News & Media

Many marijuana companies seeking capital are expected to find limited pickings and costly terms this year, providing little relief from 2022, when the amount of money ponied up by investors tumbled.

Without much meaningful development concerning legalization efforts in 2022, many sobering themes likely will carry over into 2023.

The fourth and final installment of our 2023 Cannabis Industry Predictions series covers international cannabis policy, legalization, finance, fintech, and cannabis industry real estate. ‍

The regulated cannabis market has heated up over the past couple of years. During the pandemic, cannabis sales increased by 46%, and it is certainly not slowing down any time soon

Check out this great #interview with co-founder Emily Paxhia in the Green Market Report's Women's History Spotlight. Emily Paxhia is a super power for sure!

Tune in to hear the Flowhub origin story and their path in the #cannabis#tech space! It’s a good listen. Kyle Sherman

U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) introduced legislation today to decriminalize cannabis at the federal level, offering Republicans a more conservative approach to legalization which proposes taxing and regulating it more like alcohol. From a legislative timing perspective, the bill doesn’t make sense to be released now other than to pressure Schumer and Democrats to step up after they failed with federal cannabis reform of any kind in 2021. The announcement of the bill gave the cannabis industry and markets something to get excited about after being left out to dry by the Democrats this year.

When we started Poseidon back in 2013 we had no data, no benchmarks for valuations, and a very limited opportunity set. We truly had a blank canvas as we went about investing our first fund. We tried to focus on good teams and areas of the industry we felt were essential to building what would become the fast growing, multibillion dollar industry it is today.

We look forward to seeing more of the active and cannabis investors this fall at industry events such as MJUnpacked & MJ Biz Con in October. Be well, stay safe and keep a weather eye out for the turns.

Two weeks ago, Poseidon held its first ever virtual GreenShoots(™) pitch forum. The event brought together 80 accredited investors to preview five hand-picked cannabis companies chosen by our team to represent areas of opportunity in the industry.

On August 31, we're bringing top cannabis companies together with accredited #investors during the Poseidon #GreenShoots Pitch Forum.

If you’re a cannabis entrepreneur and founder, you may be familiar with the dichotomies of startup life — Feeling energized, and completely taxed; In control, yet fully engulfed in chaos; Rising up to drive a vision, while being dragged back down into the weeds.

When we started Poseidon back in 2013 we had no data, no benchmarks for valuations, and a very limited opportunity set. We truly had a blank canvas as we went about investing our first fund. We tried to focus on good people and areas of the industry we felt were essential to building what would become the fast growing, multibillion dollar industry it is today.

The cannabis industry is real. Yes, it is still emerging. Yes, cannabis is still federally illegal. But things have changed dramatically in the 7 years since we launched our first professionally managed investment funds. Here are just a few reasons why we believe cannabis is still the right industry to invest in today.

The cannabis industry is at an inflection point. Essential-business status created an unexpected leap in new consumer adoption. Sales were up 40% in 2020. The results appear in nearly every sector but are most visible in the quarterly reports of the publicly traded multi-state operators (“MSOs”). Green Thumb Industries’ sales were up 133% and CuraLeaf’s sales were up 200% in the LTM as of Q4 2020.

We knew we would see a wave of company failures, divesting of assets, and consolidation due to the lack of profitability and the inability to access capital. We also knew that we would see the long-term industry leaders emerge from the ashes of this cannabis capital crunch like they have in so many other industries during dire times.‍

A typical investment process has some variation of the following 6 stages: 1.Sourcing, 2. Screening, 3. Preliminary due diligence, 4. Term sheet, 5. Final due diligence, 6. Closing. One stage leads to the next. Once an investment is screened, it proceeds to the preliminary due diligence stage. A term sheet is typically offered in between the preliminary and final due diligence stages, and that’s when negotiations usually begin. This is intentional because it sets the zone of possible agreement (ZOPA) early and indicates the possibility of reaching an agreement before investing more time and resources into a deal.

And why we believe Cannabis is the Greatest GAARP (Growth at a Reasonable Price) Story of a Generation.

When fundraising, it’s important to consider the different ways that investors are contemplating their potential participation in your company. This may dictate whether you feel that you should raise venture capital (VC) from a fund, or rather focus on raising financing from family, friends, and potentially, angel investors. As investors, we would rather demystify the objectives of a VC investor and have clear alignment with founders from inception.

My brother Morgan has idolized Buffett since he started investing in his E-Trade account with his landscaping money in his early teens. He was spending a lot at the fuel pump that summer, so first thing he bought? Chevron. When we went to Omaha on a diligence trip in 2015, Morgan was certain to get a drive by his house and wanted to know more about his life.

Many have already heard our origin story of losing both our parents to cancer within 5 years’ time and how that led us to believing in cannabis and investing in the industry.What we haven’t shared as much, is our point of view in life and business because of these unfortunate losses.