🖥️ Jane Technologies $100M Series C

Ayr Wellness 5% Share Buyback. Jushi – $47.7M Q2 Revenue. Trulieve opens 100th Dispensary. Curaleaf opens 109th dispensary. GAGE extends Licensing Agreement with COOKIES in Michigan.

Aug 26, 2021

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🌿Industry

High priority: Kathy Hochul vows to launch NY’s legal marijuana industry Cuomo stalled on. Gov. Kathy Hochul vowed that getting New York’s budding marijuana sales program off the ground will be a high priority. Hochul on Wednesday promised to clear the logjam. “Nominating and confirming individuals with diverse experiences and subject matter expertise, who are representative of communities from across the state, to the Cannabis Control Board is a priority for Gov. Hochul,” the new governor’s spokesman, Jordan Bennett, told The Post.

💵Deals

Jane Technologies — $100M Series C Led by Honor Ventures.

The round was led by Honor Ventures with participation from Third Point Ventures, Gotham Green Partners, L2 Ventures, Delta Emerald Ventures and Artemis Growth Partners. Jane previously raised $30 million in funding, bringing the total amount of capital raised to roughly $130 million. Honor Ventures (ex-Softbank) Founding Managing Partner Jeffery Housenbold joined the board. Jane Technologies expects to use the additional capital to grow its digital footprint and its teams across multiple areas of operations. The company intends to build new features and expand its product offering for large and small cannabis operations. According to CEO Socrates Rosenfeld, in 2019, Jane saw $100 million in total transactional volume, with one million people on the platform, and worked with 1,000 dispensaries. In 2021, the company forecasts it will reach $3.5 billion in total transactional volume and is now working with 2,100 dispensaries, including in Canada. Even more impressive, the company has nearly doubled the number of products listed on its product database, with 700,000 items, up from 350,000, showing a dramatic increase in cannabis products available to the consumer.

RIV Capital — closes $150 million strategic investment by The Hawthorne Collective. With approximately C$400 million in available capital, and taking into account certain restrictions relating to the proceeds from the Investment, RIV Capital plans to acquire, invest in, launch, and/or develop U.S. operators and brands across financially and strategically attractive states to create a multistate platform. The Company has potential near-term prospects and is engaged in discussions regarding one or more transactions that would kickstart its U.S. strategy. The Company then plans to continue building out its platform, with a focus on acquisitions of and investments in brands and plant-touching operators in limited license states and other states of strategic interest. The Company anticipates that the Investment will provide additional resources and flexibility to accelerate its go-forward strategy by pursuing parallel opportunities or acquisition targets.

HEXO — Shareholders Overwhelmingly Approve Redecan Transaction and Senior Secured Convertible Note Financing Share Reserve. The Company will acquire Redecan in exchange for $400 million to be paid in cash in addition to the issuance of 69,721,116 Common Shares.

📄Company Updates / Earnings

Jushi — Second Quarter 2021 Financial Results

Total revenue of $47.7M, up 14.6% sequentially and 219.7% year-over-year
Gross profit of $21.9M, up 9.2% sequentially and 193.7% year-over-year
Net income of $4.8M, a $31.6M sequential improvement, was primarily driven by an increase in revenue, gross profit and a gain on fair value derivative liabilities
Adjusted EBITDA of $4.6 million, or 9.6% of revenue
$126.8 million of cash and short-term investments, as of June 30, 2021

Ayr Wellness — 5% Share Buyback, the Maximum Allowed for CSE Listed Companies; Reaffirms 2022 Outlook. Jonathan Sandelman, CEO of Ayr Wellness, said, “We have said time and again that our stock is significantly undervalued, and we are drawing a line under that statement with today’s share repurchase announcement. We expect this program to be used opportunistically and to commence immediately. We could not be more pleased with the current state of our operations and continue to invest in our company’s explosive growth, as evidenced by our raise in revenue guidance just last week. We continue to invest in and build our business, both organically and through M&A, and this repurchase program allows us to also invest in the exceptional value that our own shares represent. The Share repurchase program will in no way interfere with our ambitious growth plans to enter new markets and/or complete our current capital projects. With more than $120 million of cash on our balance sheet and debt markets that are extremely attractive and open to us, we are confident in our ability to deliver on our stated goals and meet our 2022 guidance of $800 million in revenue and $300 million in Adjusted EBITDA.”

