Cannabis News

IRVINE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–PRESS RELEASE–WM Holding Company, LLC and Silver Spike Acquisition Corp., a publicly-traded special purpose acquisition company, have announced a definitive agreement for a business combination that would result in WMH becoming a public company. The combined company will be led by Chris Beals, chief executive officer of WMH, and is expected to remain listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market.

Company Overview

Founded in 2008, WMH operates Weedmaps, an online listings marketplace for cannabis consumers and businesses, and WM Business, an SaaS subscription offering sold to cannabis retailers and brands. The company solely provides software and other technology solutions and is non-plant touching. WMH has grown revenue at a CAGR of 40% over the last five years and is on track to deliver $160 million in revenue and $35 million in EBITDA for 2020.

The cannabis market in the U.S. is expected to double over the next five years as the majority of U.S. adults support having legal access to cannabis. Despite these expectations of growth, cannabis users in the U.S. are still a small sub-segment of the population today, and retail density is still low across the majority of states with regulated legal cannabis markets. The regulations related to these markets are often complex and disparate across states as well as cities and counties within regulated states. Cannabis itself is a highly complex and non-shelf stable consumer product. These dynamics present a challenging and sometimes uncertain environment for consumers seeking legal cannabis products and for businesses selling to cannabis users while operating in a compliant fashion.

WMH addresses these challenges with its Weedmaps marketplace and WM Business SaaS subscription offering. Over the past 12 years, Weedmaps has grown to become the premier destination for cannabis consumers, with over 10 million monthly active users and over 18,000 business listings across every U.S. state, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico with a legal cannabis market. Clients of the company maintain listings in nine international countries outside of the U.S. Through the Weedmaps’ website and mobile apps, WMH provides consumers with information regarding cannabis retailers and brands, as well as the availability of cannabis products, facilitating product discovery and online order-ahead for pickup or delivery by participating retailers.

The company’s cloud-based WM Business SaaS subscription offering provides cannabis retailers with an end-to-end operating system to access valuable users, grow sales and scale their businesses at a compelling return-on-spend. This “business-in-a-box” functionality ranges from integrations supporting product menus that have online order-ahead, delivery order fulfillment software, data & analytics, a point-of-sale solution and a wholesale marketplace. WMH has been investing in and optimizing its WM Business software solution to also facilitate compliance for businesses amidst the complex, disparate and constantly evolving regulations governing the cannabis industry. Underlying this compliance functionality is a proprietary and sophisticated rules engine that is a core underpinning of the WM Business SaaS platform.

Beals will continue to lead the company along with the existing management team. Silver Spike’s CEO and Chairman, Scott Gordon, will join the merged company’s Board of Directors upon completion of the transaction.

“We are thrilled to partner with Silver Spike to transition WMH to our next phase of growth as a public company,” said Beals. “We passionately believe in the power of cannabis and the importance of enabling safe, legal access to cannabis for consumers worldwide. With this merger, we will be able to continue scaling the Weedmaps marketplace in the U.S. and internationally in service of our users while expanding the functionality of our WM Business SaaS offerings in service of our clients. Our partnership with Silver Spike will provide us a stronger platform to advance our mission to advocate for legalization, social equity and licensing in many jurisdictions while providing cannabis businesses with the tools needed to succeed in a highly complex world of regulations. I am grateful for the continued support from my teammates and investors and most thankful for the thousands – and what I expect over time to be hundreds of thousands – of business clients on our platform. We are energized by the opportunities to continue helping our business clients thrive as regulated cannabis markets expand and grow.”

Gordon commented, “We believe WMH is the most compelling investment opportunity in cannabis today. We established Silver Spike Acquisition Corp. to identify and partner with a best-in-class company and proven management team that are well positioned to benefit from the macro drivers surrounding cannabis. We wanted to not only assist them with the transition to the public markets but also create a unique opportunity worthy of institutional investors. WMH is the perfect expression of our vision for Silver Spike Acquisition Corp.

Their business is transforming the eCommerce experience for cannabis by combining the largest audience of frequent cannabis users with the broadest set of brands and retailers and supporting those businesses with the complete tech stack for cannabis. They have created a 12-year advantage and solved very thorny issues, such as normalizing product data to drive user conversion or embedding compliance functionality throughout their software, while building the only comprehensive “business-in-a-box” software solution for cannabis retailers. We are beyond excited to work with Chris and the incredibly-talented WMH team to support their vision of helping licensed cannabis businesses thrive while driving growth and returns for our shareholders.”

