SANTA BARBARA, Calif., -- CANNDESCENT, a California cannabis cultivator of ultra-premium cannabis, recently closed a $10-million Series B offering to finance the launch of new products and to expand its production footprint to over 100,000 square feet.
CANNDESCENT leads the cannabis 2.0 charge and the mainstreaming of cannabis in California by combining experienced management and best practices from consumer-packaged goods, advanced agriculture, and luxury, lifestyle marketing. Opening California's first municipally-permitted, cultivation facility in 2016, Canndescent foresaw the adult-use cannabis wave and launched the nation's first ultra-premium flower brand in California. Closing 2017, the company now ranks as California's #1-selling branded flower according to BDS Analytics, and on Jan.25 opened its second facility, quadrupling its production to 48,000 square feet. Later this year, the company will surpass 100,000 square feet and christen its third facility.
When asked about Canndescent's Series B, CEO Adrian Sedlin said, "This round validates our strategy of simplification and sophistication, our effects—Calm, Cruise, Create, Connect, and Charge--and our leading position in California, the nation's most competitive and largest cannabis market." Sedlin, who previously capitalized the company with the largest seed round in cultivation history, added, "With the proceeds from this round, we'll bring The Art of Flower™ to many new customers, geographies and product categories."
Reupping in this investment round after participating in the seed round, Stella Kleiman, Managing Partner of Floret Ventures, said, "Canndescent has gone from concept to market leader in 18 months. They're executing flawlessly and, in my experience as a long-time technology entrepreneur, are one of the few institutional quality teams touching the plant." Echoing this sentiment, John Brecker, Partner of the Altitude Investment Partners fund, which also participated in the round, said, "Every so often, a VC participates in a 'fund-maker' that materially increases the fund IRR and that helps it to raise subsequent funds. I believe Canndescent is such a fund-maker."
