BROOKLYN, N.Y. — Prelude announced its $5.2 million seed financing round, bringing together venture investors from the AI and cannabis investment sectors, to build the first AI-powered supply chain solution for the cannabis ecosystem. The round was led by Rackhouse Ventures, a pioneer in AI/ML investment, and Casa Verde, an iconic firm in cannabis technology investing. Prelude’s Co-Founders, Michael E. Murphy and Andrew Copp, bring together a team with deep retail and technology backgrounds, who are empowering the cannabis industry with an action-oriented data platform to accelerate growth in spite of the industry’s policy-driven financial constraints.
“The data available within the cannabis industry is robust, but the tools to truly operationalize this data in order to streamline operations, maximize profitability and improve cash flow have been lacking…until now,” said Michael E. Murphy, Prelude’s Co-Founder. “The purchase of inventory is the single largest ongoing cost for any retailer. Truly great retailers know exactly how much to buy or produce and exactly where it needs to go. That’s exactly why we’re building Prelude.”
“We’re excited to be building upon the foundation laid by the industry’s first movers, to create improved solutions for the industry’s highest value problems,” said Andrew Copp, Prelude’s Co-Founder. “What Billy Beane did for baseball with Moneyball, we plan to do for cannabis with a new way to manage purchasing and inventory health. The math behind the magic is complicated, but the outcomes are straightforward.”
The relative newness, extreme complexity and highly fragmented nature of the cannabis industry’s supply chain has created a real opportunity for what Prelude delivers.
“At Rackhouse, we look for opportunities outside of the traditional areas where AI is used. Areas that don’t fall in the strike zone of many investors. We found that with Prelude,” said Kevin Novak, Founder of Rackhouse Venture Capital. “We are excited to be empowering the best teams to help solve major data problems in nascent industries, like Prelude will be doing for cannabis.”
Prelude is built to drive action, not simply surface data. While Prelude is currently focused on unlocking value for the industry’s retail layer – by helping dispensaries decide which products to buy and in what quantities in order to optimize inventory assortments and associated administrative costs – it plans to create the same value across the entire supply chain; from seed to sale and every step in between.
“Our portfolio consists of companies that make up the core infrastructure of the cannabis industry. That is exactly how we see Prelude: an essential component of a sophisticated tech stack.” said Karan Wadhera, Managing Partner of Casa Verde Capital.
“Seeing the impact that Prelude had on our profitability and cash flow, simply by using the data at our fingertips, was mind blowing.” said Glenn Standridge, Owner of Green Dragon. “The ways that Prelude is helping our business are incredible.”
For more information visit www.prelude.pro
Prelude
Prelude is purpose-built to reduce out of stocks and overstocks at cannabis dispensaries in order to improve sales, profitability and cash flow. Prelude’s team brings deep tech and retail expertise from industry leaders including Amazon, Adobe and Zara.
Rackhouse
Rackhouse Ventures is an early-stage venture fund investing in emerging AI/ML companies that are building applications and middleware utilizing data and AI/ML as part of their core value proposition to disrupt an existing industry.
Casa Verde
Casa Verde is the leading venture capital firm focusing on the cannabis industry. As both the domestic and international cannabis markets continue to evolve and mature, Casa Verde maintains a view that the industry will offer one of the most compelling investment opportunities of our generation.
