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Cannabis investment firm expands, seeks new acquisitions

With a focus on making acquisitions and investments in the emerging legal cannabis sector, Tumbleweed Holdings has hired two management executives to help with a growing pipeline of deals.

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Tumbleweed Holdings, a New York cannabis investment firm, has expanded its management team as it looks for new acquisitions and investments in the growing industry.

Bill Hewson has joined as chief strategy officer after spending a year working as a strategy consultant for Tumbleweed. He has worked at a variety of marketing and communications companies in the past on clients such as American Express, Kelloo and Mars.

Patrick Moore has joined as chief technology officer from Blackhawk Technology Group, a digital business solutions company.

Founded in April 2014, Tumbleweed offers technology, logistic and support services for the industry without cultivating and dispensing the herb, Gary Herman, chairman of Tumbleweed, told Agri Investor. The company focuses on business intelligence, technology and data applications, as regulations permit, according to its website. It is on the hunt for acquisitions and investments in both established businesses and innovation focused start-ups with strong management teams and business models in the legal cannabis sector.

A publicly traded company, Tumbleweed is currently in active talks with several US acquisition targets and several unannounced letters of intent have been signed, according to Herman. “We have a very robust pipeline and prospective transactions that we are reviewing,” Herman said. “The management team started making cannabis investments about four years ago and I’ve made several investments myself.” Institutional investors and high net worth individuals are among Tumbleweed’s investor base, all based in the US, he added.

Investment into the growing legal cannabis market in the US growing rapidly as venture capital firms increasingly turn their attention to the sector.

Last week, a San Francisco based legal cannabis delivery service company, Eaze, raised $10 million in Series A round from a number of VC firms and rapper Snoop Dogg. Earlier this month, Privateer Holdings, a cannabis private equity firm, closed its Series B round of funding on $75 million making it the largest private capital raising effort in the legal cannabis industry to date.

“It’s a young industry with significant upside potentials,” Herman said. “I believe we have a group of people that understand the sector and understand investing in early-stage companies and consolidating their operations, we will take advantage of it.”