Participated · Series A · Jun 2024

Hoodie Analytics is a Chicago-based cannabis data and technology company that offers a market insights and product data management platform. Led by CEO Wes Shepherd, the platform tracks daily movements of the cannabis market and gives users access to people, processes, and data aimed at building winning brands. The company recently launched its new platform and plans to use the financing to accelerate market expansion. Hoodie strengthened its leadership and governance with the appointment of David Navama and the addition of Timur Sultanov to the board, alongside observers Andy Sturner and John Campbell. The business is focused on scaling its product and commercial reach within the cannabis sector. Hoodie Analytics operates a cannabis data and technology platform that tracks over 3.5 million daily unique offers across more than 8,000 dispensaries in the U.S. and Canada, capturing pricing, promotion, stocking status, distribution, and share-of-shelf metrics. It delivers next-day insights, enabling businesses to access market trends and data within hours. The company combines massive-volume data processing with application development and an easy-to-use interface intended for roles from brand salespeople to dispensary inventory managers. Hoodie aims to track every product in every dispensary every day and to build a product graph that connects industry participants. The executive team includes alumni from IRI, Nielsen, NPD, and Numerator. Hoodie says the recent fundraising will allow it to massively scale product and sales efforts and has added strategic advisory board members to support growth.

Participated · Series B · Jul 2023

Botanica is a Seattle-based company producing cannabis-infused edibles under the Mr. Moxey's and Journeyman brands. Its flagship product, Mr. Moxey's, is a cannabis-infused mint that has sold more than 40 million mints since inception. Journeyman is positioned to lead the small-format drink segment as it expands beyond Washington State. The company raised $9M in a Series B to support growth. Botanica intends to use the funds to expand Mr. Moxey's presence and launch Journeyman Lemonade in Illinois, Colorado and Oregon in 2023. The company is led by Founder and CEO Chris Abbott and President Tim Elliott.

Participated · Series B · Jun 2022

BioLumic's core product is its Light Signal Platform and proprietary UV treatment systems, which use short-duration UV exposures and data-driven Light Signal Recipes to influence plant biology and genetics without chemicals or genetic engineering. The platform is applied to both seedlings and seeds and is designed to improve crop consistency, increase yield and strengthen disease resistance. The company intends to commercialize the technology across crops including cannabis, soybean, corn, canola and strawberry, and to deepen relationships with cultivation leaders and technology partners in cannabis. BioLumic plans to expand its library of Light Signal Recipes and advance a new generation of recipes focused on photosynthetic and nutrient use efficiency. Financially, BioLumic completed a $13.5M Series B to accelerate commercial growth for its patented technology. The company was founded in 2013 and is led by CEO Steve Sibulkin, with offices in the United States and New Zealand. BioLumic develops a patented ultraviolet (UV) crop-yield enhancement system rooted in research into UV photomorphogenesis. Its seed-focused technology precisely applies UV light treatments to seedlings (initially lettuce, broccoli, strawberry and tomato) to induce root and leaf development and activate secondary metabolism for long-term crop benefits. The company reports commercial use with large-scale produce growers and processors in California and Mexico and yield gains of up to 22 percent; commercial trials are also under way in Spain and the U.K. BioLumic intends to use new funding to accelerate research and commercialization and to expand into row crop and vegetable seeds in the years ahead. It plans to grow its team in New Zealand and at a new U.S. office in California and to intensify global deployment of its UV technologies. The company was spun out of AgTech research at Massey University by Dr. Jason Wargent and is led by CEO Warren Bebb.

Led · Equity · Feb 2022

Phylos is a Portland-based cannabis genetics company that applies modern plant-breeding techniques, large-scale field data, and rapid iteration to create uniform, high-yielding, and disease-resistant F1 hybrid cannabis cultivars. Its core product is a genetics platform that delivers reliable seed lines and a continuously expanding portfolio of genetically and phenotypically distinct hybrids aimed at improving consistency, scale, and quality for cultivators. The company emphasizes data-driven breeding to boost yield, predictability, and production efficiency across markets. Through long-standing collaboration with major producer Organigram, Phylos provides priority access to select genetics while continuing to broaden its offerings to the wider industry. The newly announced funding will accelerate development of new traits and seed lines and advance the company’s broader breeding roadmap. Although no revenue or user figures were disclosed, the press release positions Phylos as a key enabler of the next phase of large-scale, seed-based cannabis production driven by predictable genetics.

Participated · Series A · Oct 2021

Cellibre is a manufacturing technology company that employs an organism-agnostic approach to turn cells into specialized, sustainable factories for the manufacture of globally significant products at scale. Its initial strategic focus is changing how natural, plant-based compounds are manufactured, targeting high-value natural products and bioactives to displace agricultural production. The company highlights industrial uses of natural products—including monomers that can be used to produce thermosetting resins, certain polymers, and energetics—and aims to enable domestic chemical production. Cellibre states its technologies achieve lower cost and higher quality than legacy production methods to improve supply‑chain resilience for customers and government partners. The recent $1.5 million Department of Defense award under the Distributed Bioindustrial Manufacturing Program (DBIMP) is intended to prepare commercialization of its manufacturing technologies to bolster domestic supply chains. Cellibre was founded in 2019 and is headquartered in San Diego, California. Cellibre is a San Diego, CA-based sustainable manufacturing technology company founded in 2017 that employs an organism-agnostic approach to turn cells into specialized, sustainable factories. The company’s platform is designed to manufacture globally significant products at scale, with an initial strategic focus on enabling the production of pharmaceutical-grade cannabinoids. Cellibre is led by founder and CEO Ben Chiarelli and founder and chief scientific officer Dr. Nicky Caiazza. In October 2021 the company closed an $11.5M Series A financing. The financing was led by Merida Capital Holdings with participation from the founders, Scott Gordon, Flatiron Venture Partners, L2V, Entourage Effect Capital, and Delta Emerald Ventures. Cellibre intends to use the proceeds to expand operations and broaden its business reach. Cellibre develops proprietary cells to enable production of pure, natural, pharmaceutical-grade cannabinoids through fermentation. The company uses an organism-agnostic approach to turn cells into specialized, sustainable factories for manufacturing globally significant products at scale. Its initial strategic focus is on deploying that expertise to enable pharmaceutical-grade cannabinoid production. Cellibre was founded in 2017 by CEO Ben Chiarelli and is based in San Diego, CA. The company intends to accelerate development of its cell platforms using newly raised funds. No operating metrics or revenue figures were disclosed in the article.