It’s time for your Daily Hit of cannabis financial news for December 12, 2019.
On the Site
Cresco Labs Shores Up Its Balance Sheet, Sells Property for $50 Million
The Illinois-based Cresco Labs (CSE: CL) (OTCQX: CRLBF) is looking to shore up its balance sheet by selling off one of its properties. Today the company announced that it would sell its Lincoln, Illinois cultivation facility to GreenAcreage Real Estate Corp. (GreenAcreage), for $50 million. Though Cresco is technically selling the property, which is still under construction, the company has entered into a triple-net lease agreement with GreenAcreage and will continue operating on the property as a licensed medical & recreational cannabis cultivation and processing facility.
Industry Power Women Awards Three During MJBiz Conference
The women’s cannabis networking organization known as Industry Power Women joined forces with Accelerate Cannabis during the 2019 MJ Biz Conference to recognize three individuals and their efforts within the cannabis industry. During the Mid-Atlantic Mixer, Saphira Galoob, Erica Daniels and Kristin Jordan each received engraved crystal awards in recognition of their work.
In Other News
MedMen Enterprises
MedMen Enterprises Inc. (CSE: MMEN) (OTCQX: MMNFF) announced the execution of several financing agreements. First, the company executed a term sheet for a non-brokered offering of subordinate voting shares worth $27 million, which is expected to close on or around December 18, 2019. MedMen also announced an amendment to the terms of a senior secured convertible credit facility arranged by Gotham Green Partners, securing an additional $10 million in funding. In addition to the two financing agreements, the company executed a binding term sheet in respect of certain amendments to the definitive agreements for the $78 million senior secured term loan, which is expected to mature on January 31, 2022.
Columbia Care Inc. (NEO: CCHW) (OTCQX: CCHWF) (FSE: 3LP) today signed a definitive agreement for its first sale-leaseback with NewLake Capital, valued at $35 million. The agreement involves six properties across three states (California, Illinois, and Massachusetts), and totals approximately 127,000 square feet of space. The transaction includes a dispensary in San Diego, California; a dispensary in Chicago, Illinois; dispensaries in Greenfield and Lowell, Massachusetts; and two cultivation and manufacturing facilities in Lowell, Massachusetts and Aurora, Illinois. “As our markets come on-line and mature, we intend to demonstrate the power and scale of our economic model by generating positive cashflow at the individual product, facility and market levels, as well as on a consolidated basis,” said Nicholas Vita, Chief Executive Officer of Columbia Care.
The women’s cannabis networking organization known as Industry Power Women joined forces with Accelerate Cannabis during the 2019 MJ Biz Conference to recognize three individuals and their efforts within the cannabis industry. During the Mid-Atlantic Mixer, Saphira Galoob, Erica Daniels and Kristin Jordan each received engraved crystal awards in recognition of their work.
IPW 2019 Influencer Of The Year – Saphira Galoob
Saphira Galoob is DC-based lawyer and lobbyist and the founder and CEO of The Liaison Group (TLG) – the first and what remains the only – Washington, DC-based lobbying firm focused exclusively on federal policy impacting the cannabis industry. Earlier this year, she formed the National Cannabis Roundtable, and now serves as the Executive Director and the Senior Policy Advisor. In addition to the Roundtable, her firm represents the California Cannabis Industry Association, the Oregon Cannabis Association, and Pura Vida Investments. She works closely with the House and Senate Caucus Working Groups and served as the Industry Co-Chair for the Subcommittee on Banking. She was recently named by Politico “Who to know on K Street” in Cannabis.
IPW 2019 Rising Star of the Year – Erica Daniels
Erica Daniels is the mother of a child with autism who is determined to give her son and family the highest quality of life possible. Erica’s life changed and gained a new purpose when her son was diagnosed with autism in 2007. After years of traveling the country seeing specialists, exasperating dozens of treatments for years with little or no success, Erica eventually discovered that natural treatments such as diet and medical cannabis dramatically improved the quality of life for her son and her entire family as a result. Erica Daniels is an internationally recognized medical cannabis activist, autism advocate, author, public speaker, and devoted mother.
IPW 2019 Mover & Shaker – Kristin Jordan
Kristin Jordan is the Director of Real Estate at Acreage Holdings. In that role, Kristin leads Acreage’s efforts with regard to selecting real estate sites for the company’s national footprint of cultivation, processing, and dispensary facilities, managing brokerage relationships, and negotiating and administering leases.
