German cannabis company Sanity Group has announced the closing of its $37.6m Series B fundraising round led by British American Tobacco (BAT Group).
The company has said that ongoing commitment from existing Sanity Group investors such as Redalpine and Snoop Dogg’s venture capital firm, Casa Verde Capital, brings the total funds raised to over $100m.
BAT, via one of its wholly owned group companies, has now acquired a non-controlling minority stake in the company.
The new investment will fuel Sanity Group’s growth and enable its expansion across Europe, as well as strengthen its research and development activities.
Read more: Snoop Dogg venture capital firm invests in savoury cannabis edibles
Founder and CEO of Sanity Group, Finn Age Hänsel, commented: “This funding is an important milestone for us and a strong signal towards the future of cannabis in Germany and Europe. I am grateful for the belief shown by both new and existing investors.
“Our goal is to leverage the full potential of the cannabis plant and to explore and harness the different cannabinoids – with the new capital, we will be able to accelerate our medical and consumer business units whilst preparing accordingly for cannabis legalisation in Germany.”
“This financing round is not only the largest funding round achieved by a European cannabis company to date, but also one of the few upsizing rounds in this current economic phase of the German startup scene,” added Max Narr, chief investment officer of Sanity Group.
“Against the backdrop of a challenging global economy, we are proud to have achieved a funding round of this magnitude, facilitating the pursuit and progress of our mission to become a significant cannabis brand in Germany and Europe.”
BAT’s investment adds a European dimension to its exploration of work beyond nicotine, says the company, and is complementary to other recent investments made by BAT or BAT companies. In particular, its R&D collaboration established with Canada’s Organigram Holdings Inc. announced in March last year.
Chief growth officer at BAT, Kingsley Wheaton, said: “Investing in Sanity Group is another example of BAT’s ongoing work to explore numerous areas beyond nicotine, positioning BAT for future portfolio growth across a range of categories and geographies.
“We continue to transform our business, through better understanding of our current and future consumers, as part of our A Better Tomorrow purpose.”
“Our mission is to help aspiring companies become tomorrow’s market leaders. We invest in curious minds with a shared passion to innovate. We have felt this passion from the Sanity Group team since our involvement in the summer of 2021, and we look forward to accompanying their further development in the future”, said Michael Sidler, Partner at Swiss VC Redalpine, lead investor in the Series A financing round in 2021.
Karan Wadhera, managing partner at Casa Verde Capital, added: “Sanity Group is already the most well capitalised cannabis business in Germany and is on track to become one of the leading brands in Europe. We are thrilled with their continued progress and will keep offering financial and operational support as they scale.”
Alongside Swiss VC Redalpine and Casa Verde Capital, Sanity Group’s existing investors also include music producer Will.I.Am of the Black Eyed Peas, Hollywood actress Alyssa Milano, manager Scooter Braun, HV Capital, Calyx, TQ Ventures, Atlantic Food Labs, Cherry Ventures, Bitburger Ventures, SevenVentures, GMPVC, Navy Capital and SOJE Capital.
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