Hey there!

Welcome to another edition of The Pre Roll! This week we cover new financing for LeafLink, a House bill pertaining to the rescheduling of cannabis, a partnership between Airbnb and Seth Rogen’s Houseplant, and more. Let’s get to it.

Roll Call

Tech

LeafLink raises serious green. Wholesale cannabis technology platform LeafLink announced on Wednesday it raised $100 million in Series D funding led by CPMG, L2 Ventures, and Nosara Capital. Additionally, it reported changes to its leadership team. Co-Founder & CEO Ryan G. Smith will transition to the role of Executive Chairman and President & COO Artie Minson — who joined last year after holding executive positions at AOL, Time Warner, and WeWork — will become LeafLink’s new Chief Executive Officer. The company says it processes nearly $5 billion in annual transactions on its B2B marketplace, making up an estimated 50% of legal U.S. wholesale cannabis commerce.

Policy

Reintroducing a rescheduling bill. A GOP congressman has reintroduced legislation that would move cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III under the Controlled Substances Act. Despite not making it fully legal at the federal level and in turn ending cannabis prohibition, this would still have major benefits. The bill would allow for greater scientific research of cannabis to be done and ease tax burdens on legal cannabis businesses across the country. It comes just over two months after President Joe Biden signed a landmark cannabis research bill into law.

Business

Staying with Seth Rogen. This week, Airbnb revealed a collaboration with Seth Rogen and his cannabis lifestyle and accessories company Houseplant. Guests will have the opportunity to stay in a Houseplant-inspired creative retreat in the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles, hosted by the actor himself. Houseplant operates a plant-touching business as well. While it is notable that a company like Airbnb has partnered with a brand closely associated with cannabis, it explicitly states in the listing that “no cannabis-based products will be made available or provided to the guests during the stays.” Does this news indicate the hospitality giant is warming up to the idea of becoming more cannabis-friendly or is it just a massive PR stunt? Only time will tell.

Quick Hitters

• FinTech Green Check Verified launched a marketplace connecting cannabis-related businesses (CRBs) to vetted financial services providers including banking, lending, insurance, payroll, human resources, and cash logistics.

• Greece’s first medicinal cannabis production plant opened in the town of Examilia, just outside the city of Corinth, with investment from Tikun Europe — a subsidiary of Israel-based cannabis company Tikun Olam.

• Curaleaf is being sued by employees that claim store managers of the prominent MSO stole more than $100,000 worth of tips from them.

• Extract brand Blue River plans to do away with indica, sativa, and hybrid labels at its anticipated Massachusetts dispensary in favor of categorizing products by terpenes.

• Cannabis brand Evidence, which runs a cultivation and manufacturing facility out of a former high-security prison in California, raises both money and awareness for criminal justice reform explaining “we grow weed at a prison to get people out of prison for growing weed”.

State of the Industry

California: Officials in the Golden State are gathering information to determine the federal risk related to interstate cannabis commerce as they look to establish agreements with other legal states to import and export products.

Mississippi: Lawmakers are aiming to keep citations against medical cannabis businesses secret from the public with an amendment to the Mississippi Medical Cannabis Act.

Missouri: Dispensaries across the state are permitted to begin recreational sales as soon as today as long as their license has been approved by the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.

Virginia: A panel in the state House voted down a pair of proposals seeking to legalize recreational cannabis sales.

Upcoming Events

February 7: Cannabis Marketing Association is hosting “The Future of Cannabis Marketing” virtually from 10:45am-2:00pm MT.

February 23: Business of Cannabis is hosting “NYC Sessions - The Next 10 Years in New York” from 7:00pm-10:00pm ET.

Stay tuned for more cannabis industry news next week!

💚,

The Pre Roll Team

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