Transaction Overview

The estimated post transaction equity value of the combined company is approximately $1.5 billion, assuming the $10.00 per share PIPE price and no redemptions by Silver Spike shareholders. The transaction will provide up to $575 million of gross proceeds (assuming no redemptions), including $325 million through a fully-committed common stock PIPE at $10.00 per share. The PIPE includes commitments from existing investors including Silver Spike Capital, and new institutional investors including funds managed by AFV Partners, the Federated Hermes Kaufmann Funds and Senvest Management LLC.

The transaction, which has been unanimously approved by the Boards of Directors of WMH and Silver Spike, is subject to approval by Silver Spike’s shareholders and other customary closing conditions. Additional information about the proposed transaction, including a copy of the merger agreement and investor presentation, will be provided in a Current Report on Form 8-K to be filed by Silver Spike with the Securities and Exchange Commission and will be available at www.sec.gov. Additional information can be found on the WMH Investor Relations page at www.weedmaps.com/investors.

Advisors

Rothschild & Co. is serving as exclusive financial and capital markets adviser and Cooley LLP is serving as legal advisor to WM Holding, LLC. Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Incorporated and Piper Sandler & Co. are serving as joint placement agents and financial advisors and Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP is serving as legal advisor to Silver Spike Acquisition Corp. Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP is serving as legal advisor to the founders of WM Holding.

TORONTO, Dec. 9, 2020 /CNW/ – PRESS RELEASE – Liberty Health Sciences has announced it has hired Darrin Potter as Vice President of Operations. Potter will report directly to the interim CEO, George Gremse.

In his new role, Potter will be responsible for driving the organization’s growth by leveraging Liberty’s cultivation, processing, extraction, packaging and distribution operations. He will also manage the expansion of the LHS360 production facility in Gainesville.

Potter has a proven background in the cannabis industry as an award-winning cannabis production executive with over 12 years’ experience in the medical and recreational cannabis markets. During his career, Potter has served in an operations consultative capacity, focusing on new methods to improve product quality and yield, as well as having managed a company’s full facilities operations.

"Liberty’s production decreased this past summer creating some shortages of product in the dispensaries over the past few months," said George Gremse, interim CEO of Liberty Health Sciences. "New genetics and SOPs were introduced, and the results are starting to show. Darrin is a strong, experienced leader. His comprehensive industry background adds a high level of expertise that will serve the company and our patients well. His focus will be on continuing to improve the quality and quantity of Liberty’s product offerings. We are confident that Darrin will be an outstanding addition to our team and has what it takes to lead the company to another level of success. We are thrilled to have him on board."

Prior to joining Liberty, Potter served as Vice President of Production at iAnthus Capital Holdings Inc. At iAnthus he worked directly with cultivation department managers across US assets to create and maintain company standards, develop best practice protocols to reduce production costs, and leverage industry relationships for best pricing on cultivation and processing materials. Potter also worked as Chief Horticulture Officer for GrowHealthy Holdings, where he coordinated a design team for its 200,000-square-foot indoor/greenhouse/shade house production facility.

"I look forward to refining the business processes already in place at Liberty, continue to develop quality products and provide the best user experience in Florida," said Potter. "My goal is to bring online more award-winning genetics, exciting new product offerings and increase production as we continue to strengthen our existing customer relationships and expand our reach."

IRVINE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–PRESS RELEASE–WM Holding Company, LLC and Silver Spike Acquisition Corp., a publicly-traded special purpose acquisition company, have announced a definitive agreement for a business combination that would result in WMH becoming a public company. The combined company will be led by Chris Beals, chief executive officer of WMH, and is expected to remain listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market.

Company Overview

Founded in 2008, WMH operates Weedmaps, an online listings marketplace for cannabis consumers and businesses, and WM Business, an SaaS subscription offering sold to cannabis retailers and brands. The company solely provides software and other technology solutions and is non-plant touching. WMH has grown revenue at a CAGR of 40% over the last five years and is on track to deliver $160 million in revenue and $35 million in EBITDA for 2020.

