As more states voted to legalize some form of marijuana last year, pot sales have gone through the roof. An ArcView market research pegs 2016 sales for legal weed at $6.9 billion, a whopping 34% jump over the previous year. And this trend is unlikely to slow down. (Read also: Legal Weed Market to Triple in 5 Years)
And that’s where investors smell an opportunity. Legalization opened doors for many businesses, especially start-ups dabbling in the data and technology aspects of legal marijuana. While it is still difficult to invest directly in legal pot through public equities, venture capital firms and private equity funds have raised hundreds of millions of investment dollars.
Privateer Holdings
Famously backed by Peter Thiel’s Founder’s Fund, this private equity firm became the first in the cannabis business to cross the $100 million mark in fundraising as it closed a $40 million round last year. Since its founding in 2010, Privateer has raised $122 million. Its portfolio includes medical marijuana producer Tilray, Bob Marley’s marijuana brand Marley Natural and Leafly, often called the ‘Yelp’ of the pot world.
Tuatara Capital
Founded in 2014, this private equity company has plenty to spend in the cannabis space. In August 2016, the Wall Street Journal reported that Tuatara had raised $93 million to invest into the marijuana business, exceeding its own $80 million target. It is currently the lead investor in singer Willie Nelson’s cannabis brand Willie’s Reserve and also backs TeeWinot Life Sciences, a biopharmaceutical company specializing in production of cannabinoids.
MedMen Capital
This venture capital firm is a part of the larger MedMen group which also dabbles in consultancy for the cannabis business. For the investment business, MedMen partnered with Wicklow Capital, founded by former GETCO founders. The MedMen Opportunity Fund launched at $100 million AUM last year and according to SEC filings, as of January 2017, it has grown an additional $30 million.
These other funds have made headway or announced fundraising efforts in the cannabis space.
Poseidon Asset Management
Poseidon Asset Management was founded in 2013 by siblings Morgan and Emily Paxhia. According to SEC filings, the fund declared $7 million in assets as of December 2015. The company invests in areas like agricultural technology, SaaS solutions and Data Analytics for the pot industry.
Salveo Capital
Chicago-based Venture Capital firm Salveo just announced its first investments: Washington-based cannabis data analytics company Headset and biotechnology company Front Range Biosciences. The company had declared a $25 million offering last year, but SEC filings show it has so far managed to garner only $1.69 million.
Casa Verde
This venture capital firm boasts of another high profile backer—Snoop Dogg. The company announced that it was looking for investors for a $25 million fund in 2015. The fund currently is invested in California-based Eaze, that is sometimes referred to as the ‘Uber’ of the marijuana business, and a Colorado-based pot packaging solutions company called FunkSac.
Phyto Partners
This venture capital fund is focused on data and technology businesses for the cannabis industry. In 2015, it announced a $10 million fund that according to the last SEC filing had received $2.2 million. Crunchbase data reveals that the portfolio for Boca Raton, Florida-based firm includes data analytics firm New Frontier, growing solutions firm Grownetics and Leaf, a company that offers for cannabis.