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.
Read more at globalaginvesting.com
