increase the accessibility of high-end cannabis to medical patients and adult-use consumers.
📄 Company Updates / Earnings
Cronos Group — Q3 2021 Results
Net Revenue: $20.4M increased by $9.0M Y/Y
Gross Profit: $(0.7M) improved by $0.8M Y/Y
Adjusted EBITDA: $(46.8M) decreased by $16.7M Y/Y. Decrease primarily driven by an increase in G&A expenses primarily due to an increase in the allowance for expected credit losses of $13.2M, an increase in sales and marketing costs primarily due to brand development in the U.S. segment, and an increase in R&D costs driven by increased spending on product development and developing cannabinoid intellectual property in the ROW segment
Clever Leaves Holdings — Begins Sales of Cannabis Extracts in Germany Through Ethypharm Partnership. Following a March 2021 supply agreement signed by the two companies providing Ethypharm access to Clever Leaves Holdings EU GMP certified cannabis extracts, the shipment includes two products: a 100 mg CBD with 3 mg THC per gram formulation and a 200 mg CBD with 6 mg THC per gram formulation. Partnering with an established pharmaceutical company like Ethypharm allows Clever Leaves Holdings to enter the German pharmaceutical market more broadly, which may accelerate the Company’s expansion into the gradually expanding European cannabis market.
🏬 Retail / Cultivation
Curaleaf — Opens two additional PA Dispensaries in State College and Erie. Curaleaf's latest locations in State College and Erie will increase the Company's footprint to 16 dispensaries statewide and 127 across the country. In addition to Curaleaf's latest locations, the Company also serves patients in Altoona, Bradford, Brookville, City Avenue, DuBois, Gettysburg, Greensburg Harrisburg, Horsham, King of Prussia, Lebanon, Morton, Philadelphia and Wayne.
Columbia Care — Rebrands Brooklyn Dispensary to Cannabist. The Company’s Brooklyn Heights location is the first of its four dispensaries in New York to complete the transition to Cannabist, the Company’s new retail experience.
Columbia Care — Continues Momentum in West Virginia with Opening of Second Cannabist Location. This is the second of five dispensaries that Columbia Care will open in the state this year.
Goodness Growth Holdings — Opens New Green Goods Cannabis Dispensary in Baltimore, Maryland. The Baltimore location is the second, and largest, Green Goods® retail location in Maryland and the newest medical cannabis dispensary in Baltimore. The new Green Goods location in Baltimore follows the acquisition of the assets of Charm City Medicus, LLC, by Goodness Growth in November of 2021.
Unrivaled Brands — Expands Oregon Footprint with Launch of Advanced Cultivation Facility. The facility consists of 10,000 feet of greenhouse, under 275 lights at full production, and 50,000 feet of full sun cultivation area. The launch of the Oregon facility represents the next step in vertically integrating the Company’s business in Oregon, led by its marquee Sticks brand.
Lantern — Expands Cannabis Delivery in Massachusetts to the South Shore. Lantern plans to expand its delivery zone to Massachusetts' South Shore in partnership with economic empowerment retail and delivery licensee South Shore Buds, and adult-use retail dispensary Health Circle. Lantern initially partnered with South Shore Buds' delivery subsidiary, Bud Bus, last fall to deliver cannabis products from a North Shore dispensary to Boston residents.
🌱 Product
Trulieve x Khalifa Kush. Through the agreement, Trulieve becomes the exclusive producer, processor and retailer of Khalifa Kush branded products in Florida and in the Northeast markets, beginning this summer.
Jushi — Cannabis Brands and Product Launches in Massachusetts. The company will start with its flower brands, The Bank and Sèchè, and launch its vaporizable cartridges & jarred concentrates line, The Lab, and its edibles line, Tasteology, in Q2. Jushi’s brands will be available for purchase at its stores (Nature’s Remedy), with plans to roll out to the more than 190 partner dispensaries across the Commonwealth.
ROVE — Pocket-Sized, Potent Cannabis Beverage, Drink Loud. Made with 100 milligrams of THC packed into a 1.8 ounce bottle using proprietary nanotechnology, Drink Loud is both the smallest and most potent cannabis beverage for a fun, discreet, affordable and fast-acting uplift. Manufactured and distributed by Rove Brands, Drink Loud is shelf-stable and candy-flavored, available in four tropical flavors. Its pocket size, nano-fast onset and high potency, makes Drink Loud potions more like a liquid vape than a traditional cannabis beverage.
🧔 People
MedMen — Ana Bowman appointed as Permanent CFO. Bowman previously served as VP FP&A of Tilray Brands. Prior to joining Tilray, Bowman served as Corporate Controller of several publicly-traded U.S. registrants, following time at Ernst & Young and Deloitte.
Cresco Labs — Megan Kulick appointed SVP Investor Relations. Kulick has over 20 years of experience in investor relations, equity research, and portfolio management at bulge bracket U.S. banks and MSOs. Most recently, she led Investor Relations for AYR Wellness after serving as VP, Investor Relations at iAnthus. Prior to that she held several senior positions, including the role of SVP at PIMCO, Director at Merrill Lynch, and VP at JPMorgan Chase. Megan began her career at Merrill Lynch in Equity Research covering Telecommunications Services.
C3 Industries — Appoints John Moyers as VP Marketing. Moyers joins C3 from Harvest Health & Recreation. At C3, Moyers will create efficient organizational structures and KPIs for the marketing team while initiating go-to-market strategies for the company's consumer products, retail network and corporate brand. His key growth initiatives for the company include bringing digital solutions to the current marketing team, launching a new loyalty program for High Profile Cannabis Shop, creating a new brand for the Michigan greenhouse and spearheading activations for C3's Cloud Cover brand.
🎙️ Interviews
LEUNE CEO Nidhi Handa on Seeking Gender Parity and Social Equity in Cannabis
Dutchie CEO on where the Cannabis industry is headed in 2022
Level CEO Chris Emerson on Scientific Innovation & Effects-Based Cannabis
Cannabis Investing on the California Cannabis market with Emily Paxhia and Hirsh Jain
Poseiden Asset Management Co-Founder Emily Paxhia and Entourage Effect Founder Matt Hawkins discuss the likelihood of banks supporting marijuana businesses
Óskare Capital Partners explains why Europe is an untapped market
JourneyOne Ventures Helene Servillon on Investing in the Plant-Based Movement
Fire & Flower CEO Trevor Fencott on Leaning into Digital
Vangst CEO Karson Humiston on the company’s growth plans
👋 Highly Objective is curated by Dai Truong, who leads Cannabis Investment Banking at Arlington Capital Advisors. Third-party information presented here and links to third-party content are for informational purposes only and are not intended as a recommendation, offer or solicitation for the purchase or sale of any financial instrument, security or investment. The information provided is not warranted as to completeness or accuracy and is subject to change without notice. Linking to third-party sites in no way implies an endorsement or affiliation of any kind between Arlington Capital Advisors, LLC, or its affiliates and any third party. The information in this blog constitutes my own opinions (and any opinions posted by guest bloggers from time to time) and it should not be regarded as a description of services provided by Arlington Capital Advisors, LLC or any affiliate.