Insider Cannabis: Take an exclusive look at Dutchie's $35 million pitch deck
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Happy Friday everyone,
A quick programming note: Going forward, we're rebranding this newsletter to "Insider Cannabis." It's part of a newsroom-wide effort to harmonize all of our newsletters across every vertical, from tech to media, to healthcare, to cannabis, under one umbrella.
So that sadly means we'll be saying goodbye to my baby, the "Cultivated" name. But fear not, the newsletter you know and love will remain exactly the same.
Let's get to it.
-Jeremy
Here's what we wrote about this week:
Cannabis startup Dutchie raised $35 million from Josh Kushner's Thrive Capital and Starbucks founder Howard Schultz. Here's an exclusive look at the pitch deck it used to close the round.
Dutchie CEO Ross Lipson shared the pitch deck he used to raise $35 million with me. The Bend, Oregon based e-commerce startup's investors include Thrive Capital, Kevin Durant's Thirty Five Ventures, former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, and more.
Executive moves
- Yoko Miyashita is taking over from Tim Leslie as the CEO of cannabis site Leafly. Miyashita joined Leafly last year as general counsel.
- Dia Simms, the former president of Sean Combs Enterprises, is joining the board of TILT Holdings.
- Cannabis testing lab CannaSafe has named Bosco Ramirez as VP of operations.
- Former Altria exec Peter Diatelevi is taking over from Case Mandel as the CEO of Cannadips CBD.
Deals, launches, and policy moves
- Cresco Labs, Curaleaf, and TerrAscend reported solid earnings this week, boosting revenues across the board. We'll have a breakdown of what all these US cannabis earnings mean for the industry next week.
- CBD brand Kadenwood is acquiring EcoGen laboratories, making Kadenwood into what the company says is the largest CBD supplier in the US. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, though Kadenwood said the acquisition will up the valuation of the combined company to $250 million.
- The CDC has released the results of its 2019 Youth Risk Behavior Survey, which found that lifetime marijuana use decreased between 2013 and 2019.
- The Capstone Campaign, a joint undertaking between Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Science (MAPS) and the Psychedelic Science Funders Collaborative (PSFC), has raised $30 million to fund phase III clinical trials of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for PTSD.
- Embattled cannabis producer CannTrust had its licenses reinstated by Health Canada after the company was found to be growing illicit cannabis that was transported across borders last summer.
- A group of "concerned shareholders" of Australis Capital — including Aurora Cannabis founder Terry Booth — are agitating for the removal and replacement of the company's board.
- Canopy Rivers is undergoing a strategic review of its joint venture with PharmHouse, with all options on the table, including selling its 49% stake, CIBC analyst John Zamparo said in a note.
What we're reading
Trump voices concern that putting marijuana on the ballot makes Republicans lose (Marijuana Moment)
Illinois' breakout star in a hazy economic landscape: recreational marijuana (CNN)
Labor tensions escalate in Massachusetts cannabis industry (WeedWeek)
Bigger isn't always better for cannabis companies trying to survive pandemic (Bloomberg)