Staff
Cannabis wholesale marketplace operator LeafLink has closed on a $40 million Series C investment round, led by Founders Fund. Additional participants include Thrive Capital, Nosara Capital, and Lerer Hippeau. This company said that this latest round of investment brings its venture funding to over $90 million and marks Founders Fund’s largest technology investment in the cannabis space.
The proceeds will be used to expand in current markets by bringing on new brands and retailers, as well as capitalizing on new markets that legalized cannabis following the 2020 election. LeafLink said it will also continue to expand its offerings around payments, delivery, and data & analytics.
“This fundraising round is monumental for a technology company like LeafLink as we continue to define a space that shows no signs of slowing down,” said Ryan G. Smith, Co-founder and CEO of LeafLink. “We’re honored to partner with Founders Fund as we scale our marketplace technology across the growing cannabis industry. Our eyes are set on bringing efficiency and innovation to the supply chain and we’re excited for cannabis to serve as a model for more legacy industries in the future.”
With the latest round of funding, LeafLink said it will continue to accelerate growth beyond its current $3 Billion of annualized Gross Merchandise Value (GMV). LeafLink’s marketplace makes up an estimated 32% of U.S. wholesale cannabis commerce. Currently, LeafLink serves 27 markets across the U.S. and Canada with offices in New York City, Los Angeles, and Toronto.
“We invested in LeafLink because the team is merging best practices from e-commerce marketplaces with B2B technology to streamline an entire industry’s supply chain and operations,” said Napoleon Ta, Partner at Founders Fund. “We’re excited to make our largest investment in the cannabis space to date in LeafLink.”
LeafLink’s fundraising is notable since it is a private company. According to Viridian Capital Advisors, most of the cannabis capital that has been raised in 2020 has come from publicly traded companies. Of the 280 deals happening so far in 2020, only 49 have been private company raises, while the other 231 have come from public companies.
