Led · Equity · Jun 2019

Glint is a regulated e-money firm and payments provider that offers a gold-backed app and an affiliated Mastercard to let consumers use gold as an alternative currency. The company highlights consumer demand for non-fiat stores of value and cites an in-house survey showing 68% of savers no longer trust banks. Glint positions gold as a reliable store of value while noting crypto interest remains volatile. The firm is pursuing transatlantic securities offerings to attract both US and UK investors. Financially, Glint is running simultaneous crowdfunding raises on Seedrs and Republic and has already overfunded its Seedrs campaign. Its Seedrs raise reached £2.9 million from over 900 investors at a £35.9 million pre-money valuation. On Republic, the company is seeking up to $1.5 million in a Reg D offering with a reported pre-money valuation of $32.5 million. Glint operates a multi-currency account and debit Mastercard that uniquely lets clients save, exchange and instantly spend physically allocated gold alongside fiat wallets (USD, GBP, EUR). The company launched its app-based account in February 2018 and added multiple currency wallets in July 2018, enabling Mastercard acceptance worldwide. Gold and other currencies purchased via Glint are held in safeguarded and segregated accounts, with customers' gold stored in a Brinks vault in Switzerland and insured by Lloyd's of London. Glint reports tens of thousands of clients and positions its transactional gold account as a hedge against inflation and systemic financial risk. The company is working on a U.S. launch and has stated plans to roll out in Canada, Japan and Scandinavia (and the USA) in 2019. A completed private placement provides additional capital to support these expansion plans.

Participated · Equity · May 2019

Hemptown USA grows high-grade feminized hemp and produces full-spectrum CBD and CBG crude and distillates, aiming for higher yields than industrial hemp. The company reported a first-year yield of 110,000 lbs of feminized hemp biomass and a projected average gross margin greater than 77% from its 2018 harvest. It is one of the largest CBG producers in the U.S., having purchased 1 million rare CBG seeds for the 2019 growing season and USD$5.5 million worth of Oregon CBD seeds. Hemptown USA is operating on roughly 1,500 acres across Oregon, Kentucky and Colorado with the capability to more than double acreage in 2020 and beyond. Its near-term plans include building out processing and extraction facilities, expanding R&D to farm novel cannabinoid strains (CBC, CBDV, CBGV) through 2022, acquiring a GMP-certified nutraceutical facility, and entering the consumer packaged goods sector with branded products.

Participated · Equity · Apr 2018

Tradewind built a platform that integrates exchange technology with its VaultChain blockchain to digitize vaulted precious metals and facilitate trading, settlement and ownership. The company officially launched its platform in March 2018 and was formed in 2016. Tradewind’s VaultChain Gold offering removes structural and frictional limitations from the physical gold market and the platform is positioned to support additional applications such as provenance and supply chain management. The firm has raised capital since inception and reported total fundraising of $22.8 million. Tradewind is managed by a team with experience in electronic trading, market structure, gold investment management, market operations, cryptography and blockchain technology. The company plans to use new capital to expand the Tradewind platform and distribution network into Europe and Asia while extending platform functionality.