One of the largest US marijuana companies scooped up a fashion-forward brand known as the 'Hermes of Marijuana' in the latest pot M&A deal
- Green Thumb Industries, a publicly traded chain of marijuana retailers, scooped up Beboe, a California brand known as the 'Hermes of Marijuana.'
- It's a bid to capture market share in one of the fastest-growing categories of marijuana consumers: women.
Green Thumb Industries, one of the largest publicly traded US marijuana companies, has entered into an agreement to acquire Beboe, a luxury marijuana brand geared towards upscale consumers.
The all-stock deal is expected to close in the first quarter of this year.
For Green Thumb Industries CEO Ben Kovler, Beboe represents a push into capturing what he said is the "future of cannabis."
Beboe "really checked all the boxes for us," said Kovler, in terms of what he says could be the most lucrative segment of the cannabis industry: female consumers who may have a little more disposable income, and may want products that reflect their sensibility.
Older women are one of the fastest-growing categories of marijuana consumers, according to a report from Eaze, a marijuana delivery service in California.
Beboe recently released a line of CBD products, including a drink in partnership with Dirty Lemon (which recently landed an investment from Coca-Cola), as well as a rose-gold vape pen and line of THC and CBD-infused pastilles.
Beboe's founders entered the cannabis industry with some serious fashion DNA. Co-founder Clement Kwan previously headed up YOOX Group's US business, where he was instrumental in putting together the online retailer's acquisition of Net-A-Porter.
Kwan, along with tattoo artist Scott Campbell, founded Beboe in Los Angeles in 2017 as the first brand under their holding company For Success Holding.
"We thought that in order to reach our full potential, we'd have to join forces with someone," Kwan said in an interview.
Both Kwan and Scott will remain at Beboe in creative roles.
In terms of future plans, Beboe's founders hope to leverage GTI's network and expand their products outside of California and Colorado.
"We just walked down the aisle," said Campbell. "We have yet to powwow and figure out the exact direction of our next steps, but we want to expand into every market possible."
Sign up here for our weekly newsletter Wall Street Insider, a behind-the-scenes look at the stories dominating banking, business, and big deals.
- Read more:
- A $200 million marijuana VC breaks down how he picks what companies to invest in
- Marijuana M&A is already hot in 2019, with a pot tech-vape tie-up worth $210 million
- A weed-tech startup backed by an early Juul investor and Canopy Growth just raised $12 million
- An early investor in Juul is raising $75 million to make venture investments in pot companies