The cannabis market in the U.S. is expected to double over the next five years as the majority of U.S. adults support having legal access to cannabis. Despite these expectations of growth, cannabis users in the U.S. are still a small sub-segment of the population today, and retail density is still low across the majority of states with regulated legal cannabis markets. The regulations related to these markets are often complex and disparate across states as well as cities and counties within regulated states. Cannabis itself is a highly complex and non-shelf stable consumer product. These dynamics present a challenging and sometimes uncertain environment for consumers seeking legal cannabis products and for businesses selling to cannabis users while operating in a compliant fashion.

WMH addresses these challenges with its Weedmaps marketplace and WM Business SaaS subscription offering. Over the past 12 years, Weedmaps has grown to become the premier destination for cannabis consumers, with over 10 million monthly active users and over 18,000 business listings across every U.S. state, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico with a legal cannabis market. Clients of the company maintain listings in nine international countries outside of the U.S. Through the Weedmaps’ website and mobile apps, WMH provides consumers with information regarding cannabis retailers and brands, as well as the availability of cannabis products, facilitating product discovery and online order-ahead for pickup or delivery by participating retailers.

The company’s cloud-based WM Business SaaS subscription offering provides cannabis retailers with an end-to-end operating system to access valuable users, grow sales and scale their businesses at a compelling return-on-spend. This “business-in-a-box” functionality ranges from integrations supporting product menus that have online order-ahead, delivery order fulfillment software, data & analytics, a point-of-sale solution and a wholesale marketplace. WMH has been investing in and optimizing its WM Business software solution to also facilitate compliance for businesses amidst the complex, disparate and constantly evolving regulations governing the cannabis industry. Underlying this compliance functionality is a proprietary and sophisticated rules engine that is a core underpinning of the WM Business SaaS platform.

Beals will continue to lead the company along with the existing management team. Silver Spike’s CEO and Chairman, Scott Gordon, will join the merged company’s Board of Directors upon completion of the transaction.

“We are thrilled to partner with Silver Spike to transition WMH to our next phase of growth as a public company,” said Beals. “We passionately believe in the power of cannabis and the importance of enabling safe, legal access to cannabis for consumers worldwide. With this merger, we will be able to continue scaling the Weedmaps marketplace in the U.S. and internationally in service of our users while expanding the functionality of our WM Business SaaS offerings in service of our clients. Our partnership with Silver Spike will provide us a stronger platform to advance our mission to advocate for legalization, social equity and licensing in many jurisdictions while providing cannabis businesses with the tools needed to succeed in a highly complex world of regulations. I am grateful for the continued support from my teammates and investors and most thankful for the thousands – and what I expect over time to be hundreds of thousands – of business clients on our platform. We are energized by the opportunities to continue helping our business clients thrive as regulated cannabis markets expand and grow.”

Gordon commented, “We believe WMH is the most compelling investment opportunity in cannabis today. We established Silver Spike Acquisition Corp. to identify and partner with a best-in-class company and proven management team that are well positioned to benefit from the macro drivers surrounding cannabis. We wanted to not only assist them with the transition to the public markets but also create a unique opportunity worthy of institutional investors. WMH is the perfect expression of our vision for Silver Spike Acquisition Corp.

Their business is transforming the eCommerce experience for cannabis by combining the largest audience of frequent cannabis users with the broadest set of brands and retailers and supporting those businesses with the complete tech stack for cannabis. They have created a 12-year advantage and solved very thorny issues, such as normalizing product data to drive user conversion or embedding compliance functionality throughout their software, while building the only comprehensive “business-in-a-box” software solution for cannabis retailers. We are beyond excited to work with Chris and the incredibly-talented WMH team to support their vision of helping licensed cannabis businesses thrive while driving growth and returns for our shareholders.”

Transaction Overview

The estimated post transaction equity value of the combined company is approximately $1.5 billion, assuming the $10.00 per share PIPE price and no redemptions by Silver Spike shareholders. The transaction will provide up to $575 million of gross proceeds (assuming no redemptions), including $325 million through a fully-committed common stock PIPE at $10.00 per share. The PIPE includes commitments from existing investors including Silver Spike Capital, and new institutional investors including funds managed by AFV Partners, the Federated Hermes Kaufmann Funds and Senvest Management LLC.

