Cannabis Website Leafly To Raise $30 Million In Fresh Funding

LOS ANGELES–Cannabis marketplace Leafly is raising $30 million in a fresh funding round, it said in a filing on Wednesday, as the world’s biggest cannabis-related website taps strong investor appetite for companies in the burgeoning U.S. cannabis industry.

Seattle, Washington-based Leafly has said more than 120 million people use its website annually, with an exponential rise in popularity over the last year as several more U.S. states legalized medical or recreational use of cannabis

Investor appetite for U.S. cannabis companies has also been supported by prospects of federal reforms, including full legalization of marijuana, after last year’s coronavirus lockdowns led a record number of people to take up cannabis use for medical or entertainment purposes.

Privately owned Leafly has raised almost $23 million of the total $30 million offering of convertible debt and equity in the latest fundraising, the company said in a filing here. It raised around $17 million in a fundraise in October 2020.

Founded in 2010, Leafly was owned between 2012 and 2019 by Privateer Holdings, a cannabis-focused private equity group, and now operates as an independent business.