Nearly 8 months after raising $10 million in a Series B financing, California-based Canndescent has raised an additional $13 million, as it seeks to further expand on its way to becoming “the Hermes of cannabis.”
With the new financing, the company will look to expand its cannabis flower (which it says is the number one selling brand in California) and bring them to new products, such as vaping and ingestibles over the next 12 months.
In the short term, specifically defined as the next month, Canndescent will announce a second brand after it had a successful soft launch over the summer.
“We’re excited to offer the best of California to other legal states and to reimagine other cannabis categories the way we reconceptualized flower,” CEO Adrian Sedlin said in a statement.
Sedlin continued: “Our new investors share our vision of more products, more brands, and more states, and their investment comfortably bridges us to our Series C equity round to occur in the next 6 months.”
Merida Capital led the Series C convertible offering. Mitch Baruchowitz, a managing partner at Merida, said the team was impressed after having met Canndescent four years ago, leading to them ultimately making an investment. “The decision to make it one of our first cultivation investments and lead the round was solidified by their strong governance and leadership,” Baruchowitz said in the statement.
Also participating in the round was Altitude Investment Management, which also provided financing in the company’s Series B funding round. “We took a small position in Canndescent’s Series B raise and have increased our investment tenfold based on the milestones the company has achieved in such a short period of time,” John Brecker, a Partner at Altitude Investment Management said.
Canndescent is part of the self-described “cannabis 2.0 charge,” and is bringing cannabis into the mainstream in a variety of ways, including luxury and lifestyle marketing.
Sedlin has said previously he wants to make his company “the Hermès of cannabis” and expects to be selling more than $50 million worth by next year, according to a 2017 interview with CNBC. The company’s Instagram page reflects this premium lifestyle mentality, akin to that of a luxury retailer more than a weed company.
According to data from Crunchbase, the company raised $6.5 million in 2016, including from Sedlin himself.