The cannabis industry has taken off over the last few years as legalization sweeps across US states. Since 2011 venture capital investment in the cannabis space has gone from a tad more than $0 to $1.5B+ in 2019.
To keep an eye on the space as it continues to grow, we wanted to share what venture capitalists are active in the space. Visible Connect is our investor database. Connect allows founders to find active investors using the fields we have found most valuable, including:
- Check size — minimum, max, and sweet spot
- Investment Geography — where a firm generally invests
- Board Seat — Determines the chances that an investment firm will take a board of directors seat in your startup/company.
- Traction Metrics — Show what metrics the Investing firm looks for when deciding whether or not to invest in the given startup/company.
- Verified — Shows whether or not the Investment Firm information was entered first-handed by a member of the firm or confirmed the data.
- And more!
Related Resources: The Understandable Guide to Startup Funding Stages
What do cannabis investors want to see in a potential investment?
Finding the right investors to pitch to is a small part, yet crucial, part of a fundraise. Before building a list of potential investors, founders need to understand what potential investors are looking for in an investment. Check out a few of the most common attributes cannabis VCs look for below:
ROI potential
A VC fund’s job is to generate returns for its investors (LPs). In order to do this, they need to build a portfolio that has the ability to generate outsized returns. This means that VCs are looking for portfolio companies that have huge ROI potential and can return the fund to their investors.
Related Resource: A Quick Overview on VC Fund Structure
Scalability
Going hand in hand with ROI potential is the potential for scalability. By having a clear vision for scalability and growth, startups can stand out in the eyes of investors. The potential for growth is a signal to investors that they have the ability to generate huge returns.
High barriers to entry
Another aspect potential investors look for in a potential investment are barriers to entry. In competitive spaces, like the cannabis industry, investors want to see portfolio companies that have built high barriers to compete and take their market share.
Branding and vision
Investors will also want to see strong branding and vision from a cannabis startup. This is relevant for any startup but especially important for consumer-facing cannabis startups.
Related Resources: Private Equity vs Venture Capital: Critical Differences
Venture capital firms making cannabis investments
When fundraising, it is crucial that founders are spending time communicating with and pitching the right investors. In order to help founders get a start with finding cannabis investors, we used our free investor database, Visible Connect, to find 12 investors below:
KEY Investment Partners
KEY is a Denver-based capital venture firm positioned in the most established market of US cannabis. In addition to their +38 years of investing experience, KEY Investment Partners also produces a cannabis-focused blog (found HERE), which gives insight into current events impacting the legal cannabis industry.
To learn more about KEY Investment Partners check out their Visible Connect profile HERE.
CanopyBoulder
The Boulder, co-based venture capital firm is a staple with their 115+ investments (3 deals in the last 12 months) in the space. CanopyBoulder runs a number of programs for early-stage cannabis startups — “incubator and accelerator programs support growth-stage ancillary cannabis and hemp/CBD businesses with capital, strategic guidance and access to networks.”
To learn more about CanopyBoulder check out their Visible Connect profile HERE.
Base Ventures
Base Ventures is a Berkeley, CA-based venture fund led by Erik Moore. Base Ventures is a seed-stage fund that invests across all verticals of tech companies — with a % of those being in cannabis companies. Erik and his team have made over 100 venture investments with the most recent cannabis investment being in late 2019.
To learn more about Base Ventures check out their Visible Connect profile HERE.
Entourage Effect Capital
Entourage Effect is one of the largest players in the cannabis industry. They have allocated over $200M into 65+ companies since 2014. Their three managing partners, Matt Hawkins, Andy Sturner, and Dov Szapiro, have a combined 65+ years of venture experience and are not planning on slowing down anytime soon.
To learn more about Entourage Effect Capital check out their Visible Connect profile HERE.
Lizada Capital
Lizada Capital closely follows the legalization and opportunity involving cannabis. They have invested anywhere from $10,000 to $1M in cannabis transactions and are constantly on the lookout. Led by Steven Trenk, Lizada believes they are in a position to blossom into one of our generation’s best opportunities.
To learn more about Lizada Capital check out their Visible Connect profile HERE.
HALLEY Venture Partners
HALLEY Venture Partners has been focused on the cannabis sector for the past five years. The San Francisco-based firm is led by Steve Schuman, who has over 17 years of private and public equity experience, ranging across agriculture, technology, and manufacturing. HALLEY is heavily geared toward the technology sector of cannabis and is looking to build highly-scalable businesses.
To learn more about Base Ventures check out their Visible Connect profile HERE.
Related Resource: 14 Venture Capital Firms in Silicon Valley Driving Startup Growth
Green Lion Partners
Green Lion Partners looks to invest in early-stage ventures throughout the entire cannabis industry. The Denver-based business, founded by Jeffrey Zucker and Michael Bologna, looks to “elevate public perception of the cannabis industry.”
To learn more about Green Lion Partners check out their Visible Connect profile HERE.
Salveo Capital
Salveo Capital is focused on creating long term cannabis companies and focuses on empowering the entrepreneurs in charge. Michael Gruber (managing partner) has been involved in the early stage investing environment for 25 years, focusing on tech, finance, and agriculture. Jeffrey Howard (managing partner) has spent 21 years on Wall Street and has become both an advisor and investor of cannabis-based firms.
To learn more about Salveo Capital check out their Visible Connect profile HERE.
Archytas Ventures
Archytas invests between $1,000,000 to $25,000,000 into cannabis-focused companies. With offices in New York and Los Angeles, Archytas have led previous Series A, B, and C investments. Archytas Ventures is led by David Kivitz and Antony Radbod, who are looking for strong management teams supported by cash flow and enterprise value.
To learn more about Archytas Ventures check out their Visible Connect profile HERE.
Phyto Partners
Phyto Partners invests in a plethora of different cannabis-based businesses, including SaaS, Data, Biotech, Advertising, and more. The investing firm is led by Larry Schnurmacher, who has invested in 25 private, cannabis businesses over the past five years. Phyto invests more than just capital into the 30+ businesses they have lent help to.
To learn more about Phyto Partners check out their Visible Connect profile HERE.
CJV Capital
CJV Capital believes that the industry of cannabis is the smallest it will ever be. CJV has proved to lead seed investments in the past and is constantly looking for “smart people solving difficult problems” across the entire cannabis industry.
To learn more about Base Ventures check out their Visible Connect profile HERE.
Altitude Investment Management
Altitude Capital Partners is a leading private investment firm focused on investing $250 million of capital in businesses that own compelling intellectual property assets. They seek to invest in portfolio companies that have valuable patents, trademarks/brands, copyrights, royalty streams, trade secrets, and other intangible assets which will create a competitive advantage in creating value.
To learn more about Altitude Investment Management, check out their Visible Connect profile HERE.
To view cannabis-based VCs and over 11,000 other global VCs, visit Visible Connect!
Find cannabis venture capital investors with Visible
As we mentioned above, finding the right investors to pitch to for a fundraise is crucial to success. Founders need to make sure they are spending their time on the right investors. In order to best help founders filter and find the right investors for their business we built Visible Connect, our free investor database. Give Visible Connect a try here.
Related Resource: 10 Angel Investors to Know in Los Angeles