The transaction, which has been unanimously approved by the Boards of Directors of WMH and Silver Spike, is subject to approval by Silver Spike’s shareholders and other customary closing conditions. Additional information about the proposed transaction, including a copy of the merger agreement and investor presentation, will be provided in a Current Report on Form 8-K to be filed by Silver Spike with the Securities and Exchange Commission and will be available at www.sec.gov. Additional information can be found on the WMH Investor Relations page at www.weedmaps.com/investors.

Advisors

Rothschild & Co. is serving as exclusive financial and capital markets adviser and Cooley LLP is serving as legal advisor to WM Holding, LLC. Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Incorporated and Piper Sandler & Co. are serving as joint placement agents and financial advisors and Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP is serving as legal advisor to Silver Spike Acquisition Corp. Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP is serving as legal advisor to the founders of WM Holding.

IRVINE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–PRESS RELEASE–WM Holding Company, LLC and Silver Spike Acquisition Corp., a publicly-traded special purpose acquisition company, have announced a definitive agreement for a business combination that would result in WMH becoming a public company. The combined company will be led by Chris Beals, chief executive officer of WMH, and is expected to remain listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market.

Company Overview

Founded in 2008, WMH operates Weedmaps, an online listings marketplace for cannabis consumers and businesses, and WM Business, an SaaS subscription offering sold to cannabis retailers and brands. The company solely provides software and other technology solutions and is non-plant touching. WMH has grown revenue at a CAGR of 40% over the last five years and is on track to deliver $160 million in revenue and $35 million in EBITDA for 2020.

The cannabis market in the U.S. is expected to double over the next five years as the majority of U.S. adults support having legal access to cannabis. Despite these expectations of growth, cannabis users in the U.S. are still a small sub-segment of the population today, and retail density is still low across the majority of states with regulated legal cannabis markets. The regulations related to these markets are often complex and disparate across states as well as cities and counties within regulated states. Cannabis itself is a highly complex and non-shelf stable consumer product. These dynamics present a challenging and sometimes uncertain environment for consumers seeking legal cannabis products and for businesses selling to cannabis users while operating in a compliant fashion.

WMH addresses these challenges with its Weedmaps marketplace and WM Business SaaS subscription offering. Over the past 12 years, Weedmaps has grown to become the premier destination for cannabis consumers, with over 10 million monthly active users and over 18,000 business listings across every U.S. state, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico with a legal cannabis market. Clients of the company maintain listings in nine international countries outside of the U.S. Through the Weedmaps’ website and mobile apps, WMH provides consumers with information regarding cannabis retailers and brands, as well as the availability of cannabis products, facilitating product discovery and online order-ahead for pickup or delivery by participating retailers.

The company’s cloud-based WM Business SaaS subscription offering provides cannabis retailers with an end-to-end operating system to access valuable users, grow sales and scale their businesses at a compelling return-on-spend. This “business-in-a-box” functionality ranges from integrations supporting product menus that have online order-ahead, delivery order fulfillment software, data & analytics, a point-of-sale solution and a wholesale marketplace. WMH has been investing in and optimizing its WM Business software solution to also facilitate compliance for businesses amidst the complex, disparate and constantly evolving regulations governing the cannabis industry. Underlying this compliance functionality is a proprietary and sophisticated rules engine that is a core underpinning of the WM Business SaaS platform.

Beals will continue to lead the company along with the existing management team. Silver Spike’s CEO and Chairman, Scott Gordon, will join the merged company’s Board of Directors upon completion of the transaction.

“We are thrilled to partner with Silver Spike to transition WMH to our next phase of growth as a public company,” said Beals. “We passionately believe in the power of cannabis and the importance of enabling safe, legal access to cannabis for consumers worldwide. With this merger, we will be able to continue scaling the Weedmaps marketplace in the U.S. and internationally in service of our users while expanding the functionality of our WM Business SaaS offerings in service of our clients. Our partnership with Silver Spike will provide us a stronger platform to advance our mission to advocate for legalization, social equity and licensing in many jurisdictions while providing cannabis businesses with the tools needed to succeed in a highly complex world of regulations. I am grateful for the continued support from my teammates and investors and most thankful for the thousands – and what I expect over time to be hundreds of thousands – of business clients on our platform. We are energized by the opportunities to continue helping our business clients thrive as regulated cannabis markets expand and grow.”

