Laxman Pai, Opalesque Asia: The New York-based Merida Capital Partners revealed it had raised $200m for its third fund as it looks to continue investing in the cannabis industry, which has seen a flurry of deals in recent weeks.
Since launching its first fund in late 2016, Merida has deployed nearly $80m across the firm's first two funds and now has more than $125m under management.
Though only two years old, Merida has accelerated liquidity within its portfolio of 25 investments through public listings for GrowGeneration, Vireo Health and CB2 Insights as well as leading investments in public companies KushCo Holdings and Freedom Leaf Health.
In addition, as part of its international expansion, Merida has opened an office in Toronto that will work with its flagship office in New York and satellite offices in San Francisco and Bethesda, Maryland.
Merida also expanded its management team to 19, by hiring Dr. Deb Kimless as Chief Scientific Officer, Matthew Bartlett as West Coast Operating Partner, and David Lubotta joined the fund in the partner role and will be overseeing the fund's operations from the new Toronto office. All new hires have extensive backgrounds in the cannabis industry.
Mitch Baruchowitz, Merida Capital Partners Managing Partner, said: "As Merida transitions to our third fund, we continue to define our thesis through the depth of our information gathering and synthesis, our focus on ecosystem connectivity, portfolio company governa...................... To view our full article Click here
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