GAGE — Extension of Licensing Agreement with COOKIES in Michigan. The amended licensing agreement with Cookies will extend its exclusive partnership for another two years on top of the original five-year exclusivity and will introduce "Cookies Corners", a store-within-a-store concept to the state of Michigan. The deal provides Gage and Cookies with full coverage of the Michigan market, with a target goal of opening 12 Cookies branded retail dispensaries and Cookies Corners in all Gage stores by the end of 2024. The Company expects that this extension will establish Michigan as the strongest Cookies market outside of California.

Hollister Biosciences — 30-Acre Arizona Brand Campus with planned 700,000 square feet of cultivation area and an existing 28,500-square-foot processing and manufacturing facility. A wholly owned subsidiary of the Company has entered a 5-year lease with 3 subsequent options to renew and the option to purchase the Hollister Brand Campus, including the surrounding ~30 acres of land. The Hollister Brand Campus will provide low-cost inputs for the Venom Extracts suite of products and provide ample opportunities to expand product diversity. Hollister will have the opportunity to purchase the Hollister Brand Campus throughout the duration of the lease. The Hollister Brand Campus dramatically increases the Company's position in Arizona and epitomizes its continued focus on acquiring, developing and powering leading cannabis consumer products. With the new facility, Hollister can partner with like-minded brands and aspiring entrepreneurs to support the development and distribution of their products throughout Arizona. The outdoor Undeveloped Land will be developed in phases, including various low-cost cultivation methods and additional processing buildings. The Company currently produces Concentrates, Pre-Rolls and Tinctures, and is analyzing new product segments.

🏬Retail

Trulieve — Opening of 100th Dispensary. Trulieve opened two new dispensaries in Boynton Beach and Port Orange, Florida. Boynton Beach will be the Company's 99th location and Port Orange will be its 100th nationwide. The new dispensaries are the company's 89th and 90th Florida locations.

Curaleaf— Bordentown, NJ Location, the company's 109th dispensary nationwide. The Company also announced the launch of its Select brand in New Jersey, expanding the brand's reach to 19 states. Select Bites, which feature the brand's award-winning, concentrated broad-spectrum oil and science-based formulations that offer precise, consistent cannabis experiences for any occasion, are now available at all Curaleaf New Jersey locations. Curaleaf Bordentown is a 9,546 square foot dispensary located at 191 Route 130, and is the second location that Curaleaf has opened in the state this year. All three of Curaleaf's New Jersey dispensaries are strategically positioned near the New York and Pennsylvania borders, allowing the Company to better serve the growing East Coast adult-use market. In June, Curaleaf started serving patients at Curaleaf Edgewater Park and announced that it had tripled its cultivation capabilities with its new facility in Winslow Township.

Verano — MÜV Orange City, FL. This is Verano’s 37th Florida dispensary and the Company’s 85th nationwide. The new MÜV Orange City storefront sits just off U.S. Route 17 on Enterprise Road—a high traffic retail corridor that sees over 23,000 cars per day, according to the Florida Department of Transportation. This is the 6th MÜV Dispensary in Florida with a drive-through for express order pickup.

Jushi — Opens 21st BEYOND / HELLO™ Retail Location Nationwide, 14th Store in Pennsylvania and Third in the City of Philadelphia Through its Subsidiary Agape Total Health Care. The Company also plan to open four additional locations in the Commonwealth by year end through our subsidiaries.

🧔People | 💻Hiring

Hill Street Beverage Company — COO Resigns, Adds Bowen Hou as Director of Beverage Strategy and Development. Bowen will focus on the growth and development of its beverage businesses: alcohol-free Vin(Zero) and cannabis infused (V)ia Regal. At Humble + Fume, Bowen was responsible for branding, marketing, sales and distribution through provincial cannabis boards across Canada. At Zenabis, he led the Namaste and Re Up brands. At PepsiCo, Bowen drove retail merchandising, data analytics and shopper marketing efforts, which are critical skills for Hill Street's business growth across the globe. The Company also announces that June Nicholson has resigned as COO.

AYR Wellness — Corporate Communications / Investor Relations Associate (NYC). Responsible for operational and analytical projects to support activities for the Investor Relations and Corporate Communications departments. Examples include maintaining and updating investor documentation, investor decks, investor-focused and market-related analysis, communication and scheduling with external analysts, reporters, and investors. The Analyst will also contribute to the company’s quarterly earnings cycle, annual reports, board presentations, investor and corporate website, and social media accounts.

🎙️Interviews

Cannabis Investors Need A Strong Stomach & A Long View

Cronos-Backed Private MSO PharmaCann Eyes Western Cannabis Markets Ahead of Potential IPO

Benzinga Cannabis Hour — Verano Earnings w/ CIO Aaron Miles

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