Green Tank Raises $4.3 Million From Snoop Dogg’s Casa Verde Capital
Cannabis isn’t going to be big business in Canada–it already is.
Case in point: Green Tank Technologies has announced a $4.3 million seed round. The round was led by the Toronto firm Green Acre Capital, as well as Snoop Dogg’s venture capital firm, Casa Verde. Green Tank is the second company to be targeted by Casa Verde, after Trellis picked up a $2 million seed round in September 2017. Alan and Lorne Gertner, founders of Tokyo Smoke, also participated in the raise.
The new capital will go towards the development of new Green tank products, expanding their market reach, and the growth of WeCannect, a B2B discovery platform for the cannabis industry. WeCannect is owned by Weeknd Holdings but by improving their presence on the platform, Green Tank will be able to connect with new customers and improve their hold in the market.
The Toronto-based Green Tank manufacturers high-performance vaporizers for use with cannabis concentrates. Their products are high-end and can run from a few dollars to several hundred.
“Licensed producers and oil extractors lack access to reliable, quality vaporizers tailored to their high viscosity extracts,” said Dustin Koffler, CEO of Green Tank. “Our solutions allow producers to focus on their craft while allowing us to deliver the ultimate vaporization experience to their customers. This investment will allow us to accelerate the development of innovative, premium new products while ramping up operations and expanding our market reach.”
Oil-based vaporizers are the fastest-growing market segment in cannabis right now with market adoption rising at an annual compound rate of 400 per cent.
“There has been a lack of consistency and quality when it comes to vaporization hardware, which for the most part has been leveraging old electronic cigarette technology,” said Karan Wadhera, managing partner at Casa Verde Capital. “With a product line purpose-built for the cannabis industry, Green Tank has quickly garnered a reputation for innovation, excellence and reliability that makes it a welcome addition to the Casa Verde portfolio.”
Casa Verde recently closed their first fund, coming in at $45 million, and this is the first such move with that new fund. The original money that was used for the Trellis investment, among others, came from the partners and other sources. Casa Verde only invests in ancillary businesses rather than dispensaries, farms, or other businesses that actually touch cannabis. Deloitte has reported that the ancillary market may be worth up to twice as much as the retail cannabis market.
With legalization looming and several business opportunities sure to abound, there’s a good chance Casa Verde is not done in Canada yet.
