Chicago-based cannabis wholesale marketplace and payments platform, Leaf Trade closed a $5.5m Series A funding to ease payments in the sector.
The round, which brought total funding raised to date to $10m, was led by Artemis Growth Partners with participation from Hyde Park Angels.
The company intends to use the funds to accelerate current growth in its core 17 markets, as well as to expand into West Coast markets while continuing to invest in technology.
Founded in 2016, Leaf Trade’s platform facilitates ordering and payments in the cannabis and hemp markets. The company recently launched its integrated payments platform, Leaf Pay which provides for order processing and payment for all transactions.
Using the features on Leaf Trade’s platform, vendors can streamline the entire processes, increase sales through custom storefronts and generate powerful reports and analytics. Retailers can also discover trending products through the firm’s data-driven shopping process, as well as request samples and marketing materials.
The US cannabis industry is growing at a rate of more than 25% annually with its market revenue expected to surpass $60bn by 2025, making it an attractive industry, the firm added.
However, the cannabis market is highly regulated with different regulations in every state making it more complicated for importing products from other states. While recreational marijuana was legalised in 2020 in Chicago, making payments in the sector is nothing less than challenging and this is the pain point that the firm aims to solve, it said.
Since its launch, Leaf Trade has already processed over $1bn in net gross merchandise value, it claimed. To add on, the firm boasts of clients including CuraLeaf Holdings, Green Thumb Industries Inc., Holistic Industries, Acreage Holdings among others.
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