Prior to joining Acreage, Kristin was Senior Counsel in the Cannabis Practice Group at Greenspoon Marder. Earlier, she practiced real estate law at several boutique firms and was Real Estate Director at Kaplan, Inc., SoulCycle and other companies. Kristin’s passion for advancing cannabis reform has extended to a variety of professional and non-profit endeavors. She was the Founder of Mannada, a NYC-based cannabis professional event production company, which launched The Maze, a cannabis event listing newsletter, as well as industry events including the Cannabis Media Summit and Cannabis Law Summit. Kristin is also a co-founder of the NYC-based non-profit Cannabis Cultural Association and the Asian Cannabis Roundtable. Additionally, Kristin serves as a member of the New York State Bar Association Committee on Cannabis, the Minority Cannabis Business Association Policy Committee, and the National Cannabis Industry Association Diversity and Inclusion Committee.
During the massive gathering of cannabis industry leaders at Marijuana Business Conference & Expo in Las Vegas, Nevada, the leading women came together to honor the achievements of their peers. The 2nd Annual Industry Power Women Awards, the ceremony aimed to recognize the accomplishments of women in the cannabis industry; from entrepreneurs and investors to influencers and advocates, commenced.
IPW was founded in 2017 and is an organization established to help advance female businesswomen in cannabis. IPW aims to elevate and empower female entrepreneurship within the cannabis industry by creating a support network of like-minded individuals.
Attending the invite-only ceremony was an assortment of women from across the industry and all walks of life. These women include founders, CEOs, C-suite executives, trade organization leaders and community organizers.
Green Market Report co-founder and CEO, Debra Borchardt, and managing partner of KCSA Strategic Communications as well as the founder of AxisWire, Cynthia Salarizadeh acted as hostesses for the event. The first to take home an award was Kristin Hope for the Rising Star Award. At just 15 years old, Hope became the first person to launch a pharmaceutical grade hemp beauty line, HOOP, and was most recently nominated for the Bell scholarship.
The next award recipient was Gaynell Rogers, who won Influencer of the Year. As one of the most respected voices in public relations, Rogers has worked with some of the best and brightest in the cannabis industry; including Harborside Health’s Co-Founder Steve DeAngelo.
Outside of the cannabis industry, Rogers is also known for her work as the senior publicist for Lucasfilm and the Head of Feature Film Publicity at Pixar for the first “Incredibles” and “Cars.”
For her outstanding work as a cannabis advocate, Amy T. Margolis was granted the 2018 Leadership Award. Margolis is the founder of the Oregon Cannabis Association, which is one of the largest trade organizations in the cannabis industry.
Most recently, Margolis was also named by Cannabis Business Executive (CBE) as one of the 2017’s 100 Most Powerful Political People in Cannabis and one of the 50 Most Important Women in Cannabis in both 2016 and 2017.
Taking the prize for Advocate of the Year was Wanda James. As an outspoken political voice and serial entrepreneur, James has been honored by High Times Magazine as one of the 100 Most Influential People in Cannabis and was also named as one of the 50 Most Important Women in the Cannabis Industry by CBE.
Emily Paxhia, co-founder and Managing Partner of Poseidon Asset Management, was named IPW’s Investor of the Year. Throughout her career, Paxhia has reviewed thousands of cannabis companies and has always taken the time to uplift promising female entrepreneurs by helping them shape their pitch preparations, go-to-market strategies/ product launches, and advised on day-to-day business operations.
Taking the Industry Power Women top honor of 2018 Business Woman of the Year was Jessica Billingsley. Billingsley is the Co-Founder and CEO of MJ Freeway Business Solutions; a technology company that provides software solutions to cannabis firms, as well as small-business, consulting services and application license support. In addition to her entrepreneurial accomplishments, Billingsley has also been named to Fortune Magazine’s list of Top 10 Most Promising Women Entrepreneurs.
Following the ceremony, many of the attendees would later recount with exuberance how empowered the event made them feel. For many, this event stood out as one of the few places where they could be with other women and talk about their trade. In an industry that continues to be dominated by men, that matters; and it only serves to highlight the continued relevance, and need, for ceremonies like the Industry Power Women Awards.
Part 1 of 8 2018 Cannabis Trends: Female leadership on the rise.
They say the future is female, and there are few places where that is more apparent than in the cannabis industry. Once thought of as a male-dominated industry, women have quickly claimed their place as leaders in this burgeoning industry.
According to Marijuana Business Daily, women make up approximately 27% of C-Suite level positions in the cannabis industry, which doesn’t sound like much until you realize that the national average is only 23%. What is unsettling, is that in 2015 women held 36% of executive control. That is almost a 10% loss of leadership positioning in less than 3 years.
As the market matures, and continues to begin attracting more institutional capital, female entrepreneurs will have to work at keeping the industry a level playing field. And collectively, that is what the trends reveal that they are doing.
