A new $30 million cannabis investment fund, Greenfield Venture Capital, has been launched in Israel with the intention of making Seed and Series A round investments in cannabis-related startups.
The fund is being chaired by Boaz Wechtel, a co-founder of Ale Yarok (Green Leaf), a political party in Israel dedicated to the legalization of cannabis. Wechtel also is a co-founder of ASX-listed agtech companies Sustainable Agriculture Technologies Ltd, and Cresco Pharma Ltd, as well as Australian cannabis-focused investment company MMJ Phyto Tech Ltd.
Geographically, the fund will center its investments in Israel, which has one of the highest per capita rates of legal marijuana usage among Western countries, and within Europe, a market that Wachtel sees as having great potential, as the Canadian and U.S. markets are seen as being oversaturated at this point.
“We can see that investors are looking for reliable partners and funds in the sector,” said Wachtel. There’s a scarcity of such players in the industry, he said, especially in Israel, and Greenfield Venture Capital “wants to be the platform to give institutional investors confidence.”
Looking for companies operating in friendly regulatory atmospheres, the fund will be looking to make investments in exchange for a minimum stake of 25 percent, with an eye toward a controlling share. Then, strategic plans include pursuing a sale or IPO on the Canadian, Australian, Frankfurt, markets, and the OTC markets in the U.S.
New Law, New Opportunities
The launch of Greenfield Venture Capital comes directly on the heels of Israel passing new legislation decriminalizing possession of cannabis plants or its buds as of April 1. Moving forward, civilians found in public in possession of small amounts of cannabis will face fines, instead of criminal charges.
“Some 35 countries have already legalized cannabis to a certain extent, either for medical or sometimes even recreational use,” said former Israeli prime minister and chairman of the medical cannabis company Canndoc/Intercure, Ehud Barak, during his keynote speech at CannaTech held earlier this month in Israel. “Two-thirds of U.S. states have approved medical cannabis; one-third [have approved] recreational use.”
With legalization, the gates have been opened to a new investment category in the country. Concurrently with the launch of Greenfield Venture Capital, another Israeli food startup, Cannible Food Tech Ltd, announced it had raised $1 million in Seed funds through crowdfunding platform Pipelbix, to develop cannabis-infused cake mixes, sweeteners, iced coffee mix, and toppings for pizza and popcorn.
What began as a grassroots movements has turned into a global shift resulting in new investment channels from agricultural production, to processing, to tech and food development.
“I think that there’s a new climate right now where people are seeing it as a valid and an incredible opportunity, Avihu Tamir, co-founder, Canabo Research, an Israeli genetic and medical clinical research company in Israel told GeekTime. “It’s a green field where there’s no longer a question about whether it will succeed.”
-Lynda Kiernan
The post Israeli Cannabis Entrepreneur and Political Activist Chairs New $30M Cannabis Fund appeared first on Global AgInvesting.