The tens of billions of dollars in lost market capitalization from publicly-traded pot companies in 2019 didn’t entirely go poof.
Some of that money, suggests Cresco Labs Entrepreneur in Residence Zach Marburger, is now being invested in the next generation of cannabis companies.
“Most of the publicly traded (cannabis) companies are down, so that money is going to the private markets”, Marburger explained during a January 30 “Entrepreneur’s Roundtable” hosted at 1871 in Chicago.
“We are seeing people take advantage of the overall public market valuation, and are now pulling money from the top of the market to invest in private companies in the cannabis industry.”
Also on the evening panel, which attracted dozens of curious entrepreneurs and professionals from all ages and walks of life, was Fyllo co-founder and CEO Chad Bronstein.
Fyllo, a Chicago-based advertising technology company focused on commercial cannabis complexities, last year raised at least $16 million upon launch from lead investors JW Asset Management and K2 & Associates, both hedge funds.
Bronstein noted that Fyllo raised additional capital to fund its $10 million acquisition of Denver-based CannaRegs and the company’s 30 Denver-based employees.
