Global Pot Entrepreneurs Lured by Canada – Cannabis Business Executive

Cannabis companies with their sights on an expanding global market are still finding it makes financial sense to keep Canada as their home base.

CannaPharma Inc., for example, whose founders’ native Turkey strictly limits marijuana use, is growing through acquisitions and ventures in the U.S., Jamaica, Portugal and Abu Dhabi. But even though it plans to sell extracts around the world, it’s keeping its headquarters in Canada, where the company was founded in 2019.

That’s because the nation’s early legalization of cannabis has resulted in financial support that’s not available anywhere else, said Okan Altug, CannaPharma’s co-founder, a former investment banker in Istanbul. In addition to access to financial services, cannabis-related companies can list on Canada’s exchanges, and it’s easier for them to raise funds. That’s just not possible in the U.S., where cannabis is still illegal on the federal level.

All in all, no other country offers the same package to fuel CannaPharma’s aspirations. In one year, CannaPharma has reached a valuation of $37 million and attracted venture capital funds and individual investors from the Netherlands and Turkey, Altug said. [Read More @ Bloomberg]