For women in cannabis, it has become a badge of honor to know that within their new burgeoning industry ready to take the globe by storm, they hold the largest percentage of ownership, management and control of any industry in the world for their gender. Therefore upon recognition of the possibility of losing that title, the women have begun to band together and work toward the goal of making cannabis the first industry in the world to achieve 50% female control.
When you drill down into specific segments of the cannabis industry, you start to see even more women in leadership positions.
For example, among cannabis dispensaries, women make up approximately 35% C-Suite level positions. That number rises even higher for ancillary cannabis brands, of which women comprise approximately 42% of executive level positions. Canadian medical cannabis company Tilray has the first female majority board of directors in the industry.
But the board room is not the only place in the cannabis industry where women are shining. Over the last few years, there has been a groundswell in the number of cannabis industry organizations made for and by women.
Perhaps the most well-known industry group for women in the cannabis industry is Women Grow. Founded in 2014 by cannabis personality Jane West, the group’s original goal was to help make the cannabis industry the first women-led billion dollar industry.
When initially launched,Women Grow was massively successful and soon dozens of chapters began sprouting up all across the country. But in recent years the organization has run into trouble; chapters have been closing and key leaders have left. Women Grow is currently in a transitional period. Hopes for a healthy, strong future have become possible for the organization with a new leadership team in place. However, the obstacles that Women Grow have faced has not stopped others from stepping in and helping to fill the void.
There are credible organizations that were created to help women in the cannabis industry in a general capacity, such asEllementa, andIndustry Power Women (IPW), that specifically bridge the gap between female entrepreneurs and the resources they require to succeed in business. Other organizations have been created to specifically help women of color, likeSupernova Women andWomen Abuv Ground.
In addition, women have come together and organized their efforts, creating groups that promote support, collaboration and solidarity. These networks are being forged through platforms like Facebook. The most popular one,Women Entrepreneurs in Cannabis, spearheaded byKadin Academy and the creator ofCannabiz Connection, provides an exclusive environment for industry-specific discussions. Members of the network are approved for inclusion based on a set of criteria intended to keep the group focused and beneficial to women in cannabis business.
IPW has developed a multi-media production series in partnership withBenzinga andDCN Media titled the “Wonder Women of Weed.” This series highlights the most accomplished and exceptional women in the cannabis industry, and has been featured onYahoo Finance,Entrepreneur, CNN Money and other mass media outlets. Furthermore, Entrepreneur Magazine’s new cannabis focused publication,Green Entrepreneur, now has a regular column titled “Women In Green.”
Conferences and events geared specifically towards connecting and advancing a sense of camaraderie among women in the cannabis industry have increased significantly since the beginning of 2018. Workshops such as those conducted by theCannabis Women’s Empowerment Society are frequently conducted to help women navigate operation of all aspects in running a cannabis business.
On the consumer side of the cannabis industry, women are also starting to take center stage. One survey by theCannabis Consumers Coalition found that 53% of respondents were women, compared to 42% for men. Although the survey did not provide a complete snapshot of cannabis, it nonetheless underscores the growing importance of women as cannabis consumers.
This growing importance has also given rise to an explosion of women-centered cannabis brands. A great example isGarden Society, which offers low-dose, high-end edible cannabis products for women. There are also brands likeTreat Yourself,Moxie Meds,Kikoko, Quim Rock,Mary Jane’s Medicinals,Strain Print,Baked at Home, and the list goes on. Perhaps the most famous cannabis brand for women is Whoopi Goldberg’s line of medical cannabis products designed to help provide relief from menstrual discomfort,Whoopi & Maya.
Not only are there a growing number of women-oriented cannabis brands, there’s also a huge uptick in the number of investment opportunities for women. Since its founding in 2011,Pipeline Angels has helped more than 50 female-owned companies raise more than $5 million. Other services, likeEllevest, help provide the tools and assistance for women to become the investors themselves.
Recognizing the increased power of women investors, some sites have even taken to aggregating women-centered investing resources; such as37 Angels andCrunchbase.
According toForbes, fewer than 6% of decision-makers at venture capital firms in the United States are women. In 2016, while male entrepreneurs received more than $58 billion in funding, female entrepreneurs received 1.46 billion, approximately 2.5% of what men received.
In the short-term, expect to see women take charge and become drivers in the cannabis industry. This is a trend that you can see in almost every aspect of the economy, but its presence is felt most in the cannabis space where there are fewer entrenched interests than in other industries. The long-term projection for women in the cannabis industry is more or less the same as the short term. Women will continue to grow their power and influence in the cannabis industry and will most likely achieve greater equality than in other sectors of the economy.
The Green Market Report focuses on the financial news of the rapidly growing cannabis industry. Our target approach filters out the daily noise and does a deep dive into the financial, business and economic side of the cannabis industry. Our team is cultivating the industry’s critical news into one source and providing open source insights and data analysis