The Week In Cannabis: Big Money, Mexico, South Carolina, Jay-Z, Martha Stewart, Nicole Kidman And More

Cannabis stocks traded down this week, despite a series of financing announcements and other good news, including a new bill from Congress.

GrowGeneration Corp. GRWG wants to raise $125 million via a public offering. The offering was then upsized to $150 million on Wednesday, offering 5 million shares at a price of $30.00 per share.

Weedmaps is going public via a merger with Silver Spike Acquisition Corp. SSPK, while LeafLink closed a $40 million Series C funding round led by Founders Fund.

“Money keeps flowing into the cannabis space as we saw the huge $1.5 billion valuation given to the Weedmaps deal with the Silver Spike SPAC. Not only that, GrowGeneration supersized its offering from $125 million to $150 million. Despite the inconsistent stock performance, there is still a big demand for investment in this industry,” Debra Borchard, editor in chief of Green Market Report, told Benzinga.

ETFMG Alternative Harvest ETF surpassed $1 billion in assets under management. The fund has been trading on NYSE for less than three years, being the first cannabis-focused ETF to list in the United States. Jason Wilson, ETFMG Cannabis Research and Banking, told Benzinga that “there are two key takeaways as it relates to MJ and the significance of achieving this milestone.”

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The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill to reduce barriers and broaden scientific research into medical cannabis. According to Marijuana Business Daily, the bill will also enable private manufacturing and distribution of cannabis exclusively for research demands.

Both the MORE Act and the Medical Marijuana Research Act are still waiting for a final decision in the Senate. Many experts in the space think there are slim chances for either of bill to win Senate approval, the report continued.

In South Carolina, Republican lawmakers prefiled legislation to allow for medical marijuana. Rep. Bill Herbkersman is the lead sponsor on the bill and attributes his support to his brother, who used cannabis to treat cancer-related symptoms.

Herbkersman says no one in South Carolina with a serious illness should have to circumvent the law to attain their needed relief.

"Waiting any longer will only add to the suffering that is experienced by those who are plagued with [a] debilitating illness," he voiced, citing the availability of cannabis in 36 other states as another driver.

In Mexico, the lower house opted to postpone the cannabis legalization bill debate to February 2021. This is the third time the current deadline has been extended, following earlier requests. Mexican senators passed adult-use cannabis legalization bill on Nov. 19, with an 82 to 18 vote.

Over the five trading days of the week:

The ETFMG Alternative Harvest ETF MJ: lost 4.2%
The AdvisorShares Pure Cannabis ETF YOLO: was down 4.3%
The Cannabis ETF THCX: tumbled 7.9%
The Amplify Seymour Cannabis ETF CNBS: fell 4.6%
The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY was down 1.04%.

Canopy Growth Corp. WEED CGC announced that the Franchise Group Inc. FRG subsidiary The Vitamin Shoppe will start to sell the entire collection of Martha Stewart CBD products, becoming the first national retailer to offer the full line.

The company later announced a new round of changes to its Canadian operations, following a series of layoffs in April and September. The Smith Falls, Ontario-based company opted to shut down operations at its sites in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador; Fredericton, New Brunswick; Edmonton, Alberta; and Bowmanville, Ontario.

The move would impact roughly 220 employees and “streamline its operations and further improve margins,” Canopy noted.

In addition, the company also said it would also terminate its Saskatchewan-based outdoor cannabis grow operation.

Benzinga Cannabis content is now available in Spanish on El Planteo.

Jushi Holdings Inc. JUSH JUSHF’s retail brand Beyond/Hello partnered with Holistic Industries to help deliver “Garcia Hand Picked” to Santa Barbara cannabis consumers.

Long-awaited, cannabis products from Jay-Z’s cannabis line Monogram are finally available. Shawn ‘Jay-Z’ Carter’s cannabis line Monogram is the first brand created in collaboration with Caliva, one of the biggest vertically-integrated cannabis companies in the country. Jay Z has been Caliva’s Chief Brand Strategist since July 2019.

Rap artist T.I. is backing Georgia-based cannabis company Harvest Connect LLC. The Atlanta native — a singer/songwriter, producer, record executive and author — has become an investor and equity partner in the company.

Cannabis tech company Dutchie teamed up with weed-focused branding agency Highopes to launch Flynt, a system designed to help small cannabis businesses create websites. Touted as “the Squarespace for cannabis," Flynt is said to be seamless and user-friendly. It offers pre-built templates to equip dispensaries with a cost-effective website so cannabis customers can opt for an e-commerce shopping experience.

The out-of-the-box solution also includes resources and best practices pointers from experts in the cannabis space.

A report from New Frontier Data said annual legal medical and recreational sales are estimated to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 21%, hitting more than $41 billion by 2025, compared to $13.2 billion in 2019.

More News From The Week

Oscar, Golden Globe, and Emmy Award-winning actress Nicole Kidman was named The Sera Labs Inc.'s first strategic business partner and brand ambassador. According to Thursday’s update, Kidman agreed to endorse the company's topical products. As the "face of the brand," Kidman opted to support the product development at the Los Angeles-based CBD products company.

Venom Extracts, which is owned by Hollister Biosciences Inc. HOLL HSTRF, generated CA$40 million in revenue year to date. This is the second and final revenue milestone Venom accomplished under the acquisition agreement the company inked in March. Recall how Hollister paid CA$20 million for the Arizona-based cannabis extract brand. Venom is also posted a positive adjusted EBITDA of 4.8 million.

Hemp and cannabis infusion technology company Vertosa started offering a propriety Powder-based Emulsion Powder, formulated to infuse CBD into an array of product categories, from nutritional supplements to tea and coffee pods to protein bars, an ensuring fast-acting effects and consistent potency.

PharmaCielo PCLO PCLOF partnered with U.S.-based AssuredTrans to offer independent lab tests and analysis for PharmaCielo’s CBD extracts product quality in the U.S.

Sundial Growers Inc. SNDL received approval to transfer its listing to the Nasdaq Capital Market. The transfer is expected to take effect on Dec. 15.

Power REIT PW, an infrastructure assets-focused real estate investment trust, purchased a 2.11-acre property in Crowley County, Colorado, for $1.3 million. The deal also includes Power REIT's support of an 18,528 square-foot greenhouse and processing facility construction.

Red White & Bloom Brands Inc. RWB RWBYF launched an exclusive line of High Times branded cannabis products in Michigan. Provisioning Centers can now place pre-orders.

Pure Extracts Technologies Corp. PULL decided to join the growing mushroom industry via collaboration with The Nutraceutical Medicine Company Inc.

Icanic Brands Co. Inc. ICAN ICNAF, the company behind Tarantula, announced its intent to buy THC Engineering LLC for $1.75 million.

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