With a track record of success in North America a New York-based cannabis investment firm has now turned its sights to Europe.
Altitude Investment Management (AIM) established a London base earlier this year, and has now announced its first $5.5 million European investment. Switzerland-based KannaSwiss – a supplier of CBD isolates – says it will use the AIM cash to boost its production and medical research.
Altitude Investment Management has been an active investor in North America, with stakes in many industry leading lights including; The Green Organic Dutchman, BDS Analytics and Canndescent.
$7.4 Million U.K. Launch
One of its first European investments was into Spanish company Emmac Life Sciences and earlier this year it raised $7.4 million to launch the AIM vehicle in London. Its stated goals is to ‘take advantage of the emerging and fragmented European cannabis marketplace by investing in foundational companies in the industry’s supply chain’.
Found in 2014, KannaSwiss is just such a company. Headquartered in Kölliken, about 40 minutes from Zurich, it currently has two divisions consisting of CBD health and wellness products and bulk sales. AIM and KannaSwiss say, in a press release, the cash will be used to develop its medical cannabis division, scale-up its extraction operations in both CBD isolate and distillate, and boost marketing and sales.
It will also support efforts to secure of ISO 9000 and GMP certifications and focus on developing medical cannabis products to address ‘cognitive function, menopause, PTSD, mood enhancement, sleep and immune health’. KannaSwiss Chief Executive Officer Boris Blatnik said it is already an ‘established, trusted brand of bulk CBD isolate and distillate.
AIM Looking For $150 Million
He continued: “Swiss manufacturing holds itself to the highest standards, so I am confident that my team’s dedication to quality and innovation will produce a leading line of products on the European market.”
Roderick Stephan, a founding partner at Altitude says it is ‘excited about the prospects for European market’ and the company highlights reports which show the European CBD wellness market is to be worth $416 million in 2019 and reach $1.7 billion by 2023.
Over the same period medical cannabis will grow from $318 million to $8 billion by 2023, it says.
Altitude’s first New York capital raise, in 2016, secured $31 million for investments in 19 companies. And the firm is now targeting $150 million for its second fund, with Altitude ‘viewing this as a growth fund, rather than an early-stage fund for startup companies just beginning to generate revenue’.
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