Gordon commented, “We believe WMH is the most compelling investment opportunity in cannabis today. We established Silver Spike Acquisition Corp. to identify and partner with a best-in-class company and proven management team that are well positioned to benefit from the macro drivers surrounding cannabis. We wanted to not only assist them with the transition to the public markets but also create a unique opportunity worthy of institutional investors. WMH is the perfect expression of our vision for Silver Spike Acquisition Corp.

Their business is transforming the eCommerce experience for cannabis by combining the largest audience of frequent cannabis users with the broadest set of brands and retailers and supporting those businesses with the complete tech stack for cannabis. They have created a 12-year advantage and solved very thorny issues, such as normalizing product data to drive user conversion or embedding compliance functionality throughout their software, while building the only comprehensive “business-in-a-box” software solution for cannabis retailers. We are beyond excited to work with Chris and the incredibly-talented WMH team to support their vision of helping licensed cannabis businesses thrive while driving growth and returns for our shareholders.”

Transaction Overview

The estimated post transaction equity value of the combined company is approximately $1.5 billion, assuming the $10.00 per share PIPE price and no redemptions by Silver Spike shareholders. The transaction will provide up to $575 million of gross proceeds (assuming no redemptions), including $325 million through a fully-committed common stock PIPE at $10.00 per share. The PIPE includes commitments from existing investors including Silver Spike Capital, and new institutional investors including funds managed by AFV Partners, the Federated Hermes Kaufmann Funds and Senvest Management LLC.

The transaction, which has been unanimously approved by the Boards of Directors of WMH and Silver Spike, is subject to approval by Silver Spike’s shareholders and other customary closing conditions. Additional information about the proposed transaction, including a copy of the merger agreement and investor presentation, will be provided in a Current Report on Form 8-K to be filed by Silver Spike with the Securities and Exchange Commission and will be available at www.sec.gov. Additional information can be found on the WMH Investor Relations page at www.weedmaps.com/investors.

Advisors

Rothschild & Co. is serving as exclusive financial and capital markets adviser and Cooley LLP is serving as legal advisor to WM Holding, LLC. Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Incorporated and Piper Sandler & Co. are serving as joint placement agents and financial advisors and Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP is serving as legal advisor to Silver Spike Acquisition Corp. Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP is serving as legal advisor to the founders of WM Holding.

IRVINE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–PRESS RELEASE–WM Holding Company, LLC and Silver Spike Acquisition Corp., a publicly-traded special purpose acquisition company, have announced a definitive agreement for a business combination that would result in WMH becoming a public company. The combined company will be led by Chris Beals, chief executive officer of WMH, and is expected to remain listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market.

Company Overview

Founded in 2008, WMH operates Weedmaps, an online listings marketplace for cannabis consumers and businesses, and WM Business, an SaaS subscription offering sold to cannabis retailers and brands. The company solely provides software and other technology solutions and is non-plant touching. WMH has grown revenue at a CAGR of 40% over the last five years and is on track to deliver $160 million in revenue and $35 million in EBITDA for 2020.

The cannabis market in the U.S. is expected to double over the next five years as the majority of U.S. adults support having legal access to cannabis. Despite these expectations of growth, cannabis users in the U.S. are still a small sub-segment of the population today, and retail density is still low across the majority of states with regulated legal cannabis markets. The regulations related to these markets are often complex and disparate across states as well as cities and counties within regulated states. Cannabis itself is a highly complex and non-shelf stable consumer product. These dynamics present a challenging and sometimes uncertain environment for consumers seeking legal cannabis products and for businesses selling to cannabis users while operating in a compliant fashion.

WMH addresses these challenges with its Weedmaps marketplace and WM Business SaaS subscription offering. Over the past 12 years, Weedmaps has grown to become the premier destination for cannabis consumers, with over 10 million monthly active users and over 18,000 business listings across every U.S. state, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico with a legal cannabis market. Clients of the company maintain listings in nine international countries outside of the U.S. Through the Weedmaps’ website and mobile apps, WMH provides consumers with information regarding cannabis retailers and brands, as well as the availability of cannabis products, facilitating product discovery and online order-ahead for pickup or delivery by participating retailers.

