REUTERS/Carlos Osorio
Small marijuana plants grow in a lab at the new Commercial Cannabis Production Program at Niagara College in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada, October 9, 2018.
- Cannabis startups have raised closed to $2 billion of venture capital cash in 2019, up from just $17 million in 2013.
- As part of a broader effort to track where money is flowing in the cannabis industry - and who's profiting off these deals - Business Insider put together a list of the top venture-backed startups in the sector, ordered by amount raised, using data from Crunchbase and PitchBook.
- Scroll down to see the full list.
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More venture capital money is flowing into cannabis and cannabis-related companies than ever before.
Through the end of October, venture capital firms have poured close to $2 billion into cannabis-industry startups, according to the data provider PitchBook. That's up from just $17 million in 2013, right after Colorado became the first state to open its doors to the commercial cannabis industry.
That number is bolstered by mega-rounds for companies like Pax Labs, which closed a $420 million funding round in April.
Much of that money, however, has flowed into early-stage companies. For companies later in the growth cycle, there still isn't much capital available because THC, the psychoactive component of cannabis, is federally illegal, so many big funds are reluctant to invest.
Most institutional VCs still draw a hard line between cannabis-tech companies, like software platforms for dispensaries, and branded products that "touch the plant" - or sell and distribute THC - a number of venture investors previously told Business Insider.
That's because the cash in these funds often comes from pension funds, endowments, or sovereign wealth funds, who are unwilling to take risks on a brand-new industry in a muddy legal climate.
Shayanne Gal/Business Insider
Cannabis-specific funds - like Altitude Investment Management and Tuatara Capital - that are backed mostly by high-net-worth individuals and family offices, have cropped up to fill that gap for THC-touching companies.
Despite the blockbuster year for cannabis funding, there are signs of mounting headwinds. Average deal size has shrunk over the first three quarters of 2019, according to Crunchbase, as the industry faces obstacles including concerns over vaping THC and the rocky rollout of
Plus, total funding declined to $452.8 million in the third quarter from $967.1 million in the second, according to PitchBook.
Business Insider took a look at which cannabis and cannabis-related companies have raised the most venture capital since 2013, using data from PitchBook. We've cross-referenced that data with other providers like CrunchBase and backed it up with our own reporting in some cases.
To generate this list, we excluded public companies and noted which companies have raised private debt as part of equity funding rounds. We're including private debt in the total amount raised because that's how those companies have chosen to report this information.
It's also important to note that a lot of the venture capital in the cannabis industry comes from high net worth individuals and family offices, rather than traditional funds, for the aforementioned reasons.