TORONTO – MoCanna, which will operate the soon-to-open byMinistry flagship location in Toronto, is pleased to announce that the world’s biggest cannabis company Canopy Growth Corporation (TSX:WEED) (NYSE:CGC) will lead its Series A fundraising with a $2 million (CAD) investment for a 7.8 per cent stake of the company. Cannaglobal, a premium cannabis CPG brand company, will remain MoCanna’s largest shareholder with 24.2 per cent of shares held. This investment follows a very strong initial seed round raising $4 million (CAD), which closed in December 2018. MoCanna expects its Series A round to close September 30, 2019.
“We are always looking to invest in people, brands and companies with ambitious plans and an interesting approach to cannabis and cannabis consumers,” said Mark Zekulin, CEO of Canopy Growth. “MoCanna and byMinistry represent an exciting approach to cannabis and culture – one where cannabis is seamlessly integrated into many aspects of consumers’ lives.”
MoCanna, a global-focused cannabis platform providing an intersection of cultural, educational and retail experiences, was founded by longtime architect, entrepreneur and Canadian cannabis investor Lorne Gertner (who also co-founded Tokyo Smoke and PharmaCan).
“We’re in the business of cannabis post-normalization. In the near future, cannabis will be integrated into everyday life, from food and drink to health and wellness and leisure activities,” said Gertner, Founder and Chairman, MoCanna/byMinistry. “We are thrilled to have found partners in Cannaglobal and in Canopy Growth who also believe in and support this perspective; who see the potential that byMinistry has to help ensure Canada’s place as the primary and premium global destination for all things cannabis and culture.”
byMinistry CEO Shauna Levy, one of Canada’s leading visionary design and culture leaders, has assembled a deep bench of creative talent to develop the brand into an internationally recognized cannabis cultural destination. To progress the brand’s mission of broadening perceptions towards a cannabis normalized future and becoming the global epicenter for exclusive cannabis cultural experiences.
With a focus on creating premium cannabis-centric spaces and experiences, byMinistry is designed to appeal to the yet-to-be-addressed upper end market. The company will aim to integrate verticals, to the extent permitted by applicable law, including dispensaries, consumption lounges, cultural programming, educational properties, experiential retail platforms and CBD convenience stores. It will also launch an in-house brand of premium adaptogenic and CBD-derived products in both the food and health/wellness categories to be sold throughout North America.
“I am delighted to have this opportunity to apply my design industry expertise to the cannabis space by creating a high-end, state-of-the-art cultural destination for cannabis. byMinistry will be just as much for those who’ve long made cannabis a part of their lives, as people who are just starting to explore cannabis post-legalization,” said Levy, CEO, MoCanna/byMinistry. “Toronto is the ideal location for our first byMinistry property. It’s a forward-looking city with deeply ingrained support for high design, innovative experiences, the cannabis community as well as a strong desire to continue to build its profile on the global stage.”
The company plans to open its flagship byMinistry location at 850 Adelaide St. West in Toronto early 2020. It is the first of multiple properties planned to open across North America over the next five years. Funds from this investment round will be dedicated to rapidly growing these projects to scale in multiple markets.
byMinistry Toronto will include an 8,000 square foot Consumption_Lounge byMinistry offering a high-design space for patrons to enjoy plant-forward food, drink and products, as well as explore and shop dynamic cannabis-complimentary merchandise. As legislation evolves, the Consumption_Lounge byMinistry will strive to be an industry leader in the preparation and service of cannabis-infused food and beverage to the extent permitted in accordance with the applicable legislative framework. The Toronto location will also feature The_Lab byMinistry, the first culinary school for plant-forward cooking, providing reliable knowledge on responsible cannabis consumption and infusion through classes, workshops and instruction of cannabis-infusion techniques within applicable legislative guidelines. The third environment, The_Pit byMinistry, will offer an intimate space featuring interactive music, art, fashion and cultural programming.
About MoCanna/byMinistry
MoCanna is the company behind byMinistry, a cannabis-forward company with the mission of shifting perceptions and becoming the global epicenter and cultural cannabis authority in a post-normalization world. byMinistry will aim to vertically integrate, to the extent permitted by applicable law, dispensaries, consumption lounges, cultural programming, educational properties, experiential retail platforms and CBD convenience Stores. byMinistry is led by Lorne Gertner, Founder and Chairman, and Shauna Levy, CEO. The first byMinistry location will open its doors in Toronto’s downtown west end in early 2020. byMinistry is compliant with all relevant and updated cannabis consumption regulations and restrictions.
About Cannaglobal
Cannaglobal is focused on identifying and creating unique opportunities that will deliver the near future of Cannabis 3.0. We are a global cannabis company with wholly owned operating businesses and majority or influencing investment positions in a portfolio of brands that represent all aspects from seed to grow to processing to sale. Our extensive connections in the cannabis space creates highly lucrative opportunities for us to develop brands either exclusively or in partnership with other proven operators. Cannaglobal is headquartered in Canada and is active in markets around the world in both legal and pre-legal environments.