The company’s cloud-based WM Business SaaS subscription offering provides cannabis retailers with an end-to-end operating system to access valuable users, grow sales and scale their businesses at a compelling return-on-spend. This “business-in-a-box” functionality ranges from integrations supporting product menus that have online order-ahead, delivery order fulfillment software, data & analytics, a point-of-sale solution and a wholesale marketplace. WMH has been investing in and optimizing its WM Business software solution to also facilitate compliance for businesses amidst the complex, disparate and constantly evolving regulations governing the cannabis industry. Underlying this compliance functionality is a proprietary and sophisticated rules engine that is a core underpinning of the WM Business SaaS platform.

Beals will continue to lead the company along with the existing management team. Silver Spike’s CEO and Chairman, Scott Gordon, will join the merged company’s Board of Directors upon completion of the transaction.

“We are thrilled to partner with Silver Spike to transition WMH to our next phase of growth as a public company,” said Beals. “We passionately believe in the power of cannabis and the importance of enabling safe, legal access to cannabis for consumers worldwide. With this merger, we will be able to continue scaling the Weedmaps marketplace in the U.S. and internationally in service of our users while expanding the functionality of our WM Business SaaS offerings in service of our clients. Our partnership with Silver Spike will provide us a stronger platform to advance our mission to advocate for legalization, social equity and licensing in many jurisdictions while providing cannabis businesses with the tools needed to succeed in a highly complex world of regulations. I am grateful for the continued support from my teammates and investors and most thankful for the thousands – and what I expect over time to be hundreds of thousands – of business clients on our platform. We are energized by the opportunities to continue helping our business clients thrive as regulated cannabis markets expand and grow.”

Gordon commented, “We believe WMH is the most compelling investment opportunity in cannabis today. We established Silver Spike Acquisition Corp. to identify and partner with a best-in-class company and proven management team that are well positioned to benefit from the macro drivers surrounding cannabis. We wanted to not only assist them with the transition to the public markets but also create a unique opportunity worthy of institutional investors. WMH is the perfect expression of our vision for Silver Spike Acquisition Corp.

Their business is transforming the eCommerce experience for cannabis by combining the largest audience of frequent cannabis users with the broadest set of brands and retailers and supporting those businesses with the complete tech stack for cannabis. They have created a 12-year advantage and solved very thorny issues, such as normalizing product data to drive user conversion or embedding compliance functionality throughout their software, while building the only comprehensive “business-in-a-box” software solution for cannabis retailers. We are beyond excited to work with Chris and the incredibly-talented WMH team to support their vision of helping licensed cannabis businesses thrive while driving growth and returns for our shareholders.”

Transaction Overview

The estimated post transaction equity value of the combined company is approximately $1.5 billion, assuming the $10.00 per share PIPE price and no redemptions by Silver Spike shareholders. The transaction will provide up to $575 million of gross proceeds (assuming no redemptions), including $325 million through a fully-committed common stock PIPE at $10.00 per share. The PIPE includes commitments from existing investors including Silver Spike Capital, and new institutional investors including funds managed by AFV Partners, the Federated Hermes Kaufmann Funds and Senvest Management LLC.

The transaction, which has been unanimously approved by the Boards of Directors of WMH and Silver Spike, is subject to approval by Silver Spike’s shareholders and other customary closing conditions. Additional information about the proposed transaction, including a copy of the merger agreement and investor presentation, will be provided in a Current Report on Form 8-K to be filed by Silver Spike with the Securities and Exchange Commission and will be available at www.sec.gov. Additional information can be found on the WMH Investor Relations page at www.weedmaps.com/investors.

Advisors

Rothschild & Co. is serving as exclusive financial and capital markets adviser and Cooley LLP is serving as legal advisor to WM Holding, LLC. Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Incorporated and Piper Sandler & Co. are serving as joint placement agents and financial advisors and Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP is serving as legal advisor to Silver Spike Acquisition Corp. Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP is serving as legal advisor to the founders of WM Holding.

George Weiblen, a professor in the College of Biological Sciences at the University of Minnesota and the science director and curator of plants at the Bell Museum, has been working since 2002 to discover the genetic differences between hemp and marijuana.

He’s recently cracked a major component of the code.

A research team led by the Weiblen Lab has developed a genetic test that can predict whether cannabis will produce mostly cannabidiol (CBD) or tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), having broad implications for both cannabis and hemp industries.

