

Access to capital within the cannabis industry is among the top challenges for many businesses. And starting and operating cannabis businesses can be costly, so investment capital is highly sought after. Because cannabis is still federally illegal, most banks are unwilling to serve plant-touching cannabis businesses, so demand for alternative funding sources is extremely high.
With the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act continuing to fail in the U.S. Senate thus far, some states, such as West Virginia, California and Pennsylvania, are passing their own legislation to allow banks within their borders to serve the industry, signaling change may be imminent in other states as well.
Yet until widespread reform occurs, capital raises remain highly competitive among cannabis companies. Here, Cannabis Business Times compiled a list of some of the investment firms that support cannabis companies.
Editor’s note: Cannabis Business Times has not fully vetted each company, and inclusion does not imply endorsement. This is not a comprehensive list of cannabis investors.
Ackrell Capital
“Ackrell Capital is an independent investment bank focused on providing financial advisory services to global middle- market and emerging growth companies in key industries,” according to the company’s website. Among its diverse set of clients, Ackrell has served cannabis and hemp businesses such as Hempyre and Green Thumb Industries, with domestic and international transactions across all industries totaling more than $50 billion, according to its website.
Altitude Investment Management
“Altitude Investment Management has made multiple investments in the cannabis industry while navigating the rapidly changing cannabis industry dynamics,” according to its website. Its portfolio includes C4 Distro, Springbig, Grassroots, Canndescent, Flowhub and more.
Archytas Ventures
“Archytas Ventures is a private investment firm that provides flexible financing solutions across the capital structure to companies with exceptional management teams to fuel growth and build value,” according to the company’s website. Its portfolio includes Bloom Farms, Cellibre, Sublime and more.
AVANA Capital
AVANA Capital offers commercial real estate loans, construction loans, and bridge loans to cannabis-related businesses, including cultivators, manufacturers, distributors and retailers.
Base Ventures
Base Ventures is a venture capital firm investing in startup companies across a variety of industries, including cannabis. Its portfolio of cannabis companies includes Confident Cannabis and Baker.
Canna Angels, LLC
Canna Angels’ mission is to “provide its accredited investors with carefully vetted, high-quality emerging companies either directly involved in the cannabis industry, or in supportive products and services,” according to its website. Its profile includes cannabis companies such as Front Range Biosciences, HiFi Farms, Bloom Automation, BayMedica and more.
Canaccord Genuity
As an independent investment bank, Canaccord Genuity offers “a wide range of advisory and capital raising services as well as complex cross-border expertise to both emerging and established companies,” according to its website. Canaccord Genuity’s portfolio includes Tilray Brands, Aurora Cannabis, Curaleaf Holdings and more.
Casa Verde Capital
Casa Verde Capital participates in all stages of the financing cycle “with a focus on investing in scalable, capital-efficient businesses, led by world-class entrepreneurs,” according to its website. Casa Verde’s portfolio includes many cannabis companies from around the world, including Dutchie, Green Tank, Ace Cann, Leaflink, Miss Grass and more.
CB1 Capital
“CB1 Capital is an investment manager and advisor that specializes in the supply chain of cannabinoid-based wellness solutions, products and therapies that address a wide range of unmet medical conditions or have commercial use-cases,” according to its website.
Entourage Effect Capital
Entourage Effect Capital, formerly known as Cresco Capital Partners, is a cannabis investment firm funding companies that are “positioned to scale ahead of federal legalization,” according to its website. Its portfolio includes Curio Wellness, Organic Remedies and more.
Gotham Green Partners
Gotham Green Partners invests in cannabis companies “throughout every industry vertical, and target[s] best-in-class operators with differentiated business models, defensible intellectual property, and scalable platforms,” according to its website. The company’s portfolio includes FORIA, MedMen, Flow Kana and many others.
Green Acre Capital
Green Acre Capital has invested more than $100 million (CA) into the global legal cannabis industry, according to its website, and its funds “address the rapidly growing cannabis sector.” Its portfolio includes Canndescent, Aqualitas, Fire & Flower and more.
Measure 8 Venture Partners
Measure 8 Venture Partners is “an alternative investment vehicle” created to capitalize on the emergence of the global cannabis industry, according to its LinkedIn. Its specialties include cultivation and processing and its portfolio includes Baker, Grassroots and more.
Merida Capital Holdings
“Merida Capital Holdings’ investment thesis is focused on the normalization of cannabis in the U.S. and around the world and grounded primarily in four distinct verticals that span medical and adult-use markets and ecosystems,” according to its website. The company seeks “compelling long-term value as the industry matures by investing in well-managed, revenue generating companies offering cannabis-based businesses essential products or services.” Merida capital Holdings’ portfolio includes Cresco Labs, Leafly, Jushi and many other high-profile cannabis companies.
Navy Capital
“Navy Capital seeks to find the best-in-class businesses within key verticals of the global cannabis industry,” according to Crunchbase, including technology and agriculture. Navy Capital’s portfolio includes Cann, Connected Cannabis, MariMed and more.
Paradigm Capital
“Paradigm Capital is an employee-owned independent Canadian investment dealer focused on companies with excellent long-term, secular growth characteristics, including cannabis companies,” according to its website. Its portfolio includes Cansortium, Columbia Care and more.
Phyto Partners
Phyto Partners is a cannabis venture capital fund “that provides debt and equity capital to privately held cannabis companies,” according to its website. Phyto’s cannabis portfolio includes a high number of companies including Flowhub, Marijuana Doctor, Front Range Biosciences and more.
Poseidon Asset Management
“The Poseidon team has focused on a diversified strategy covering a range of company stages and industry subsectors across the capital spectrum” within the cannabis industry, according to its website. Poseidon’s portfolio includes Cannadips, Flowhub, Distru and more.
Salveo Capital
Salveo Capital is “looking to build long term sustainable companies that will be instrumental in reshaping the image of legal cannabis,” according to its website. Salveo’s portfolio includes Headset, Flow Kana, Tokyo Smoke and more.
Silverleaf Venture Partners
Silverleaf Venture Partners is an investment manager that made cannabis “its primary investment focus” in 2017, according to its website, after “Silverleaf Venture Partners identified and recognized the potential of the cannabis industry to achieve outsized growth. Originally, they invested only their personal capital in nearly a dozen of the industry’s most respected companies. Today, the partners selectively manage outside capital, which is invested alongside their own.” The partners have completed more than 30-plus investments in noteworthy companies including Jane Technologies, Headset, Nabis, Ebbu and many others.
The Arcview Group
“The Arcview Group is a vertically integrated investment firm servicing the cannabis and hemp industry, built with social justice and responsibility at its core,” according to its website. Its partners include several cannabis companies including AlphaRoot, Green Grows CPA and others.
Tress Capital
Tress Capital is a private equity firm that invests in and provides financing for cannabis-related companies, including cultivation, lab testing, processing and more. Tress’s portfolio includes Cannabis Now, Headset, North Bud and more.
Tuatara Capital
Tuatara is a private equity firm focusing on the global cannabis industry. Its portfolio includes Long Play, Green Dot Labs, Slang Worldwide and many others.
Upwise Capital
Upwise Capital provides cannabis real estate financing, cannabis equipment financing, non-dilutive debt capital, construction loans, inventory financing and more. Its clients include Meadows in Bloom, MedLeaf, Silver Peak and more.
Viridian Capital Advisors
Viridian Capital Advisors “raises capital, executes M&A transactions, provides corporate restructuring and performs sophisticated financial modeling for our clients,” according to its website. Its investments include 365 Cannabis, THC Design and more.