💰 LeafLink Raises $100M Series D. COO promoted to President & CEO, Hires New CTO
💰 LeafLink Raises $100M Series D. COO promoted to President & CEO, Hires New CTO
Ryan G. Smith named Executive Chairman, Artie Minson promoted to President and CEO, Karan Gupta hired as CTO, Zach Silverman transitions into Senior Advisor role.
NEW YORK, February 1, 2023 — LeafLink, the leading wholesale cannabis platform, announced it has secured a $100M Series D financing led by CPMG, L2 Ventures and Nosara Capital, alongside participation from existing investors. The investment will be funded in two tranches. LeafLink has implemented a series of executive leadership changes to drive the Company’s evolution.
Since its founding in 2016, LeafLink has grown to become a significant partner of brands and retailers in the legal cannabis industry, serving approximately 50% of the U.S. wholesale cannabis industry across 30 markets. The Series D investment enables LeafLink to support its customers’ evolving technology and operational needs through enhanced platform functionality.
LeafLink is evolving its executive leadership team with the following changes effective February 1, 2023:
Co-Founder & CEO Ryan G. Smith will be elevated to Executive Chairman. Smith will focus on long-term strategic initiatives, innovation, customer relationships, and government relations.
President & COO Artie Minson has been appointed President & CEO. Minson will oversee day-to-day strategy and execution of the business.
Karan Gupta has joined LeafLink as CTO. Gupta will lead the Company’s engineering efforts. Prior to joining LeafLink, Gupta served in technical leadership roles for more than a decade, most recently as CTO at Shift Technologies.
Co-Founder and current CTO Zach Silverman has transitioned into a Senior Advisor role. Silverman will continue providing counsel and guidance to LeafLink’s management team and Board of Directors.
“Despite recent headwinds, the cannabis industry is poised for significant growth in the years ahead. Since the Company’s inception, our team has built solutions that solve some of the industry’s most critical problems. The Series D financing provides us with a strong balance sheet that will enable continued innovation alongside our customers,” said Ryan G. Smith, Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors at LeafLink. “I’m proud to have served as CEO since LeafLink’s founding and am excited to transition into the role of Executive Chairman where I’ll remain deeply committed to LeafLink and the industry as a whole. I look forward to supporting and empowering the team in their roles.”
“I’m honored to serve as LeafLink’s next CEO and look forward to working with Ryan, our employees, and our Board of Directors as we continue to deliver best-in-class technology solutions for our customers. As states across the U.S. continue to legalize cannabis, we’re looking forward to growing our partnership with the industry. Our continued goal is to help brands and retailers scale their businesses while operating safely, efficiently and in compliance. Since joining the LeafLink team, I’ve been amazed at our team’s commitment and ability to deploy industry-first solutions for our customers. I’m incredibly excited about broadening our platform’s capabilities and deepening our customer relationships in the next phase of the Company’s growth,” said Artie Minson, incoming President and CEO of LeafLink.
About LeafLink
LeafLink, the cannabis industry’s leading B2B technology platform, is standardizing how thousands of brands, distributors, and retailers manage their operations. The Company’s industry-defining tools streamline the way legal cannabis businesses create, manage, pay for, and ship their orders. LeafLink’s marketplace currently processes approximately $5 billion in annual transactions, representing an estimated 50% of legal U.S. wholesale cannabis commerce.
LeafLink is backed by leading venture capital firms and strategic investors, including Casa Verde Capital, CPMG, Founders Fund, Interplay, L2 Ventures, Lerer Hippeau, Nosara Capital and Thrive Capital. LeafLink has raised more than $230 million of equity to date as well as a $250 million credit facility to provide liquidity to the cannabis supply chain.
Notes:
COO Artie Minson hired in March 2022. Previously founded 715 Capital Partners, which provides early-stage capital and advice on strategy and operations to technology-enabled subscription businesses. Other notable past roles include serving as co-CEO, President, COO and CFO of WeWork, CFO of Time Warner Cable, and COO and CFO of AOL
Payment solutions processed $1B+ in transactions since inception (September 2022) across 1,700 active operators and 27 markets; 12,000 companies (3,700+ brands) use the marketplace with 180,000+ products listed
$40M Series C1 led by Nosara Capital and L2 Ventures (June 2021); $40M Series C led by Founders Found (December 2020); $35M Series B led by Thrive Capital (August 2019); $17M Series A led by Nosara Capital (December 2017); $3M led by Lerer Hippeau Ventures (April 2017); $1M Seed from TIA Ventures, Brand New Matter and other undisclosed investors on (December 2015)
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