The team’s findings were recently published in the American Journal of Botany.

While Weiblen acknowledges that other similar tests have been developed, the University of Minnesota’s research and test delve deeper into the biology and mechanisms behind why the test works. In other words, they’ve discovered on the molecular level why certain cannabis varieties produce more CBD and why others produce more THC.

“We are looking at the genes that are ultimately responsible for the pattern we see,” Weiblen tells Cannabis Business Times and Hemp Grower. “What we’ve done is proven our model across lots of different kinds of cannabis, from industrial hemp to medicinal cannabis to feral ditchweed [wild hemp].”

How it Works

Weiblen says across all types of cannabis, a small area of their chromosomes determines whether the plant will be one of three types: CBD-dominant, THC-dominant or intermediate with approximately equal levels of each.

The team found these consistencies by studying more than 350 different samples of cannabis. (The Weiblen Lab has a DEA research registration and obtained drug cannabis from the National Institute on Drug Abuse.)

The lab test developed by the research team homes in on one gene: the gene for CBD. This gene has two variations that result in it either producing CBD or failing to produce CBD, Weiblen says. Those variations are different sizes on the chromosome, so the test measures the length of the gene to determine which variation it is.

“Just like in humans, where we have two copies of each chromosome, so does cannabis,” Weiblen says. “As a plant, you can either have two working copies of the CBD gene, two faulty copies of the CBD gene, or one of each. How much CBD [the plant makes] depends on which of those three combinations you have.”

It’s much like hair types for humans. For example, if a mother has curly hair and a father has straight hair, their child’s hair could be either curly, straight or something in between.

Interestingly, Weiblen’s team also found the gene for THC is tied to the gene for CBD, and the two interplay to produce the three different types of cannabis.

A Surprising Discovery

During the team’s research, they studied feral hemp populations across Minnesota. And while a majority of those samples met the legal definition of hemp at 0.3% THC or less, others were more complex.

In an unexpected finding, Weiblen discovered that roughly one in 10 feral hemp plants in Minnesota had potential to exceed the legal definition of hemp at maturity. They found 11% of their samples were intermediate-type cannabis, while 1% was THC-type.  

“We found a marijuana needle in the hemp haystack,” Weiblen says.

It’s important to note that the amount of cannabinoids cannabis produces is a different story. Even if cannabis is THC-type, it could still potentially produce so few cannabinoids that it remains within compliance of the federal definition of hemp. While “the ratio of cannabinoids is entirely a genetic phenomenon,” Weiblen says, different environmental factors have been shown to dictate how much cannabinoid content cannabis actually produces.

Still, this finding raised questions for Weiblen, especially as many hemp growers and all cannabis growers are looking to not only produce cannabinoids, but also maximize them.

As such, the researchers have suggested changing the definitions of “hemp” and “marijuana” to align with their findings—instead of defining different cannabis varieties by the amount of cannabinoids they produce, which is reliant on outside factors and can vary wildly, the researchers propose defining them by their cannabinoid “types.”

“As a botanist, we don’t classify plants based on how people use them, but how they differ [genetically],” Weiblen says, adding that the definitions of hemp and marijuana carry both confusion and, in some case, negative connotations. “Now that we see public policy and public perceptions around cannabis really changing, we suggest maybe it’s time to define types of cannabis around their cannabinoid content rather than carry with us all the historical baggage.”

“We found a marijuana needle in the hemp haystack.” -George Weiblen, professor, University of Minnesota

Implications for the Hemp Industry

Beyond public policy implications, the research team’s findings could also make it easier for cannabinoid producers to choose their genetics—an improvement that is sorely needed in the nascent hemp industry especially.

Some hemp farmers are still having difficulty with hot crops that exceed the federal THC limit. This has been due, in part, to troubles sourcing reliable genetics.

Weiblen says this new test could be a good first step in preventing hot crops. Successful crops start with good genetics, and Weiblen envisions seed certification organizations using this test to help eliminate THC-type cannabis from ever reaching hemp growers’ hands.

“One advantage of our test if it’s applied is that it can give farmers some assurance of what is the predominant cannabinoid they’re going to see in their plants,” Weiblen says. “They don’t have to wait until end of growing season to learn that.”