Staff
Canadian medical marijuana company Tilray announced the completion of its Series A funding round totaling C$60 million. The round consisted of a group of leading global institutional investors and the terms were not disclosed. Cowen served as sole placement agent.
Tilray will use the new funding to increase its existing production capacity in North America, to continue to build its European Union campus in Portugal, and to expand the availability of its products to more patients and pharmacies around the globe.
“This funding round represents another strategic milestone for Tilray as we pioneer the future of medical cannabis globally,” said Brendan Kennedy, Chief Executive Officer, Tilray. “With support from some of the world’s leading institutional investors, we will expand our production capacity in North America and Europe, and scale distribution of our products to more patients and more pharmacies in more countries.”
Tilray is federally licensed in Canada and Europe currently sells pharmaceutical-grade, GMP-certified medical cannabis products to tens of thousands of patients in eight countries. It was the first licensed producer of medical cannabis in the world to have its facility Good Manufacturing Practices certified in accordance with European Medicine Agency (EMA) standards. Tilray supplies hospitals, pharmacies and pharmaceutical distributors on four continents, and has signed supply agreements with NOWEDA, one of Germany’s largest pharmaceutical wholesalers, and Shoppers Drug Mart, Canada’s largest pharmacy chain.
Since its founding in 2014, Tilray has been wholly-owned and solely funded by Privateer Holdings, the world’s leading private equity firm investing exclusively in legal cannabis. Tilray’s Series A funding round marks the first time that outside investors have invested directly into a Privateer Holdings portfolio company. With its Series A funding and incorporation, Tilray is positioned to operate and finance its growth independent of Privateer Holdings.
Privateer also has in its portfolio, Marley Natural cannabis, Goodship edibles and the media company Leafly.
