Cannabis is the ‘most disruptive force in the world today’ and set to become a $2 trillion global industry, says a leading Canadian venture capitalist.
Peter McCullagh, Founder and Managing Partner at Vancouver-based TenX Ventures, was speaking on the future of cannabis stocks at the Institutional Capital & Cannabis Conference, as part of European Cannabis Week in London.
He said: “Some $49 billion has been spent in Canada and the U.S, is ready to go. This will be a $1 trillion business in the U.S alone and a $2 trillion business world-wide.
“It’s the most disruptive force in the world today; CBD is the new kale. Cannabis is moving more quickly than the tech industry, with huge shifts taking place every quarter – it’s every nine months in tech.”
Don’t Be Road-Kill
He went on to say there are three types of companies in the cannabis industry, those looking to consolidate, those preparing themselves to be bought, and ‘road kill’.
He predicted a ‘big crash’ in Canadian cannabis stocks early in the next decade saying that once cannabis legislation is eased further, south of its border ‘all the money will go to the U.S.’.
Narbe Alexandrian, President of Canopy Rivers, the venture capital arm of Canadian firm Canopy Growth Corp, said there will be gradual move towards synthetic cannabis in much the same way that aspirin – originally extracted from the willow tree – has now become a pharmaceutical product.
The Five Stages Of Cannabis
He went on to describe the five stages of the cannabis industry as follows;
Stage one, being cultivation, moving on to the development of low-cost technologies, at scale, prior to the development of cannabis as a consumer packaged good.
Stage four will be the entry of the pharmaceutical industry and, finally, the mass market stage, the development of orphan drugs and years of clinical trials.
Stage Six: Litigation!
He then added a sixth; litigation. “People will start fighting each other in the courts after 15 years,” he wryly observed.
Attendees to the conference in Bishopsgate, London, heard there will be a drift towards low-cost production in Africa and Eastern Europe – with Germany being one of the the prime markets – although this drift towards budget cannabis will meet resistance from States and countries, wishing to protect their tax base.
Justin Ort, CIO of Measure Eight Venture Partners, A New York cannabis hedge fund, said that the competitive CBD market will eventually be home to six or seven major brands, after rounds of consolidation, in both the EU and North America. It remains to be seen what exactly will happen with cannabis stocks, check back with us for more updates.
