Welcome to Insider Cannabis.AP Photo/Steven Senne, File
Welcome to Insider Cannabis, our weekly newsletter where we're bringing you an inside look at the deals, trends, and personalities driving the multibillion-dollar global cannabis boom.
Never a dull week in the cannabis (and psychedelics industry). The biggest headline news this week is Atai's monstrous $157 million raise. CEO Florian Brand told Yeji the company is "doubling down" on its strategy - you can read her report here.
Beyond that, I asked Jason Wild of JW Asset Management for his top cannabis picks for 2021. In short, he's bullish on US cannabis.
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And last, I had the chance to chat with five-time NBA All-Star Chris Webber about his new $100 million cannabis equity fund and his push to make cannabis more inclusive from the start.
"I don't know of any other industry where this type of vested interest has been made to make change," Webber told me. "It hasn't been in tech - tech is lucrative. It damn sure wasn't in cotton, it wasn't in transportation."
Just months after breaking the record for the largest funding round in the psychedelics field, Atai Life Sciences has raised another $157 million to continue to develop treatments for mental illnesses like depression, addiction, and anxiety. CEO Florian Brand told Insider the money will be used to "double down" on the company's strategy.
His hedge fund, JW Asset Management, returned over 146% in 2020 - buoyed by significant investments in the cannabis industry. In an interview, Wild shared the six cannabis stocks he's betting on, including Trulieve and TerrAscend, Green Thumb Industries, and more.
Former five-time NBA All-Star Chris Webber has a new mission: Helping minority entrepreneurs access the economic boom created by the wave of cannabis legalization sweeping the US.
Webber is launching a $100 million fund to invest in Black and other minority cannabis entrepreneurs. He told Insider he has a unique opportunity to ensure that the cannabis industry is inclusive from the start.
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Executive Moves
Private MSO Parallel announced on Monday that Walgreen's veteran Jeremy Kunicki would be coming aboard as the company's new CFO.
California cannabis distributor HERBL said on Wednesday that it had appointed Chemistry Holdings founder Josh Held as chief strategy officer.
Green Thumb Industries is partnering with Cann, a startup that makes low dose THC and CBD beverages, to distribute Cann products in legal states across the US.
OTC-listed cannabis company MariMed closed a $46 million financing facility with Hadron Healthcare Fund to help repay the company's debt, among other goals.
Legalization in South Dakota appears in trouble after facing opposition from Gov. Kristi Noem and other lawmakers. In February, South Dakota's attorney general abandoned his effort to defend the voter-approved bill. On Thursday, the state's House State Affairs Committee voted to kill the current version of the bill.
Marijuana and methamphetamine seizures plummeted in the early part of the pandemic, according to a study in the journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence. Those seizures peaked in August 2020, pointing to how the illicit drug supply chain shifts.
Chart of the week
Psychedelics companies saw a rush of private funding in 2020, according to data from CB Insights. In 2020, private psychedelics startups raised $448 million globally, compared to just $95 million in 2019. Insider rounded up the 14 psychedelics startups that raised the most capital in 2020:
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