CULTIVATED: Canndescent lands new funding, social justice activists versus corporate cannabis, and more.

Advertisement
CULTIVATED: Canndescent lands new funding, social justice activists versus corporate cannabis, and more.

Cannabis

REUTERS/Ognen Teofilovski

A worker checks cannabis baby plants at a medical cannabis farm near Skopje, North Macedonia September 13, 2019.

Advertisement

Welcome to Cultivated, our weekly newsletter where we're bringing you an inside look at the deals, trends, and personalities driving the multibillion-dollar global cannabis boom. Sign up here to have it in your inbox every Friday.

Happy Friday,

Complimentary Tech Event
Transform talent with learning that works
Capability development is critical for businesses who want to push the envelope of innovation.Discover how business leaders are strategizing around building talent capabilities and empowering employee transformation.Know More

Let's dive right in. The spate of vape-related illnesses continues, with Missouri announcing the eighth death in the US on Thursday. The FDA is also launching a criminal probe into the matter, alongside the CDC's investigation. We're keeping you up to date on those developments here.

In other news, the embattled cannabis producer CannTrust had its growing license suspended by Health Canada, which regulates cannabis. The company has seen its shares drop more than 70% since the beginning of this year.

Advertisement

What else?

The US House of Representatives is set to vote on the SAFE Banking Act next week, a bill that would allow cannabis businesses to access commercial banking services, as early as next week. The bill has faced opposition from civil rights and cannabis advocacy groups including the Drug Policy Alliance, who are calling on the vote to be delayed until social justice provisions are included.

I also went to the Cannabis Private Investment Summit at the law firm Duane Morris's midtown Manhattan offices on Tuesday where we saw some of the same issues at play, albeit on the state level.

New York State Sen. Liz Krueger outlined the social justice case for legalizing cannabis in New York - in a room full of high net worth investors and cannabis execs - and laid out how limiting the number of licenses one company can possess in the state is crucial to her stated social justice goals. She also said she wants to provide a structure that would allow small, minority-owned startups enough access to capital to get their businesses off the ground.

We also scored a sit down with David Feldman, who leads Duane Morris's booming cannabis practice, and ex-Canopy Growth CEO Bruce Linton at the conference.

Advertisement

While the cannabis legalization movement has the same broad goal - the legalization of cannabis - it's fraying into two sides: activists who want social justice considered above industry-friendly legislation, and the increasingly well-capitalized cannabis companies and investors on the other side. We'll be watching how this plays out.

As Feldman told me in his office overlooking Times Square this week, "legislation is all about compromise."

-Jeremy

More stories from around the BI newsroom:

We got an exclusive look at the pitch deck the California cannabis company Canndescent used to raise $27.5 million as it muscles into new markets

The California cannabis company Canndescent has closed a $27.5 million Series C, led by Green Acre Capital. The funding round valued Canndescent at $200 million to $300 million, CEO Adrian Sedlin told me.

In an interview, Sedlin discussed the challenges of raising growth-stage capital in the cannabis industry.

We also got a hold of the deck Canndescent used to close a relatively large funding round in a tough environment for venture-backed plant-touching companies.

The New York State lawmaker who's leading the push to legalize marijuana just leveled a stark warning against vape makers

New York State Sen. Liz Krueger is spearheading the push to legalize marijuana in the state after her bill failed to earlier this year.

Krueger leveled a stark warning against THC vape manufacturers at an exclusive Manhattan conference for cannabis investors. She also outlined how social justice efforts are crucial to passing cannabis reform in New York state. It points to deepening conflict between legalization advocates and so-called 'corporate cannabis.'

The man who built Canopy Growth into the world's biggest cannabis grower before being ousted told us why he picked pet-food CBD and psychedelics for his next ventures

Bruce Linton, the former Canopy Growth CEO, is pursuing a number of new ventures, both inside and outside of the cannabis space.

He'll be taking on new positions as the executive chairman of Gage Cannabis Co., a Michigan dispensary chain; as a special adviser at Better Choice Co., a CBD-pet-food supplier; and as a director at Mind Medicine, a company developing psychedelic-based drugs for FDA approval.

Business Insider caught up with Linton on the sidelines of the Cannabis Private Investment Summit in midtown Manhattan.

Capital raises, M&A activity, partnerships, and launches

Executive moves

  • Trait Biosciences, a Toronto-based cannabinoid research firm, has formed a strategic advisory board with a number of seasoned executives. The board includes: Keith Levy, president of Mars Wrigley's Global Business Development where he led the multibillion-dollar investment in KIND Snacks, Pete Carr, president of Bacardi North America, Genève Stewart, VP of strategic sales at Coca-Cola.
  • Former MedReleaf VP Ivan Latysh joins Canadian cannabis cultivator Flowr as CTO. Flowr also brought on Laurence Levi as chief strategy officer and Francesco Tallarico as legal counsel.

Chart of the week

No chart in this edition. We're saving a great one for a story on cannabis bankers we're putting out next week...

Advertisement

Stories from around the web

Did I miss anything? Have a tip? Just want to chat? Send me a note at jberke@businessinsider.com or find me on twitter @jfberke.

Join Digital Health Pro

{{}}